It is the month of October and is the season of the machete. You think that the machete is the tool of the season because of its use in horror films. However, it might surprise you to know that the machete can offer more than the decapitation of zombie heads.In fact, I would like to encourage horror film makers to re-think the use of the machete. This tool has been pigeonholed as a defense tool only; it being the preferred tool for zombie hunters. In reality, this tool has many sustainable uses that go far beyond defense.

Anyone who has traveled to other countries knows that the machete is the utility tool for every person. Friends of mine lived in the Dominican Republic for a couple of years for service with the Peace Corp. These two informed me that everyone in the community had one of these and knew how to use it. The community uses are included in this list of 15 sustainable uses for the machete.

1. Nut and and fruit splitting; The hard shell of nuts or coconuts can be opened easily

2. Lawn Mowing

3. Cutting and maintaining trails

4. Bush clearing

5. Chopping compost

6. Carving or cutting wood

7. Fending off wild animals or killing poisonous snakes

8. Claring a campsite

9. Snedding - (Snedding is the process of stripping the side shoots and buds from the length of a branch or shoot, usually of a tree or woody shrub)

10. Cutting back vegetation to stimulate growth

11. Pruning and trimming of vines, bushes, and trees

12. Making poles, teepees other other shelters

13. Crop cultivation and harvest of rice, sugar cane, oats, millet, rye, barley, buckwheat and corn.

14. Butchering and meat processing

15. Used as a snow know to cut and shape snow shelters, scrape and clear snow and ice, and cut branches to put under tires for traction in deep snow.