On Saturday 5th July Phil and Michelle are leading a tour of the wildflower hay meadows at Dyfed Permaculture Farm.
This is a great chance to ask all your burning questions and see the home of Scythe Cymru.
Tour of the Farm 5th July
Category: Grassland Management
June News From Scythe Cymru
Scything, Peening & Tool Sharpening Courses; ~ Visit our Meadows ~ No Mow May vs The Chelsea Chop
OPEN MEADOW MORNING Saturday 22nd June
OPEN MEADOW MORNING
Saturday 22nd June
Dydd Sadwrn Mehefin 22ain
BORE DOL AGORED
Wonderful Waxcaps
It’s easy to notice the glories of a wildflower meadow in the summer, but did you know that there are treasures to be found in the autumn and winter too? And it’s not just species rich meadows either, church yards, pastures, even lawns can be harboring exciting grassland fungi. Take
In Praise of Bracken
Bracken tends to get a pretty bad press. However, we have found that bracken can make a positive contribution to a habitat, garden or farm system. Read about bracken and how we use and manage it in THIS GUIDE
A Late Bracken Harvest
What to do if you’re running low on animal bedding? Go out and harvest more! The bracken on our farm needs controlling, but it is also an incredibly useful resource. Amongst other things, we use it for cattle bedding. When the autumn harvest began to run out, Phil and I
When to Mow your Wildflower Meadow
RHS Chelsea Flower show starts next week. And we will soon begin hay making with our annual “Chelsea Chop” Conventional advise has suggested waiting until July or later before beginning to cut wildflower meadows. In recent years this advice has begun to change. We now begin our hay making at
You Can Scythe in the Rain.
Unlike mechanical mowers a scythe is perfectly happy cutting wet vegetation ….which is lucky really, considering the weather we have been having. The view out of the window may not be very enticing, but sometimes you just have to get out there and mow! In fact, damp drizzly days can
The hidden promise of the winter wildflower meadow – the role of grazing in management
It’s officially Spring, yet at this time of year the wildflower meadows are keeping the glory to come well hidden. A combination of autumn grazing by our two cows, followed by winter grazing by our flock of sheep has left the vegetation short. It looks unpromising now but it is
Carmarthenshire Meadows Group
If you own, manage or are looking to create a wild flower meadow in or near Carmarthenshire, however small or large, or simply have an interest in meadows, the Carmarthenshire Meadows Group may be a useful source of information. Their next meeting is on Saturday 25th March, see more details
Electric Fencing to Manage Grassland
Another spring time job is setting up the electric fencing on the spring / early summer grazing. Over the years I have worked with it a lot and come to appreciate its flexibility and usefulness and learnt some useful tricks to counteract some of its disadvantages. So why do we
Moles in the Meadows
One of my personnel markers of Spring is the moment when the sheep refuse even the sweetest hay in favor of the new grass growth, sparse as that may be. Thoughts then start to turn towards making the next crop. One of the first annual tasks in the hay meadow