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: Hand Farming
There’s a new scythe book coming…..
It’s called The Scything Handbook. Author Ian Miller is based on a small homestead in Iowa. The American publishers of the book, New Society say: “Written by a master of the scythe, professionally trained in Austria, and drawing deeply on research into original German texts, The Scything Handbook brings centuries-old
Water and Winches
Water at the Trust comes from a spring on the land. The spring is below the main areas of water usage, so is pumped up to storage tanks in the Red Barn using a ram pump. We store the water in second-hand IBC tanks which were previously used to contain
Autumn Harvest – Bracken
In autumn the scythe moves from harvesting grass to bracken, a task to which it is well suited. We harvest the bracken both to control it in the fields and to use it as a resource on the farm and garden. These two posts about the 2014 bracken harvest and
Quarter of an acre in
We started bringing in hay on Saturday, and bought in more Sunday. With tonight’s hauling, we have quarter of an acre of herb rich hay safe in the barn. Hay spread in the sun. The most recently mown at the top, down to hay ready to cart at the bottom
Mowing at Midday
We have a grass track running through the Trust. We maintain parts of it with a scythe, usually using the clippings to mulch the vegetable gardens. The edges to the tracks are left to grow longer and bramble tries to creep out from the hedges. Periodically the edges need managing
Mole Meditations
Spring, the grass is growing and it is time to bash the mole hills. This period of dry sunny weather has made the mole hills friable and easy to spread, so I have been out in the hay field armed with a rake and doing just that. While raking, I
The Faroe Islands and the Smallholder’s Cow
March has been a busy month for us. After a lot of waiting and planning, we went up to the Faroe Islands. The recent eclipse provided the perfect motivation to get us to a place we have long wanted to visit. The farm museum at Saksun, Faroe Islands, with the
Winter Wood Work
When it is cold, frosty or even snowy winter tree work is a great way to keep warm. We have been working on restoring and laying the hedge that runs behind our house, all done with hand tools of course. Amazing pink interior of a felled Willow limb Phil began
The Scent of Summer
Twice a day I go to the barn to fetch hay for the livestock. Just recently I have reached a particularly fragrant layer in one of the stacks. As I pull out the hay I am surrounded by the rich, sweet smell of summer. Happy hay munchers Looking at the
Harvesting and Using Bracken
We held our last scythe course of the year on 30th August. As well as cutting grass we cut a large patch of bracken that grows in the Quiet field. The participants got a lot of satisfaction from cutting the bracken. The stems are stiff and widely spaced and so
Hay Making 2014 – Mackerel Sky
“Mackerel Sky, Mackerel Sky, Never long wet, Never long dry. The weather is changing so it is time to bring in the last of the hay that is ready…. Bringing in the last of the hay at 8pm this evening …..or put hay that needs longer to cure up onto