At the end of January Phil and I travelled to the winter meeting of the Scythe Association (SABI). This year the meeting was hosted by Richard Brown in Norfolk. As well as attending to the business of the Scythe Association the group spent two enjoyable sessions mowing in the wetland
The Austrian scythe is a versatile tool which we put to many uses on our holding. Here is a nice video featuring Peter Vido, the man who first introduced us to the Austrian scythe, showing some of the types of work a scythe can be put to. Note his relaxed
Winter is somewhat of a quiet season for the scythe but for a number of years now Richard Brown, member of the Scythe Association of Britain and Ireland (SABI), has been giving fellow members an opportunity to get in a bit of winter mowing by cutting reed on the wildlife
The late summer weather has not been easy haying weather. If we waited for 4 or 5 days of sunny weather in a row, as is commonly suggested as needed for hay making, we wouldn’t have made much! In fact, there have only been two occasions which might qualify
Today was one of the Dyfed Permaculture Farm Trust’s regular workdays. One of the tasks on the agenda was trimming the hedge banks of the access track. The middle section of the track, already rather narrow, was beginning to worry car drivers with it’s luxorious growth of bracken, bramble, fern
I mowed a Labyrinth into the Top Field for a Summer Solstice celebration we held at the Trust on 22nd June. Using our trimming scythe and a Profisense 50cm blade I mowed a narrow path through the wild flowers based on a traditional pattern. A sketch of the design of
A list of things we do with a scythe wouldn’t be complete without hay making. Here is Phil mowing in the Top Field with an 85cm Profisense. Mowing in a hay meadow is a great opportunity to stretch out and mow wide swaths. It also gets the job done quicker.