Sometimes an early rise during haying weather brings a surprise. We had a lovely hour of mowing in the atmospheric mist. The mist gradually burned off as the sun rose. The sun on the wet vegetation was stunning. I take a lot of pictures of sunny, hot hay making. Below are some pictures of the delights to be found in a misty meadow.
At last the grass is growing! Spring has been slow to get underway this year, but now it has the garden is beginning to look rather ragged around the edges. Here is how we use the scythe to give the garden a bit of a Spring tidy up. The short video at the end shows some of the mowing techniques we use. Mowing and Creating … Continue reading Spring Cleaning with the Scythe
New Year is when we put together our plans for 2015. There is lots planned already and more to come! The year starts off with an Apple Tree Grafting Workshop on 11th March. From April onwards we are running a number of Introductory Scythe Courses and Peening and Sharpening Workshops. New this year is a Tai Chi Mowing Workshop, a fantastic opportunity to learn how … Continue reading Courses and Events 2015
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. To facilitate this width of mowing, Phil is using a size 3 snath with a … Continue reading Things We Do With a Scythe 4 – Hay Making!
Here is Phil mowing a grass track that runs between the fenced boundary of the top hay field and a developing forest garden area. He is using a 75cm Profisense blade and mowed the approximately 100m track in little over an hour. This track is mowed two to three times a year. The clippings produced are used as mulch in the garden. In winter, the … Continue reading Things We Do With a Scythe 2: Mowing Trackways
Bracken Mowing – cut bracken to the left, uncut to the right I have been using our trimming scythe to harvest bracken in one of the fields at the Trust. Mature bracken stalks are pretty tough, so I used a 65cm Styria blade, which is capable of cutting rougher stuff without sustaining unreasonable damage to the cutting edge. I say “harvesting” rather then “controlling” the … Continue reading Harvesting Bracken