This weekend I’ll be attempting to complete The Fellsman, a 61mile navigational event with 11000ft of climbing across the Yorkshire Dales. It’ll be the furthest I’ve ever run and I’m hoping to complete in 24hrs, meaning I’ll be spending a full night outdoors trying to find my way using map and compass.
There’s a substantial mandatory kit list to carry, mostly for safety. It also includes a spoon, for eating at the various checkpoints en route so, naturally, I thought I’d make my own. This is some lovely silver birch from the same tree as we used during the workshop the other week. The hole means I can tie it to my pack so it doesn’t get lost.
While I was in Derbyshire the other week, I had some spare time to carve, using some beautiful, fresh cherry wood. After splitting the log and marking out a pattern, I carve using an axe to create the shape. As with when I teach spoon carving, the axe is used to get as close to the final shape as possible.
Then I use a straight knife to refine and smooth the shape along with a hook knife to hollow the bowl. This is the stage where I am assessing the shape, balancing the elements and adding facets for decoration. The colours in the wood are so gorgeous that it doesn’t need anything more.
The spoon looks great already but, after a few days of drying, I apply a light coat of pure, cold-pressed linseed oil which protects the wood and makes the grain pop.
There are more photos of the cherry eating spoon in my etsy shop where it’s available to buy.
If you’d like to learn to carve your own spoons, join me on one of my workshops, dates and more details on Eventbrite: Craft Workshops
I’ve been making my own wooden hay rakes for a few years now but I’m still learning about the craft and intrested in examples from other regions. My friend Christiane brought me one from Austria and sent me the link to a video of Josef Frauenschuh making them in his workshop in Flachgrau. It’s an uncommon design, the tines (teeth) are not only angled back significantly but also arranged in a very slight ^ shape. He uses a few more machines than I do and a mix of lime for the stail (rake handle), beech for the head and ash tines to make a lovely product.
A second day in Cumbria with two of the estate team learning how to peen Austrian scythes with the peening jig.
Lewis and Lee already maintain a lot of the other tools for the team so they were chosen to learn to peen the scythes. There was plenty to practise on and we covered how to repair damage to the blade as well as peening for optimal sharpness and mowing.
Today, I’ve been back to CGP Publishing to teach a Learn to Scythe course in Cumbria. I came and taught a scything workshop for them a few years ago but, with their team expanding, they decided another course was in order.
The weather couldn’t dampen our spirits and the team are used to being outdoors in all weathers so we got to work practising scything in the rain. I was really pleased to see that they’d picked up very few bad habits since the first workshop and even managed to pass on the basics to the others.
My first spoon carving course of 2024 was a lovely day working with a terrific group of beginners.
Using fresh silver birch we learned to split billets and carve spoon blanks using axes. Then it was onto knife work, refining and smoothing the shape.
The bowl was the hollowed using a curved hook knife, following the outer shape of the spoon to create a smooth form.
The finished spoons were all brilliant, each with a unique style created by its maker. Several folk then bought carving tools from me which is fantastic as it means they caught the bug and want to continue this new hobby at home.
All my spoon carving courses are suitable for beginners or those with experience looking to develop their skills. Visit Eventbrite for dates and venues: Spoon Carving Courses
I can also teach a private carving course for you and your friends, email stevetomlin8[at]gmail.com for more info.
An axe is a fabulous tool to work with for carving green wood spoons. It can work quickly, efficiently and accurately to create a spoon blank for finishing with knife work.
During my spoon carving courses, we spend time carving with axes so participants build up their confidence and skills.
All my spoon carving courses are suitable for beginners or those with experience looking to develop their skills. Visit Eventbrite for dates and venues Spoon Carving Courses
I can also teach a private carving course for you and your friends, email stevetomlin8[at]gmail.com for more info.
Very exciting news that the Hay Making Camp in Transylvania will be running again in 2024 after many years of absence. I attended one of the first camps, back in 2011 and had an amazing week. We enjoyed their wonderful hospitality, ate local food, scythed as a team in beautiful wildflower meadows, made hay and built a haystack as well as visiting local craftspeople and learning more about the especially rich biodiversity of the area. You can see my posts from that visit here: Scything in Transylvania
It’s an amazing week for any scyther but don’t worry if you’re still a beginner; the Camp is accessible for everyone, the local people will show you how to scythe while you’re there.
Time traveling and Hay Making Camp in Transylvania 2024
Date: 14 July-20 July and 04 august-10 August 2024.
Location: Gyimesbükk, Áldomáspataka (Ghimeş-Făget, Aldămaş https://maps.app.goo.gl/73P2KrPBY4Fai9jaA .
Organizers: Sárig Attila with his family and Carpathian Escapes
The Csángó people living in the Gyimes Valley possess a knowledge that represents an exceptional value for the whole of Europe. The ancient Csángós settled in a wild, remote valley in the Eastern Carpathians and in order to survive they had to develop a special life and land use style that was in harmony with nature.
Hay making is the most important activity in the Gyimes Valley because people here are mainly occupied with animal husbandry. Through decades of work they created some of the most biodiverse mountain hay meadows in the world.
The Hay Making Camp would like to introduce participants into this type of landscape-creating, nature-respecting lifestyle.
Nearly all the food served at the camp is organic because the ingredients are grown and produced by the Sárig family on their own farm by Csángó traditions. The family uses mainly human and animal power to produce food which means that machine usage is kept to a minimum. We hope that these are good reasons for our guests to spend a whole week in “Csánglia” with pleasure.
Participants at the hay making camp can contribute to the survival of this beautiful landscape that became so magical mainly because of traditional hay making. During the six days of the event participants are also invited to get a personal insight into the world and lifestyle of the Csángós.
Everybody is warmly welcome!
Planned programme
The programme is subject to change according to weather conditions!
1st Day, Sunday: in the evening everybody shall meet at the Áldomás Guesthouse in Áldomáspataka Village, Ghimes municipality for welcome and dinner.
2nd Day, Monday: 8 AM breakfast, then a local craftsman show us how to make scythes handels and wooden rakes in traditional way. 1-3 PM lunch and siesta, after that we learn how to mow the grass whit the scythes. At 7 PM dinner, after which guests from abroad are given the possibility to make a short presentation about themselves and to highlight what makes traditional lifestyle valuable.
3rd Day , Tuesday: We’ll start the day early in the morning whit mowing the grass on a field next to the village. After the breakfast in a small cheese factory we learn about the cheese making procedure, than we go to pick mushrooms in the surrounding forests. After lunch we’ll turning and collecting the hay that has been cut, and if we have more energy, we can continue mowing . 7 PM dinner.
4th Day, Wednesday: 6 AM Early mowing in the morning for early risers. At 9 AM we take breakfast. After breakfast we’ll collect the hay mowed last day. After lunch everybody shall prepare for a hike up to the mountain hay meadow. We will make our dinner on a camp fire, and after sundown we prepare our sleeping bags and go to sleep in hay in the hay barns.
5th Day, Thursday: Early start with mowing in the sunrise on the top of the mountain. Breakfast at 9 AM, then we’ll continue mowing. After lunch we make a walk on the mountain meadow to learn about meadow biodiversity with the help of a specialist, than mowing ‘til dinner time. Camp fire, sundown watch and sleeping in the hay barns in sleeping bags.
6th Day, Friday: breakfast at 8 AM; most of the day will be spent with gathering the hay, making hay stacks and pulling them to the barns, loading the hay into the barn. In the afternoon we leaves the mountain and will have dinner back at the guesthouse. After dinner evening party with local traditional music and dances.
7th Day, Saturday: breakfast at around 8 AM, followed by a short evaluation of the week, after which farewell and everybody shall head home.
Participation fee: 499 EUR/person. The fee includes simple village accommodation, breakfast, lunch, dinner and participation in the activities and programmes. Children are welcome.
Registration deadline: 01 July 2024. The number of participants is limited to a maximum of 20. A 100 EUR deposit is kindly requested upon registration.
Practical information: this is a Hungarian ethnic region, bring a Hungarian phrasebook. Be prepared for any weather – it changes quickly in the mountains, wear layers, working clothes, sturdy shoes. Gardening gloves and a sun hat and sun cream are recommended.
Please think about nature, and if you can, travel to us with a train! Railway stations: Miercurea Ciuc, Ghimes.
Nearest airports: Bacau (99 km), Brasov (151 km), Targu Mures (200 km), Sibiu (240 km), Bucharest (293 km); If it is necessary, we can provide an airport transfer.
“Hay meadows provide an immense range of benefits to farming communities and wider society. They create some of Europe’s most spectacular scenery and cultural landscapes. Simply to watch this natural, environmental and cultural heritage disappear before our eyes is, surely, not an option we can consider,” said HRH the Prince of Wales in a message to our policy seminar at the European Parliament, Brussels, 2012. Watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGhHtbF6zKk
Contact: For registration, transportation possibilities, optional tours before or after the event or any other detail please contact Sarig Attila, (aldomaspataka@gmail.com.), Tel. 0040727859882 and
Carpathian Escapes, https://carpathianescapes.ro/ , 0040770345948
Yesterday, I went to the Wirral for the first time ever! I was asked to teach a scything workshop for Cheshire Wildlife Trust based on cutting the reeds at their Red Rocks Nature Reserve.
People often wonder if the scythe is capable of cutting anything other than meadow grass. A scythe can cut grass, nettles, bracken, willowherb and more. As you can see from the photos, these volunteers had no trouble at all cutting reed with the scythes and cleared a huge area while learning.
A brilliant day with lovely people. Visit my Learn to Scythe page for details of my upcoming courses or to arrange a workshop for your group
My Learn to Scythe courses in 2024 got off to an early start with a trip to teach a a group of women how to scythe in Scotland. They are part of a volunteer group managing a community owned woodland and meadow near Edinburgh and want to use scythe to manage the grass instead of strimmers.
After setting up the scythes, we spent some time learning how to sharpen them so they would be as sharp as possible for mowing.
The meadow has been neglected for a number of years so there was a lot of long, dead grass but the scythers dealt with it easily, clearing the ground for the new spring growth.
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Yesterday, I went to the Wirral for the first time ever! I was asked to teach a scything workshop for Cheshire Wildlife Trust based on cutting the reeds at their Red Rocks Nature Reserve.
