Tag Archives: wheat

Ancient cereals corn dolly

An ancient craft bringing some of my favourite people together to achieve a lifetime’s ambition. Continue reading

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Harvest scythe team & ancient wheats

John Letts on Countryfile
More scythes on tv with a programme about ancient wheats with the crop being harvested by hand. Watch it now on iPlayer. Continue reading

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Woman mowing wheat

It’s unusual to see old pictures of women mowing so this great photo merits it’s own post.  Note that she’s holding the snath by the shaft it’s made for someone taller than her and there’s no cradle or bow on … Continue reading

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FAO Scythe Cradle photos

As promised, here are the photos of the FAO cradle from their ‘Small Farm Implements’ publication of 1953. In the introduction, the authors (our Mr Hopfen again along with Dr E. Biesalski) make an insightful point which, for me, is … Continue reading

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Willow bow for harvesting cereals

To follow up from Chris’ post here’s a couple of photos I took last autumn which really show the benefits of using a bow when cutting cereals.  These were taken during our demonstration at Old Hall Farm in Cumbria. My bow, … Continue reading

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Film of reaping demonstration

Memories are perhaps fading of the wonderful weekend at Bouth in Cumbria (see Ian’s entry below of 21st September). So here’s a short video of part of it – the Sunday afternoon at Old Hall Farm open day. It features … Continue reading

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Sheaf Fork

I would deny being a tool geek but I do like old tools, know a bit about them and am constantly amazed by the ingenuity of folk  who worked by hand in designing efficient tools for specific jobs. This is … Continue reading

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FAO cradle in action

One thing with mowing is that it’s really difficult to take a photo of yourself so more thanks to the Webster family for the pictures they took during their vintage weekend in August. Here’s the FAO cradle in action, showing how it … Continue reading

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Cradle trials for harvesting wheat

Clear blue skies, old tractors and a field full of wheat greeted me for my mowing demonstration over the bank holiday weekend. Margaret & Andrew Webster, with their family and David White had done a fantastic job of putting together … Continue reading

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Mowing wheat at vintage weekend

This week I’m getting ready to mow wheat in Lancashire as part of Whitey’s Working Weekend.  The hosts, Margaret & Andrew Webster, came to the Cumbria Scythe Festival with their family to see if they could find someone with a … Continue reading

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