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Author Archives: stevetomlin
Snath Making for Anna Karenina
The first days of filming for the mowing in Anna Karenina took place this week. Thirty mowers and haymakers from around the country were brought together with their scythes to create the scenes where Levin joins a large team of … Continue reading
Posted in scythe festivals & events, Scytherspace, scythes
Tagged anna karenina, film, Levin, movie, snath making, straight snath
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Feedback from Mowing Courses
It’s always nice to hear back from folk who’ve been on a course, especially to find they’ve been bitten by the scythe ‘bug’. These folk were on the ‘Learn to mow..’ course at Sprint Mill at the beginning of July. … Continue reading
Posted in scythe courses, Scytherspace
Tagged course, feedback, learn to mow, learn to scythe, mowing, review, scythe, scythe feedback
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Mowing on the Black Isle
Continuing our international mowing theme, Christiane & I are just back from the Black Isle, Scotland where we ran a two day mowing course for members of the Transition Black Isle group. We took a few days to work our … Continue reading
Posted in scythe courses, Scytherspace
Tagged black isle, Christiane Lechner, course, learn to mow, learn to scythe, mowing, peening, Scotland, scythe
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Straight snath making – handgrips
The 30 Russian snaths for the Anna Karenina movie are coming along well. This week I’ve been in the woods looking for handgrips to fit to the straight snaths. I’m using the opportunity to try out a few ideas for designs of … Continue reading
Posted in Scytherspace, scythes
Tagged anna karenina, film, handgrips, movie, russian scythe, snath, woodwork
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Kosenka spoons
I’ve been away in the White Carpathian area of Czech Republic, taking part in a conservation project to manage 6ha of upland pasture for wild orchids using scythes. You can read about the mowing on scytherspace, my scythe blog. All … Continue reading
31st Kosení in Czech Republic
The environmental charity Kosenka, based in Valašské Klobouky, has been working to preserve the forests and meadows of the White Carpathian mountain region since 1981. Headed by the charasmatic Mirek Janik, their work includes running educational programmes, an ecological advisory service … Continue reading
"Thus it was when Grandfather harvested"
Before Steve returns with news of adventures in the Czech Republic, here’s some from Denmark. Knowing our interest in scything, our hosts in northern Denmark pointed out an old photograph (below) in the local paper promoting a haymaking day using old methods, tools and machinery. Undeterred … Continue reading
Dawn mowing at Brantwood
Sally Beamish, Estate Manager at Brantwood, the former home of John Ruskin and perhaps the most idyllic house in the Lake District, invited the north-west scything group to a dawn mow of a lakeside haymeadow which is at present cut … Continue reading
Posted in scythe festivals & events, Scytherspace
Tagged brantwood, cumbria, meadow, scythe
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Sharpometer
One of the keys to efficient, easy mowing is a sharp blade acheived through peening and sharpening with whetstones. But how sharp is sharp? This year for the Somerset Scythe Festival there was talk of having a peening competition which, … Continue reading
Posted in peening & sharpening, scythe festivals & events, Scytherspace
Tagged peening, scythe, sharpening
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Mowing in the Czech Republic
I’m heading off this week on holiday – to go mowing! Christiane and I are driving to Valašské Klobouky in South Moravia, close to the Slovakian border to take part in a volunteer project run by Kosenka, mowing and making … Continue reading
Posted in scythe festivals & events, Scytherspace
Tagged czech republic, hay, hay making, kosenka
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