Here’s a fantastic short film about the Belbroughton scythe works which made scythes for the Nash company. I visited the village in 2012 and sadly there is little left of the works but lots of evidence of its importance in the form of street names, the local pub and decorative ironwork around the village.
https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-belbroughton-forge-1965-online
What better way to spend a sunny bank holiday than going out to cut the grass? I offered to go and mow a community orchard in Levenshulme, Manchester as the regular volunteers were finding it difficult to cope with the long grass using strimmers and lawnmowers. These are ideal conditions for a scythe and it was in surprisingly good condition and a pleasure to cut.
People often tend to think of scything as a purely rural thing but it is ideally suited to the city too: quiet, safe and capable of working in small areas. We’ll let the cuttings dry for a few days before raking them off and then wait to see what comes up later in the year. Hopefully, as we reduce the fertility of the soil, there’ll be less of the coarse grasses and more wild flowers and grasses.
If you’re involved with a community orchard or meadow, I can come to teach a bespoke course for your group at your site. Details of group courses, private tuition and my regular courses are all on my Learn to Scythe page or email me steve[at]stevetomlincrafts.co.uk
The Shropshire Hills Hay Meadow Festival 2021 is taking place on Saturday 24th July at the Discovery centre, Craven Arms. Celebrating Wildflower Meadows and their Wealth of Wildlife.
Advanced tickets available in advance from the Discovery Centre. Please call: 01588 676060 https://www.shropshirehillsdiscoverycentre.co.uk/
The trees are coming into leaf so it’s time to make beech leaf noyau, a delicious but largely unknown country liqueur based on gin. Beech noyau is very similar to sloe gin in that it’s an infusion of gin with added sugar but instead of using fruit, this uses young beech leaves. Pick them now while they’re still soft then put them in a jar with gin to soak.
Here’s the recipe I’ve been using for a few years now. See you in 3 weeks for the next stage.
Beech Noyau
A noyau is a cordial made from brandy, gin, cognac etc. This, however, is a classic British version, using young beech leaves.
Ingredients:
1 bottle of gin (700ml)
225g white sugar
200ml brandy
400ml young beech leaves
Method:
Only use very young beech leaves, freshly stripped from the stem. Add these to a bottle or glass jar (with a secure lid) until the vessel is half full. Add the bottle of gin then stopper the jar and store for 3 weeks before straining the alcohol off.
Meanwhile add the sugar and 300ml water to a pan and bring to a boil. Take off the heat and allow to cool before mixing with the flavoured gin and the brandy. Pour into bottles and store.
During my spoon carving workshop the other week, I made a couple of eating spoons from some lovely local birch. To demonstrate, I made one (on the left) by carving from the bark and the other (right) from the radially split face. You can see the difference in the growth ring patterns in the two bowls.
I’ve a bit more of this birch so I’ll be making some spoons and scoops for my Etsy store, take a look and favourite the shop to get updates as they happen.
It’s fantastic to be back out teaching crafts again and what a wonderful way to start with a two day spoon carving course at Broadrake in the Yorkshire Dales. Tucked just under Whernside among the Yorkshire Three Peaks, it’s an amazing venue and Rachel & Mike always provide a warm welcome.
Over the two days we covered the whole process of carving wooden spoons starting with fresh green birch timber, using axes and knives to make cooking spoons, butter spreaders and eating spoons. The small group means there’s loads of time for individual tuition, chat and eating cake! Everyone did great work with Duncan and Chris both buying a set of spoon carving tools from me to continue afterwards.
You can learn to carve wooden spoons with me in 2021 at various venues. Take a look at my greenwood courses page. I can also come to your venue to deliver a private workshop for you and some friends, email steve[at]stevetomlincrafts.co.uk for details.
This Sunday was International Peening Day 2021 so I spent a little time in the sunshine peening a scythe blade ready for the mowing season.
I started with the peening jig to do most of the work and finished off with a couple of rows of freehand peening. That isn’t strictly necessary but I can achieve a finer edge and it’s good practise for my peening skills.
My Learn to Scythe courses dates for 2021 are now set and starting to fill up. Visit the learn to scythe page for details and dates
Fantastic to see so many organisations getting on board with the idea of converting lawns to wildlife-friendly wildflower meadows and this getting coverage in the Guardian. The RHS, some National Trust estates and King’s College, Cambridge are among those quoted in the article about the benefits of managing your land as a meadow rather than a lawn.
Of course, it will still need managing and there’s no better tool for cutting long meadow grasses than a scythe. My Learn to Scythe course dates are now live, visit https://stevetomlincrafts.co.uk/learn-to-scythe/ for more details.
My Learn to Scythe course dates 2021 are now set and already starting to fill up. The weather is warming up and this weekend sees the Vernal Equinox and official start of Spring so it’s the perfect time to be thinking about managing your meadow and learning how to cut the grass with a scythe.
The one-day course costs £95, to book your place, please email stevetomlin8[at]gmail.com
You can also book me for private tuition for you or a group at your own venue on a date to suit you. More info at https://stevetomlincrafts.co.uk/learn-to-scythe/
For those of you interested in the English scythe and it’s history, you won’t want to miss this talk on 11 Feb 2021 about the Belbroughton scythe making industry.
Book your tickets via Eventbrite
Today Belbroughton, north Worcestershire, is an attractive, red brick village with little sign that for several hundred years it was known for the manufacture of high-quality scythes. In this talk, Sarah Bradley discusses the development of this industry, which reached its peak in the nineteenth century and employed highly-skilled craftsmen, and traces its decline in the twentieth century, with the works closing in 1968. The talk concludes with a short film from 1955, showing the scythe-making process, which had little changed for over a hundred years.
This talk will be delivered via Zoom. Once registered a separate email will follow with a link to access meeting details (you will asked to sign in). If you do not already have an Eventbrite account you will be asked to register
