National Meadow Day is on 2nd July and, if you’re in the North-West I would strongly recommend you pay a visit to Bell Sykes Farm which has the Coronation Meadows for Lancashire and some of the nicest land I’ve ever scythed. The homemade teas are also amazing.
I am teaching a Learn to Scythe course for Staffordshire Wildlife Trust on 3rd July. We will cover everything you need to know to start using an Austrian scythe to manage your own land including how to set-up, sharpen and mow comfortably. You’ll also have the opportunity to buy and take home the scythe kit you’ve used, ready to start mowing with.
More information is available on the Wildlife Trust’s website, to book a place contact Nicki Dyas Tel: 01538 381356 n.dyas@staffs-wildlife.org.uk
One of the more common uses for the scythe is around trees in an orchard or newly planted woodland. Strimmers are infamous for killing young trees by stripping the bark because you can’t see exactly where the string is.
With a scythe you are much more in control and can place the blade so it will cut neatly around a tree without damaging it or the plastic tree guard.
Eight more students joined the spoon carving world recently when I taught a course for Greenwood Days near Derby. On my courses, you’ll learn to choose timber and how to carve using an axe and knives to makes spoons directly from a tree. It’s an exciting and full day so I always forget to take photos during the course but love a group picture of everyone with their work.
Peter, who runs Greenwood Days, makes a big pot of wonderful soup with homemade bread each day for lunch but I noticed he didn’t have anything suitable to stir it with. So, I made group-sized stirring spoon for him and all the future courses. Next time you’re there keep a look out for it, it should develop a lovely patina over the years.
I will be teaching some more courses this year at Greenwood Days including a two-day spoon carving course on 9 & 10th August 2016 where we’ll look in more details at making spoons and have more time for practise and discussion. Book a place if you’re interested in learning to carve spoons yourself or think it would make a good present for a friend. Sign up to my newsletter to receive details of future courses and other projects I’m doing.
My first Learn to Scythe course of the season took place this week at Brigflatts in Cumbria. It’s a site I’ve used a couple of times before and it’s great to see how the grass is improving thanks to the regular mowing.
There was a full group of eight beginners booked on who enjoyed bright sunshine and a field of beautiful soft grasses and buttercups. They were brilliant students and in the afternoon quickly cut a neat 500m2 before we returned to our base for the peening lesson.
Visit my Learn to Scythe page for more course dates and how to arrange a workshop on your own site and get your grass cut for you at the same time as learning.
Did you hear the Chelsea Special from BBC Radio 4 Gardeners’ Question Time the other day? A question was asked about cutting a wildflower meadow and Bunny Guinness, Eric Robson and Matt Biggs all recommended the use of an Austrian scythe.
“If I was given a choice of a strimmer or a scythe, I’d go scythe any day – it’s a pleasure to use.”
~ Bunny Guinness
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07c56jb skip to 24:26 for the meadow question.
Today I’ve been teaching how to peen an Austrian scythe to a pair of women who run a smallholding here in Cumbria. They bought their scythes 7 years ago to manage the grass in the smallholding, around fruit trees and on wildflower banks. Finally, the prompting of another scythe user had encouraged them to learn to peen their blades.
After I explained the theory and practise of peening a scythe, the first job was to clean the blades and then we set up their peening jigs and I guided them through the process of hammering the blade to reshape the bevel profile. After so much work, the blades certainly needed peening and I was a bit concerned that it would be a long and difficult job but both Kate and Deborah were very capable and quickly picked up the skills.
The peening jig simplifies the process and helps ensure neat straight lines of hammer blows to correctly shape the bevel and avoid problems.
Peening your scythe is an important part of looking after it and will transform the way it cuts through the grass. If you’re also struggling to understand or learn the principles then it’s never too late! Email me stevetomlin8@gmail.com to book your own workshop day and discover the joys of peening. If you can’t get to a workshop, check out my book Learn to Scythe which contains clear, simple instruction on peening and more.
The real pleasure in teaching is seeing the look of pride and satisfaction on people’s face when they surprise themselves with their achievements. My favourite course for this is when students learn to carve fan birds. This weekend I was teaching fan bird carving at Greenwood Days near Derby with a lovely group of beginners. We went through the process of carving the block and then splitting and spreading the feathers. Suddenly a bird appears and the smiles come with them.
I’ll be teaching another Fan bird carving course for the Woodland Skills Centre in Wales on 15th October 2016 – follow the link to book your place and sign up to my newsletter to find out about future courses – you might just surprise yourself!
The scythe is a powerful tool, capable of transforming our lives and surroundings.
Just across from where I live there is a patch of council owned land. Last year I noticed that it hadn’t been cut, no doubt due to budget cuts so in the August I went over with my scythe to cut off the docks before they had chance to set their seeds.
Of course, once I was there I couldn’t help mowing an area properly. The sward was tangled and tough so it took a couple of evenings after work to cut a small area and remove the grass. One of the advantages of the scythe is that it works silently, so the nearby houses weren’t disturbed while I mowed. Six weeks later I mowed the regrowth to leave a short sward, dug out the docks and sowed wild yellow rattle seed in the spaces. Yellow rattle is semi-parasitic on grass so will reduce its vigour, allowing wild flowers to thrive.
My hope was that, over time I would reduce the fertility of the land by repeated mowing and introduce some wild flowers to create a mini urban meadow, inspired by the guerrilla gardening movement. The photos show what happened; the soil already had a seedbank of wildflowers and the short cut provided the right conditions for these Lady’s Smock to germinate creating a gorgeous pink haze across the area.
This last photo shows clearly how things have changed, the line between where I scythed and didn’t is obvious. My yellow rattle seed has also germinated so and I can’t wait to see what else will appear as the summer continues.
Book a place on one of my Learn to Scythe courses and start transforming your environment.
A couple of weeks ago I was in Manchester teaching a spoon carving workshop for a group of local Forest School leaders who were wanting to improve their carving skills. We were based at an inspiring primary school which is using greenwood work and Forest School activities as part of the school learning experience with brilliant results. I would have loved those opportunities as a child.
Having a full weekend meant we had lots of time to develop skills in working with carving axes and knives. Top priority was safety as always and also looking at ways to modify or teach the techniques for children which was interesting and I learned a lot too. I taught some specific exercises for stretching the arm and hand muscles and a session on sharpening tools.
They were a great group to teach; very lively, keen to learn and with lots of interesting conversations and ideas over the weekend, including making campfire pizzas for Sunday lunch. Shame noone wanted to get their spoon dirty while making them!
I am teaching more spoon carving courses across the UK in 2016, all suitable for beginners and improvers. If you’re interested to learn some new skills in good company then book your place through the organisers below:
