Woodland Antics: Three men went to mow.....

Wednesday, 12 August 2009

Three men went to mow.....

.....went to mow an orchard, two men (and a girl), one man and an angry hive of bees went to mow an orchard.......repeat until done.

That's the short version. The long version goes like this. Judy agreed to let us have a go at cutting the superb wild flower meadow alongside her orchard once the yellow rattle had set seed. Roy came along with his scythe so we could try mowing with a team of three.

We met on Friday afternoon to do the work but soon after we started the sun came out and with it the bees from one of the hives in the orchard. Once they found us they started to get quite aggressive. Discretion being the better part of valour (well it is for me) we decided to try again on Saturday evening.

Judy's son Richard joined us on Saturday evening to try his hand at mowing and made quite a good job of it for a first time. The bees were completely quiet and we could mow right upto the hives.

With three scythes we got through the orchard rapidly and we finished before it got dark though less cider might have left the rows a little straighter.

These windrows would have made good hay in a couple of days but unfortunately we had no takers for it on this occasion. Perhaps by next year I'll have figured out a market for 'hand cut' 'wild flower meadow' loose hay and be able to sell it at a premium. I'm only half joking.

1 comment:

Seanhellman said...: One thinks we are putting in a lot of practise, have we got an eye on a winning rostrum at the scythe festival?; 18 August 2009 at 21:24

Post a Comment

My Interests

Most of the posts on this site will fall into a few themes. I'll try to fit the title to the crime. But some posts and interests just won't fit into a box no matter how hard I try.

Polelathe - posts about polelathe turning and related topics.

The polelathe is a traditional foot operated wood turning lathe. You might have seen one in use at a show or a museum, in fact you might have seen me demonstrating one. The turners who used these lathes for making chair-legs were sometimes referred to as Bodgers. I have been a bodger all my life, but its only since 2005 that I have taken up bodging on lathes. I spend as much time turning as I can, and during the summer months it is my main employment, though I mix it with a number of small jobs of a woody nature.

I am fascinated by all traditional crafts and trades, especially those working with wood. For millenia woodlands have provided us with an amazing range of products for everyday use. It is only very recently that we seem to have lost touch with woodlands and their uses.

I only use local wood, very often it is wood that I have cut myself and would normally be an unwanted by-product of managing small, local woodlands or heathlands.

Commons - posts about the Lynchmere commons. The commons were purchased from the Cowdray estate in 1998 by The Lynchmere Society, a local trust, which now manages about 340 acres of mixed heathland, woodland and adjoining fields. The commons are located between Haslemere and Liphook on the Sussex, Hampshire borders. I first got involved with helping the society to manage the commons in 1999 and since then have gained a lot of experience working on the commons as a volunteer. I prefer to work as a woodsman but I also help to manage the commons.

I am very keen to manage the commons in a sustainable way and as a part of this am trying to use the traditional crafts and ways of working that helped to shape this landscape.

Greenwood - Posts on woodland and woody topics not covered in polelathe and commons posts. Greenwood is unseasoned wood, but I shan't be too choosy and will cover all manner of only slightly woody topics here

I have a tendency to be a jack-of-all-trades although I try to focus upon pole-lathe turning, charcoal burning and besom broom making. As a woodsman I help to care for local woodlands in the Western Weald. I often work at or teach tree felling, coppicing and chainsaw skills.

Landrover - I restore, maintain, use and abuse a number of slightly eccentric old landrovers. I will post about working on them and related classic (and not so classic) car work.

Crafty - covering a range of traditional crafts not immediately related to wood and my interest in brewing, baking and preserving.

Woodland Antics

Wednesday, 12 August 2009

Three men went to mow.....

1 comment:

About Woodland Antics

Woodland Antics Wordpress Site link

Blog Archive

My Interests