The Scything Handbook: Learn How to Cut Grass, Mow Meadows and Harvest Grain by Hand

Description

A scythe is one of the most elegant and efficient hand tools available. It is ideal for harvesting many types of crops and is quieter and pleasanter to use than a strimmer. There is a graceful, rhythmic quality to scything that once mastered can provide the ultimate mind and body workout. In this book, Ian Miller teaches you how to scythe from scratch including assembly, perfecting the stroke, honing, peening, uses and aftercare. A scythe can be used for mowing the lawn, harvesting small grain, and cutting back wildflower meadows without disrupting wildlife. The hay and straw can be used in the garden for mulching and composting or for food and bedding for household pets while small grains can used for making bread and feeding poultry. The Scything Handbook will delight all gardeners, allotmenteers and smallholders who are tired of their noisy, heavy, fuel-dependent machines and looking for better ways to take care of themselves and their land.

Ian Miller was a professional musician for several years before exchanging life in a punk rock band for organic farming. He has a degree in environmental science and was introduced to scything while interning on a biodynamic farm in Austria. He took a class at the Austrian Scythe Association and scything has been a big part of his life ever since. He has worked for the Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa where he looked after rare cultivars of vegetables, grains, legumes and flowers and managed their historic orchard. He is currently building an off-grid homestead in Iowa where he will continue to use a scythe for hay-making and harvesting grain.

"Years of passion have gone into this elegant little book." -- Rory Dusoir Gardens Illustrated "My book of the year? The Scything Handbook published by @filbertpress. Expert, readable, beautifully produced, indispensable..." -- John Lewis-Stempel Twitter "The Scything Handbook by Ian Miller, newly released contains all of the information your need to buy, maintain and use a scythe for any grassy area, from a meadow to a lawn -- Lia Leendertz The Daily Telegraph The Scything Handbook by Ian Miller...will provide bedtime reading on how to improve your technique. -- Caroline Donald The Sunday Times Ian Miller's new publication, The Scything Handbook, is one of those books that manages to be both practical and enchanting. -- Hari Alexander Deco Online magazine Whilst this book is neatly segmented into chapters that will allow the reader to dip in and out as required, this is a book that I'm going to read cover to cover. It's full of lovely little nuggets from the Tolstoy quote at the start to the sourdough recipe at the back and all the other little gems in between. A Pentland Garden Diary