Larry and J.R. are making progress on developing the 1SR snath. 

As some of you know, I have had to move off my farm. A long, dark, and bitter story, that I will save for another time. This is the last and final thing that I moved off my farm, yesterday. My friends and family think I was nuts, to go back and get it, but it's my favorite "invention" from my farm ("Invention" like in re-inventing the wheel. Haystack frames have been around for a long time!). It is the latest and most successful evolvement of my Pyramid Haystack frames. It was in continual use for over 5 years, left outside the entire time. All the wood and ropes are still completely sound. I hope to use it again this summer, and for many to come.

"Rewilding, grazing, mowing. All examples of how we can preserve nature so that we ensure good living conditions for a great variety of animals and plants. It helps to provide biodiversity."

Wish I could understand Danish! A beautifully filmed documentary posted on YouTube by the Danish Nature Agency. Niels Johansson of http://www.legrej.dk talks about how he uses the scythe to mow delicate native wetlands, timed to set back the dominant or invasive species, in order to enable a greater bio-diversity of native plant species to emerge and recover. I think that's what he is saying, anyway. Niels is an expert on native wetland restoration and the scythe.

Here are 3 videos of harvesting grain with Spanish style scythes, and sickles in the Canary Islands.

A documentary posted on YouTube by Lucio Hernández, that shows the growing and harvesting of grains in the Brena Alta region of the island of La Palma, of the Canary Islands. It shows the cycle of plowing the field, seeding by hand broadcasting, handweeding of the grain field, and harvesting with sickles. Also threshing with oxen drawn sleds. Anybody that reads this post that speaks  Spanish, please add any useful info in the comments section below.

Two years ago, Inga Witscher and her father, and her husband, each bought a 1SR Haying outfit from me to make scythe cut hay for a small herd of mini-Jerseys on their farm in Osseo Wisconsin. Later they invited me to teach a haymaking workshop at their farm. Through their contacts, the event got some good publicity, including this article in the country today "The cutting edge: St. Croix County scythe expert says ancient haying tool making comeback on small farms." Inga is also the host of a cable tv cooking show called Around The Farm Table. She incorporated cooking a meal for the scythe workshop into her show. Good food has a way of showing up at scythe workshops, but this meal was spectacular! (BTW, the recipe for "switschel" can be found on page 63 of The Scythe Book.)