I've often heard that expression, "Everything old is new again." This summer I got the chance to put a farmer's spin on this saying. I've also discovered a way to make at least one long-abandoned "conventional" farming technique efficient in a modern world. Practicing a half-hour of daily scything can save money on gym membership fees, health costs associated with the build-up of arterial plaque, and fossil fuel expenses. Turns out this cost-saving and health promoting practice is actually not that difficult, safer, and an effective alternative to pulling ditches with a tractor every spring.
Except for the Amish over on the Tongue River north of Ashland, we in Big Horn County encounter few farmers serious about conventional farming. By "conventional" I mean the farming technology that was passed down from many generations of fathers and mothers before us. These techniques used little or no fossil fuels (gas, diesel, or coal). For thousands of years muscle energy was more than adequate for food production. Today, however, physical labor is viewed as a quaint, relatively useless source of energy for farming.
I wonder whether it might be time to revisit some of that traditional knowledge we have abandoned over the last couple generations. Couldn't we reincorporate some of the old techniques to supplement our more modern (and less healthful) ways? I guess it's up to those of us who had exposure to conventional methods as youths to bring back some still useful approaches.
More than fifty years ago my grandfather planted some valuable muscle memory into my adolescent arms and back. Swinging a scythe was definitely not my idea of how to be productive back then. I resisted his lesson in favor of an internal combustion motor driving a whirling steel blade. It seemed ludicrous to me that anyone would brag about being able to cut lawn grass with a scythe as Grandpa and my uncles did. What a waste of energy, I thought, when we have such powerful tools at our disposal.
Fast-forward sixty years. I had an irrigation ditch clearing problem to solve. Naturally, I saw this problem as one of finding the right technology. Off I went and bought a wheeled string mower from Randy at True Value. I painstakingly rebuilt the mount of the belt-driven string rotor into a position nine inches further forward, so dipping the handles would raise the spinning strings sixteen inches higher along our irrigation ditch walls. This successfully made mowing our lateral ditch walls easier and faster than using a hand-held string mower. It certainly was an improvement, but it still was strenuous work.
A month ago I discovered my old scythe. I found the place in the blade I damaged thirty years ago learning to cooperate with that tool instead of forcing it into the weeds needing cutting. I applied my Dremel™ tool to the weld I had made and never really shaped correctly, and sharpened it the way I was taught almost a half-century ago. A month ago I carried it expectantly to our grass-infested lateral off Farmer's Ditch, braced my feet and began reviving what was left of my scything muscle memory.
It worked. I was simply amazed and quickly became obsessed. I couldn't quit, until, almost a hundred yards and a half hour later, my cell rang. Knowing my son was coming home that weekend, I saved the rest of the ditch for a family scything event.
I gave lessons to my two grown sons, as my grandfather had done with me. They were as surprised as I to find how efficient this manual process was. The time investment was about the same as running the big blade behind a tractor to pull ditches. Scything was actually less frustrating when working sodded in ditches like ours, where there is a tendency to pull the point too deep or skim too high, losing the accurate slope needed for effective ditch flow. Even more importantly, we didn't need to drive to the Hardin community center after work to pump iron.
So here's the deal. Free scything lessons are available at Greenwood Farm. Just search Youtube on line for any scything video, then go to Randy or Dean, hardware stores on Center Street, and order a genuine old-fashioned scythe with hardened steel for honing to a razor edge. This musician-writer-farmer is offering free beginner lessons in scything, with a real honest irrigation ditch in which to practice. Stop in even if you can't find a scythe. If you quickly learn to keep the heel down you won't break mine like I did. But do please check your garage attic and let me know.
Hardin, MT 59034
No comments:
Post a Comment