Blades were out at the Mackenzie Hall on Saturday 17th October, as were the rakes and the shovels, as the Parish Grasslands Project took on the topic of hand tools for its autumn meeting.
We picked our way between assorted sickle-wavers and billhook-brandishers, to learn more about churning butter, turning wood for handles and the proper application of a whetstone. The Usk Rural Life Museum had kindly lent part of its collection of artefacts for the day, providing hands-on experience of life before Edison. And George Peterken contributed a lively history of the Wye Valley in just one object, a 19th century barking tool, exploring how the lucrative tanning industry helped shape the woodlands we see around us.
The main draw, though, was guest speaker Simon Fairlie, author, journalist, ecologist and champion of the scythe, here to prove that managing grasslands by hand is neither recherché, nor the sole province of the masochist. Indeed, for anyone with a small amount of grassland to tend, a keen interest in wildlife conservation and a concern about a spreading midriff, scything could be a winning solution.
The key phrase here is “progressive haymaking”. If you’ve stood in a meadow before and immediately after cutting, you’ll understand Simon’s point: one moment you have a thriving ecosystem, the next, it’s insect Armageddon – dazed burnet moths search in vain for the last knapweed standing, the bees buzz off. Scything your meadows, on the other hand, allows for – indeed demands – a regime of “little and often”: cutting small swathes of grass at a time, leaving plenty of “habitat”. And if it’s hay you’re after, rather than just the wild flowers, this has the added bonus of making the most of the narrowest of weather windows.
More information on scythes and scything courses can be found on Simon’s website thescytheshop.co.uk, where you can also pick up a copy of his book, Managing Grass in Britain with the Scythe, one of the best concise explanations of grassland on the market today. Our thanks to him, to Bill Howard and to the Usk Museum, in particular Rita, for giving so freely of their time, and to our own John Josephi, Phil Morgan and Phillip Powles for their valuable contributions.