Harvesting the Cover Crop

Sickle v scythe. The Austrian Winter Peas, approximately 12x12 feet, were harvested using a sickle I have had for years. The pea stem was pretty soft and cut well with the sickle. The main problem was the length of the sickle handle. I had to either bend way over or kneel to get a good angle on the cutting.

Then I tried a patch of winter rye, slightly larger than the patch of pea cover crop. The stems were much tougher and required a smaller "bite" with each swipe of the sickle. And I had to kneel for the entire patch.

Altogether it took me about 40 minutes to cut those two patches of cover crop using the sickle.

Then I cut the remaining patch of winter rye using the scythe. That patch was about 12x25 feet and took about seven minutes to cut down with the scythe. And I was able to stand the whole time! The definite winner is the scythe.

The sheep think the Austrian Winter Peas dried in the sun make a mighty tasty hay too.

Scything

I have wanted a scythe for a long time. I have a real aversion to loud equipment, especially if it vibrates a lot too. I like the idea of a gas powered trimmer but the noise and the vibration tire me out and just listening to it is annoying. Same goes for vacuum cleaners, dish washers, snow blowers, etc. If there is a hand tool to do the job I would rather use it. My husband is the exact opposite. He loves his power tools and motors!

Enter the scythe and snath. So you can't just use a scythe, that is only the blade. The snath is the wooden part you hold. This is the european snath from Lehman's. It is much lighter than it looks and is not tiring to use at all.

It makes a lovely quiet "swish" when it cuts. And no vibration! The rhythmic motion of scything is almost relaxing. My daughter likes using it too.

She scythed almost the whole orchard. Now we need to learn how to sharpen and peen it. There are great videos of the sharpening and peening processes on-line. This video is very informative on peening.  Scythe Supply appears to have the best selection of sharpening and peening supplies.