Homestead mailing list

[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

sjc wrote:
> EarthNSky wrote:
> > When is 'grass season' up there?  Same question for Lynn...
> >   
> First of May until snow flies.  Grass grows better in cooler weather, at 
> least the kind they use here.  Usually about the first of November when 
> the days get too short, which is the limiting factor here.
> > You guys are also lucky in that it doesn't get too hot up there. 
> That's exactly why I like the scythe, I can start at 4 or 4:30.  

4 in the morning????!!!!
How do you see??  It doesn't get light here until 6 or so, and light 
enough to see what you are doing would be after that.  I guess I did not 
realize that there was that much daylight difference in the zone.  It 
gets light earlier further north too...I just never thought about 
that...holy cow.


> By keeping the blade very sharp and starting the stroke carefully.  I 
> can get every stalk and leaf of grass out from the bottom of the chain 
> link fence with it, and it takes a smidge of the time I used to spend 
> with the joint-jarring string weeder.  It's also a handy deal for going 
> around rocks and up against rock walls, of which we have several around 
> here, this being as we are sitting on a state-sized chunk of breaking-up 
> granite.  Get a new crop every spring :)

Wow.  I'm impressed.


>  
> I was mulling the whole thing over as I washed dishes tonight and I 
> realize that one of the main things about it that appeals to me it that 
> I feel much more like 'part of the process' of the place than I did when 
> I used a mower.  It's a much more 'involved' way of thinking, for me, 
> than the mower was:  using the mower seemed more like "keeping things 
> under control" and "getting a job done" than scything.  When you are 
> scything, you can still see, hear, participate in the process---the 
> mower for me was a mere tool that often maddened and always maimed.  I 
> hate to wrestle with anything but it seemed the mower was loud, 
> demanding, had to be on several levels, dealt with.  The scythe seems 
> more a partner and the quieter mindset I have when I use it (as compared 
> to the mower) goes down a lot easier for me---not mention that it's 
> pleasant exercise that doesn't shake every arthritic joint in my body 
> into submission.

I'd love to try it.  With proper hydration and conditioning for my 
shoulder-starting slow and taking it easy, it might be doable.
>


--
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public 
debt  should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered 
and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed 
lest Rome become bankrupt.  People must again learn to work, instead of 
living on public assistance."

--Cicero, 55 BC
http://erthnsky.blogspot.com/