Cut grass on the side of the road, and the long grass in the foreground. I only cut the first strip on the side for the day. I keep the fresh grass growing rather than cut and store it.
I think it has been about ten or eleven years since I bought the scythe from Scythe Supply of Maine. It has been a while, and I have gotten older. Yet the scythe is still my preferred method of getting grass down in the summer. The grass comes down long enough to use for animal feed, unlike with the mower or a string-trimmer that would tear everything to bits and ruin it. This saves me a bit of money over the summer, and the hassle of tying goats out in the heat only to find they keep tipping their water over and leaving themselves in danger.
I was cutting this morning just across the road from the store entrance and having a heck of a time. I finally gave up on my ego and put on the smallest blade, the “ditch blade.” I say about my ego because I have it in my head that the best scythe handlers can use the long grass blade to do their work. But the Ditch Blade is called that, and not “the Amateur Blade for a reason. Once I changed and dressed the blade I got back to the cutting and wow! It sure cut better. So, I decided to go up the road and do the bit closest the asphalt that the county would do if they drove their mower by. This way, if they do, the grass is down there, and they won’t cut and ruin it. I can use it for feed today or tomorrow.
I sure got my cardio workout today. That is one of the reasons I prefer the scythe to a string-trimmer. As I have said before in this blog, it is a lot quieter, it is powered by breakfast, and the negative output is just non-existent. It does not take too long either, as far as progress through the high grass goes. A Big old mower would obviously go faster, but the tradeoffs are already listed above.
Since the scythe is cutting so much better after a change of blade, I may go out tomorrow and cut down the orchard grass. It is time.
Finally, the temperatures today and tomorrow and again the next day are meant to get up to 99 to 101. We usually end up about two degrees higher than the forecast. Can’t wait to see what it turns out as. I think our weather station record since 2018 is at 103. We might break it! We don’t have and air conditioning, so we will be staying cool in the living room with the blinds pulled and the windows and door shut. All that and a fan, and we seem to be staying under 80 degrees this year. That’s pretty good for low energy consumption. Seems to be the modus operandi on this farm.