tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86101537240825393142024-03-13T11:13:19.592-07:00Scythe Connecteda branch of The Scythe NetworkUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-65354569967230934572020-11-14T19:03:00.001-08:002020-11-14T19:09:27.306-08:00Scythe Project in Nepal -- 2020 update<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6u7pRruf2pvAjdfnAJ-wTnqew2Z0ksvdsYzeCnFkQVEArc7sY2a7ZcrQKr_kiXvzEhmzTqqWHpg3mZRlOw7tmoDvd_rrjVnmao6d2uepffjBYd8sof7Qsemshl1X5pg5geUfgcV5WwcQ/s640/NARC+2012-1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6u7pRruf2pvAjdfnAJ-wTnqew2Z0ksvdsYzeCnFkQVEArc7sY2a7ZcrQKr_kiXvzEhmzTqqWHpg3mZRlOw7tmoDvd_rrjVnmao6d2uepffjBYd8sof7Qsemshl1X5pg5geUfgcV5WwcQ/w400-h300/NARC+2012-1.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">2012 at Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">After a few years of dormancy, Alexander Vido's Scythe Project in Nepal (SPIN) is making further progress. The video from his 2012 SPIN trip can be viewed here:</span><br clear="none" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif;" /><br /><a href="https://youtu.be/6kgblvM26DM" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">Scythe Project in Nepal 2012 (SPIN) </span></a><br /><br clear="none" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">It was this SPIN video which inspired Anant Chaturvedi and his father to contact Alexander in 2015 while he was coincidentally in India promoting the use of scythes (and looking for potential collaborators there). Alexander returned to India in 2016 with Sy Shotz, to do demonstrations arranged by the Chaturvedis. The video he made during this trip went viral on YouTube, amassing more than 18 million views, and helping to generate an ever-increasing demand for scythes in India.</span><br clear="none" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif;" /><br clear="none" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">Since 2016, Alexander has made several more trips to India to consult on the scythe equipment design and procurement, and the Chaturvedis (through their company VIKALP) have continued the demonstrations and training, putting thousands of scythes into the hands of farmers across India. The VIKALP scythes are being used to harvest paddy rice, wheat, berseem clover, and other crops, with great success. The number of scythes in India is growing from season to season, especially since the government recognized its benefits and began promoting scythes by offering a subsidy which reduces the cost to farmers.</span><br clear="none" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif;" /><br clear="none" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">And now, because the success with scythes in India has been noticed elsewhere, we have come full circle back to Nepal. </span></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">Santosh Pandit and Ravi Prasad Choudhary, two agricultural engineering students at a university in Nepal, became interested in scythes for local use and were disappointed to learn that SPIN wasn't active at the time. They reached out to Alexander about what could be done to continue the SPIN project. Alexander suggested that their best option would be to contact Anant Chaturvedi to purchase VIKALP scythes and arrange for some training in Kanpur. Santosh and Ravi made a trip to India later that year, and they talk about their successful introduction to scythes in this video from VIKALP (with English subtitles):</span><br clear="none" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif;" /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="373" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2O3OHezYyvQ" width="449" youtube-src-id="2O3OHezYyvQ"></iframe></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">Alexander has been corresponding with Santosh and Ravi since they first contacted him, and they have been collaborating with his contact at the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), who had also noticed the successful use of scythes in India. Alexander returned to Nepal in January 2020 to discuss scythes with Santosh, Ravi, and NARC officials. NARC's plans to move forward with scythe trials in Nepal have been hampered by the Covid-19 situation, but we are all hopeful that they are able to reap the benefits from scythes in the near future.</span><br clear="none" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif;" /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTD9cY2EQH8zgocu_ZHosRe2D8fvJ4Dnb3_-r14ejHaHcgK6aYM7Vrp_6dQQywYjO7N5GihbOKMPa2G3TiTeHTa0pEYdtlFb9vJV_aNGjPbYvbt16gLEljT0yKMfIv_CjXSZXFHjILrZ4/s640/NARC+2012-2.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTD9cY2EQH8zgocu_ZHosRe2D8fvJ4Dnb3_-r14ejHaHcgK6aYM7Vrp_6dQQywYjO7N5GihbOKMPa2G3TiTeHTa0pEYdtlFb9vJV_aNGjPbYvbt16gLEljT0yKMfIv_CjXSZXFHjILrZ4/w400-h300/NARC+2012-2.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">at NARC, 2012</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZ5JdweihQ2c-Q_saAHkZNPOK5gC8MLhB91B_vdPVkp7UFCyC8AS8V_SAXOqfC6gPbN1oxYx1lEYV8y0kdi9kybig5asgeDY-61G-QbbDeEfYJASQ3nogxUe5oCdPjsKdszUY6O16DJc/s640/NARC+2020-1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZ5JdweihQ2c-Q_saAHkZNPOK5gC8MLhB91B_vdPVkp7UFCyC8AS8V_SAXOqfC6gPbN1oxYx1lEYV8y0kdi9kybig5asgeDY-61G-QbbDeEfYJASQ3nogxUe5oCdPjsKdszUY6O16DJc/w400-h268/NARC+2020-1.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">at NARC, 2020</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6PuKddHRrMfVlQse0Q-y26qG0r3JzCer_FShulyiX472D90kHnzoBX2oagumeml3v0zKJR1jslOrd53kXEKcoM4YVwA37Qpke_x7uo7kY9ZiTZPmvNbRZGXhfw8D27d2OH5E3yz-8EUM/s640/NARC+2020-2.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6PuKddHRrMfVlQse0Q-y26qG0r3JzCer_FShulyiX472D90kHnzoBX2oagumeml3v0zKJR1jslOrd53kXEKcoM4YVwA37Qpke_x7uo7kY9ZiTZPmvNbRZGXhfw8D27d2OH5E3yz-8EUM/w400-h268/NARC+2020-2.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">at NARC, 2020</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKGBDVXyNd2jUixnIAqYGGDFJIuV0qLLPTKhWjN80kYVDJh0Em6m72Lg4LfJnWYPjGbOfnE6GngADPgbw4_Yjm3mcW9AqX-fVJbFSQCNvSWsZRy8sdELvuiL4mupgIJAgzwRPSV39OhfQ/s640/KTM+2020-3.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKGBDVXyNd2jUixnIAqYGGDFJIuV0qLLPTKhWjN80kYVDJh0Em6m72Lg4LfJnWYPjGbOfnE6GngADPgbw4_Yjm3mcW9AqX-fVJbFSQCNvSWsZRy8sdELvuiL4mupgIJAgzwRPSV39OhfQ/w400-h268/KTM+2020-3.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">at Kathmandu with Santosh and Ravi, 2020</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Photos provided by Alexander Vido, and used with permission.</span></div><div><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-54426286371753922292018-08-12T20:16:00.000-07:002018-08-16T07:54:17.951-07:00Cuban success with "Arroz Popular"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Arroz_-_panoramio_(2).jpg/640px-Arroz_-_panoramio_(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Arroz_-_panoramio_(2).jpg/640px-Arroz_-_panoramio_(2).jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rice growing near Santo Domingo, Cuba (photo by Ziurdraude)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In Cuba, the "arroz popular" (or "cultivo popular") movement is a remarkable example of successful low-input production of rice by small farmers. Rice is a staple of the Cuban diet, and for decades was produced conventionally, with high inputs on large state-owned farms. In response to the crisis of the 1990s, small plots of rice were grown in otherwise unused areas, such as along roadsides or between sugarcane fields. By 2001, the annual production of this "arroz popular" had exceeded the conventional production of rice from large farms in Cuba. In 2008, 75% of the total national production of rice was "arroz popular".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Fundamental to the Cuban diet, the per capita consumption of rice exceeds 44 kg annually or 265 g per day. The production of rice in Cuba developed for many years on large state farms and it was also one of the crops prioritized by the State. Then it seemed indisputable that to achieve self-sufficiency with this cereal it was necessary to resort to conventional methods of high inputs. Nevertheless, even during the 1980s, when inputs were available, the national demand could not be covered and it was necessary to import 40% of the rice consumed. Production of this cereal with high inputs proved to be untenable at the beginning of the crisis of the nineties. The new program 'Popular rice' showed that self-managed and low-input agriculture could have a positive impact on national food self-sufficiency. The 'popular rice' production was, in its origins, like the urban agriculture in general, a movement for self-sufficiency. This cereal began to be cultivated in abandoned areas, in small plots between sugarcane fields, roadsides, etc. The movement grew rapidly and achieved unforeseen levels of production and efficiency. In 1997, while the Union of Rice Companies produced 150,000 tons, the 'Popular rice' movement achieved 140,600 tons and involved 73,500 small farmers who obtained, as a national average, 2.8 t/ha without the use of expensive inputs... In 2001, 'Popular rice' represented more than 50% of the total national production; in the year 2008, 75%."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">-- Fernando R. Funes-Monzote, from <i>Agricultura con Futuro: La alternativa agroecológica para Cuba</i>, 2009 [translated with help from Google Translate]</span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Rice_fields_in_vinales_cuba.jpg/640px-Rice_fields_in_vinales_cuba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Rice_fields_in_vinales_cuba.jpg/640px-Rice_fields_in_vinales_cuba.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rice growing near Viñales, Cuba (photo by Elgaard)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Manual harvesting has a significant role in this rice production, since machinery tends to be unsuitable for the smaller fields. <b>Studies done in Cuba have concluded that for plots up to 0.25 hectares (0.6 acres), manual harvesting is recommended as the most efficient method (as well as the most economical), and for larger plots of 0.25 to 1.0 hectare (2.5 acres), manual harvesting is still the most economical method.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately for the farm workers in Cuba, manual harvesting is typically being done with sickles or machetes. This is one area where scythes can have an important role. (Another important role that scythes would have is to reduce dependency on imports of fuel, machinery, and spare parts that keep the machinery running.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>With a scythe, rice is harvested at least 3 to 5 times faster than with a sickle</b> (as measured during trials in India). This increased efficiency of manual harvesting with scythes will effectively increase the size of the field where manual harvesting is the most efficient and economical method, further reducing dependencies on imported fuel and machinery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Beyond the improved efficiencies, the use of scythes is also friendlier to the bodies of the workers. Sickles and machetes require the worker to bend over or squat throughout the day while cutting, while scythes get the job done in less time while the worker is in a more-comfortable standing position.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alexander Vido, the scythe advocate from Canada who brought scythes to India (along with <a href="http://scytheconnected.blogspot.com/2016/06/sowing-seeds-for-scythe-revolution.html" target="_blank">Sy Schotz</a>, as shown in this <a href="https://youtu.be/9Im_8sI0QFQ" target="_blank">viral video</a>), extends a request to Cuban farmers, Cuban agroecologists, and Cuban researchers, asking them to please contact him if they would be interested to see how scythes could be used in Cuba. He asks for an invitation to Cuban farms or research centers, where self-funded demonstrations or trials could be arranged (with all travel, lodging and food expenses paid by the scythe-using visitors from Canada). These activities would be non-commercial in nature, with the goal of increasing awareness of how this tool can benefit small farmers when used properly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">For more information, please contact:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Alexander Vido</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>71 Linden Avenue</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Victoria, BC, V8V 4C9</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Canada</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>phone: (250) 598-0588</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>email: scytheworks@shaw.ca</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><u><b>Sources</b></u>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Quote from </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>Agricultura con Futuro:</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>La alternativa agroecológica para Cuba</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">by Fernando R. Funes-Monzote, 2009</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">pages 27-28</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.landaction.org/IMG/pdf/Agricultura_con_Futuro_Funes_Monzote.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.landaction.org/IMG/pdf/Agricultura_con_Futuro_Funes_Monzote.pdf</a></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Studies done in Cuba:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Technológias de cosecha y transporte de arroz (Tabla 3)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Area hasta 0.25 ha para el consumo -- </span><b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Manual con hoz</b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">...</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Area hasta 100 ha para el consumo -- Segadora manual motorizada..."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Mecanización de la producción de arroz en parcelas y fincas pequeñas</i> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Francisco González Guzmán, Idaibel Navarro Rodríguez, Alfredo Sotolongo Domínguez </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Instituto de Investigaciones de Ingeniería Agrícola, (IAgric), Cuba </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ingeniería Agrícola, ISSN-2227-8761, RNPS-2284, vol. 1, No. 1 (enero-junio, pp. 33-37), 2011 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.actaf.co.cu/revistas/Revista%20IAGRIC/1-2011-artic/iagric05111.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.actaf.co.cu/revistas/Revista%20IAGRIC/1-2011-artic/iagric05111.pdf</span></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"...en áreas pequeñas hasta 0,25 ha, lo más eficiente es realizar todas las actividades manualmente y con la ayuda de la tracción animal. El segado de las plantas y la trilla debe hacerse manual. Se siega con una hoz o machete una vez que el grano este en su madurez optima de cosecha (18 – 20 % de humedad)... Si la cantidad de semillas no es grande y no hay riesgo de perdidas por lluvias, animales u otras causas, se pueden secar al sol primero las plantas segadas y luego su trilla será mas fácil...La transportación de las plantas dentro del campo o al lugar de secado puede ser manual o con remolques de tracción animal. <b>Los productores individuales que poseen áreas hasta 1,00 ha, lo mas recomendable económicamente es realizar la siega de las plantas con la hoz y el machete</b>, también en limitados casos con una segadora manual o motorizada..."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Tecnologías y nuevo equipamiento para la producción arrocera en Cuba.</i> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Autores e Institución:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Francisco González Guzmán, Pedro Castro García, Octavio López Sánchez, Idaibel Navarro Rodríguez, José Suárez León</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Especialistas del Instituto de Investigaciones de Mecanización Agropecuaria. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">La Habana, Cuba</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/cuba/5360/Tecnologias%20mecanizaci%C3%B3n%20del%20arroz%20.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/cuba/5360/Tecnologias%20mecanizaci%C3%B3n%20del%20arroz%20.pdf</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://docplayer.es/21668751-Tecnologias-y-nuevo-equipamiento-para-la-produccion-arrocera-en-cuba-tecnology-and-new-equipment-for-the-rice-production-in-cuba.html" target="_blank">http://docplayer.es/21668751-Tecnologias-y-nuevo-equipamiento-para-la-produccion-arrocera-en-cuba-tecnology-and-new-equipment-for-the-rice-production-in-cuba.html</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[<b>40% </b>of the 'Popular Rice' harvest in some areas of Cuba was<b> </b></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">done <b>manually</b>,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and the m</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">anual harvest of rice </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">required <b>15 man-days per hectare</b>.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Procesamiento de poscosecha del Arroz Popular</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">De acuerdo con el intercambio realizado con los productores del área de estudio, la situación más común de la poscosecha es la siguiente: ...En Camagüey, alrededor del 60% de la producción total es cosechada por combinadas pertenecientes </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a entidades estatales o a cooperativas. Cerca del 30% es cosechada manualmente y trillada por medio </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">de trilladoras pertenecientes a productores individuales y menos del 10%, se cosecha y se trilla todo a </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">mano..."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">En Yaguajay alrededor de 60% se cosecha con combinada..."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Victoria, Yaguajay ... Corte manual... 15 hombre-día/ha"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>ESTUDIO DEL PROGRAMA PARA EL DESARROLLO</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>SUSTENTABLE DE LA PRODUCCION DE ARROZ</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>EN LA ZONA CENTRAL DE LA REPUBLICA DE CUBA</i>,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">AGENCIA DE COOPERACION INTERNACIONAL DE JAPON (JICA),</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">MINISTERIO DE LA AGRICULTURA DE LA REPUBLICA DE CUBA (MINAG), 2006</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://open_jicareport.jica.go.jp/pdf/11823168_01.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://open_jicareport.jica.go.jp/pdf/11823168_01.pdf</span></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Harvesting Rice with a Scythe (video from India)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>"<b>Using the scythe, we could easily manage to harvest between half to one acre of paddy [rice] in six hours of working</b>, thereby saving a considerable amount of time and effort."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://scytheconnected.blogspot.com/2017/03/harvesting-rice-with-scythe.html" target="_blank">http://scytheconnected.blogspot.com/2017/03/harvesting-rice-with-scythe.html</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Photograph </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">"Arroz" by Ziurdraude</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arroz_-_panoramio_(2).jpg" target="_blank">https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arroz_-_panoramio_(2).jpg</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Photograph "Rice fields in Vinales Cuba" by Elgaard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rice_fields_in_vinales_cuba.jpg" target="_blank">https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rice_fields_in_vinales_cuba.jpg</a></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-70844734691331393082018-08-06T14:39:00.000-07:002018-08-07T10:22:52.871-07:00Combine vs Sickle vs Scythe<br />
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<a href="https://i0.wp.com/vikalp.tech/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/sickle-small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="408" height="320" src="https://i0.wp.com/vikalp.tech/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/sickle-small.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The scythe is the clear winner for harvesting grains in India, according to calculations by the Vikalp team (costs listed in Rupees):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><u>Combine</u></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rent = Rs 1,500/acre</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Labour = Rs 500/acre</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Threshing costs = Rs 0 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Straw wastage = Rs 15,000 worth of straw wastage </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(roughly 30 quintals per acre)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Grain wastage = Rs 3,000-4,500</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(roughly 2-3 quintals per acre)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Total cost of harvesting an acre = Rs 21,000 </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><u>Sickle</u></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rent = Rs 0</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Labour = Rs 3,000-3,500/acre</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Threshing costs = Rs 3,500/acre </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Straw wastage almost zero </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(entire straw available as fodder)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Grain wastage almost zero </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(grain loss due to shedding is negligible)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Total cost of harvesting an acre = Rs 6,500-7,000 </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><u>Scythe</u></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rent = Rs 0</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Labour = Rs 600-1,000/acre</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thresing costs = Rs 3,500/acre </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Straw wastage almost zero </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(entire straw available as fodder)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Grain wastage almost zero </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(grain loss due to shedding is negligible)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Total cost of harvesting an acre Rs 4,000-4,500 </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Furthermore, the above calculations don't include the social and environmental costs, which make the scythes even more advantageous:</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Add to this the fact that harvesting with the sickle involves a lot of drudgery and harvesting with combines </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">leads to social evils like unemployment and environmental hazards like “<a href="http://scytheconnected.blogspot.com/2017/11/scythes-are-solution-to-delhi-air.html" target="_blank">straw burning</a>”.</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><u>Source</u></b>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photos, calculations, and quotations are from Vikalp</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://vikalp.tech/the-scythe/why-scythe/" target="_blank">http://vikalp.tech/the-scythe/why-scythe/</a></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-91791502335776640902018-07-31T16:16:00.000-07:002018-10-07T11:23:44.612-07:00The life and endeavours of Peter Vido<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSJ9qKSnWSuyvEzolAIACC41gEXfQsBJNQZTTlIpGA8GqwFQlWZGw6QcljEqG8lBSa4j65MZ61g9oL44xEk-l_XH0i_Wl1XQ8Eu27P3UzTELdzmobc97AXW0RcPpRISKxDOoX9o1YXXc/s1600/CubanCigarNewYearsDay2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="868" height="441" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSJ9qKSnWSuyvEzolAIACC41gEXfQsBJNQZTTlIpGA8GqwFQlWZGw6QcljEqG8lBSa4j65MZ61g9oL44xEk-l_XH0i_Wl1XQ8Eu27P3UzTELdzmobc97AXW0RcPpRISKxDOoX9o1YXXc/s640/CubanCigarNewYearsDay2016.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cuban Cigar at Midnight, New Year 2016</span></td></tr>
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<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Peter Vido wrote the following 'bio' in 2017 as part of some emails he sent to potential collaborators in Central and South America. </span></i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>In recent years, he made great efforts to reach small farmers around the world to help them realize the benefits of scythe-based forage cutting and haymaking techniques when their animals would otherwise not be getting enough nutrition throughout the year. In this realm, Peter and his family have learned how to do what might seem impossible: In a place with only 85 frost-free days per year, and seven months of vegetative dormancy, their cows, goats, and sheep (dozens of them) have thrived on a strictly home-grown diet consisting of only hay (along with what's foraged from the pasture). This diet was the norm for their ruminants for about 20 years. </i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The 'secret' is revealed below.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Born and raised in Slovakia, I emigrated to Canada in 1968. In 1974, after graduating from university (where I met my wife), we decided to throw away our paper diplomas (in biology and environmental studies, respectively) and put our lives' energy to what we thought of as 'more real' endeavors. By then we came to believe that small scale agriculture (rather than agro-industry) has long been the backbone of all civilizations, and that it is likely to remain so for many generations to come.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In line with that view, we chose the existence of small farmers, living in a very 'alternative-to-mainstream' manner, and more than 40 years later, we are still just that -- the remnants of the western world's 'peasants', so to speak, practicing an approach to agriculture we perceive as a sensible alternative to the modern (corporate-agenda-oriented) technological solutions to small farmers' challenges. For over 20 of those years we farmed 'our' 80 acres of fields and pastures using draft horses as the source of motive power. Our 16x24 foot cabin in which we raised 3 children is still 'off grid'.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1LEwtVbD3GJ1XNnwn7it-Q7ElfZpyA7omwdXOp6MIpcGWfUJfoJo6MPFwoVcVp3Nm4B_7uQ2jA1es6Xqjb3oiM5D-xI1db43C2x44krU1RXc2picNDNO555ntI7md15XYVSULgLICJE/s1600/NewBrunswickHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="640" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1LEwtVbD3GJ1XNnwn7it-Q7ElfZpyA7omwdXOp6MIpcGWfUJfoJo6MPFwoVcVp3Nm4B_7uQ2jA1es6Xqjb3oiM5D-xI1db43C2x44krU1RXc2picNDNO555ntI7md15XYVSULgLICJE/s320/NewBrunswickHome.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since 1998, our family's activism focused on the international advocacy of an 'ancient' (two millennia old) forage harvesting implement -- the scythe. In this field we have gained notable reputation both in the realm of design and technique, and have inspired numerous improvements at production level, globally. NONE of this involvement has been with 'entrepreneurial'/business/monetary goals in mind. Instead, we have been the (sometimes begrudged) watchdog/critic of the way this tool has been promoted and marketed during the recent years of internet-based mail order service...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From the beginnings of our 'career' as farmers and all along, our life has been intimately intertwined in co-existence with many domesticated animals (sheep, goats, cows, horses and donkeys -- all of which we maintained a breeding group of, rather than a few individuals). Our aim was to learn how to feed them well on a home-grown diet. And though we live in a climatic zone with only 85 frost-free days, we can (and we used to) grow enough concentrated carbohydrates (grains) to meet their nutritional needs according to dictates of modern science on animal nutrition. However, at some long-ago point in our experience, we came to question the wisdom of that approach... and gradually altered our strategy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Consequently, for perhaps 20 of the recent years, our ruminants have grown fat and produced plenty of milk on purely 'roughage' -- meaning only home-grown hay during the nearly 7 months of vegetative dormancy, and pasture during the rest of the year (still supplemented with home-grown hay ad lib. whenever the pasture is too lush or too wet from rain. This 'husbandry touch' is particularly appreciated by goats, as we determined by countless tests of milk yields over the years). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The 'secret' here is that -- quality wise -- the sort of hay we have learned how to make, we could not very well buy anywhere in Canada. The technology we employ to do so is the same, in principle, as was used by peasants of old Europe for centuries before crude oil and combustion engines were discovered (and when grains were too precious to use as feed for cows). However, once haymaking became mechanized (and already during the period of Western horse-powered agriculture), a portion of the leafy contents of the hay was often lost, thus reducing its nutritional potential.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of course, the modern science of animal nutrition came up with "dairy rations" (and other conveniences served from a bag). But how long -- we had asked 30+ years ago -- can such a 'welfare system' continue...? And is it even implementable, on the broad scale, in the so called 'developing/poor' regions of the globe? We do not think so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Given that stand (along with the many years of experience in that regard), what I believe we now have to offer to the campesinos anywhere are some useful hints on how to provide better nutrition, particularly for ruminants, by utilizing the natural vegetation, harvested locally, at the most favourable stage composition-wise) using relatively 'sustainable'/'intermediate' technology.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Haymaking has been sorely overlooked as a method of potential nourishment in practically all tropical regions. As profiled in FAO publication "Hay and Straw Conservation (for small scale farming and pastoral conditions)", within the last couple of decades some changes have been taking place in this respect, but they as yet not broadly communicated. Besides (going by the stated cutting output per man per day -- the single most costly step in the process), both the tool and the techniques in most of the recorded case histories can be improved. This I have NO doubt about, and if given the opportunity, I can settle the issue ('prove' it) rather quickly... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, I'd better shut up now, no? :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-- Peter Vido, 2017</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><u>Sources</u>:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Text and photo (with donkeys) from correspondence with Peter Vido.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photo of the Vido family home in New Brunswick appears at Scythe Connection:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://scytheconnection.com/about-us/" target="_blank">http://scytheconnection.com/about-us/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Line-engraving titled Old Father Time of Wiltshire,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">by Stanley Anderson, R.A., 1944</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Royal Academy of Arts Collection</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-78812984074353273252018-07-08T15:51:00.000-07:002018-07-08T15:51:11.591-07:00He is a mower no more.<div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Peter Vido, 1950 - 2018</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Alexander Vido, originally published by <a href="http://scytheworks.ca/Peter.html" target="_blank">ScytheWorks</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Peter once told me that in some Austrian villages, where haymaking with a scythe was a common practice, they referred to a man’s passing by saying: “He is a mower no more.” Now, six months after we learned about his cancer, with sadness I say: “Peter is a mower no more...” This expression is even more applicable since the scythe became first his passion, then the mission of his life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Peter will be missed by his friends and family, especially his wife, Faye, and daughter, Ashley, with whom he shared the care of their land and animals. They selflessly looked after him on the farm till the very end. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even though Peter liked to keep his feet on the ground, he was guided by his vision of the bigger picture, and would often neglect the ‘small necessities’ of daily life. I know their lifestyle was often romanticized, but their focus was on meaningful participation in human existence, rather than an idyllic life on the farm. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A scythe came to Peter’s attention quite innocently, and it soon replaced the horse-drawn sickle mower in their haymaking activities. To better understand the scythe, Peter went directly to the original sources. He travelled to Europe to visit scythe manufacturers, and went to villages to meet with old-timers for whom the scythe was indispensable. He observed the traditional ways the tools were used, and then tested and compared them, seeking the most efficient options. He encouraged others to do likewise. In his view, while some traditions are necessary to sustain a culture, they might also be restrictive, and therefore need to be questioned. He shared his observations with the scythe producers and encouraged them to implement changes to benefit the scythe users. He inspired, organized, and galvanized a new wave of scythe culture in Europe and North America. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At times Peter was demanding, but what he demanded of others he was always ready to match himself. He had little tolerance for someone misrepresenting the facts, especially for their own personal gain. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Peter was my instructor when I visited their farm, and later became my mentor when I decided to take the scythe to Nepal and eventually to India. His long-standing intention was to spread the use of scythes as appropriate technology for small farms around the world. At times our approaches may have differed, but we never questioned our shared vision. Since we lived nearly 6000 km apart, at opposite ends of Canada, we would spend countless hours on the phone. He regularly gave me 'tutorials' as we considered designs, discussed techniques, shared experiences, and made plans, looking for a ‘better way’. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It would not have been an exaggeration to refer to Peter as a ‘Living Scythe Library’. He had the ability to acquire, sort, and store huge amounts of information on the subject, and he was always ready to share it freely. Peter wasn’t a 'simple' farmer. I always thought of him as a visionary intellectual living on a farm, who viewed himself as a steward of the land in his care. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will miss my brother greatly...</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-9487088433556483502018-07-01T19:51:00.000-07:002018-07-01T19:51:00.919-07:00Peter Vido 1950–2018<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Peter Vido — June 10th, 1950 – June 23rd, 2018</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[From <a href="http://scytheconnection.com/updates/" target="_blank">http://scytheconnection.com/updates/</a>]</span><br />
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<i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Gramma said when you come on something good, first thing to do is share it with whoever you can find; that way, the good spreads out where no telling it will go. Which is right.”</i></div>
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— from <i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Education of Little Tree</i>, by Forrest Carter</div>
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Many years ago, Peter Vido came upon something good, something he knew right off he had to share. The more he learned, the more he wanted to share, and continue to learn. His appreciation and respect for this humble but graceful tool grew, and as he glimpsed the extent of what the scythe has to offer to our battered world, it became his mission to share the Gift of the Scythe with all. He started down the path of a scythe missionary with no way of knowing where it would lead him or how much he would eventually accomplish. Though he touched multitudes through his work, he still saw a great deal of unrealized potential. The burden of responsibility, to share with others the knowledge and wisdom he had gained through the years, weighed heavily on him, yet he carried that burden the best he knew how. Shrugging at a terminal illness diagnosis, he determinedly continued the work he had begun with more relentless optimism than most of us muster in the face of unrelenting challenges, ignoring his rapidly declining health to give a final push to the humble beginnings of a book project several years in the making, and making one last trip to Europe — where years ago he had earned the lighthearted title “Sensen Papst” (Scythe Pope) — in hopes of inspiring another step towards the scythe renaissance he first envisioned over two decades ago.</div>
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Then, early one morning as dawn broke on the other side, he slipped off to more peaceful meadows where scythes inspire only cooperation, not conflict.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-34956761240981778242018-05-01T21:58:00.000-07:002018-05-17T18:10:50.359-07:00The Big Book of the Scythe<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From Chapter 4, <i>The Big Book of the Scythe - Part 1</i><br />by Peter Vido and Family</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's May Day 2018, and Peter Vido and his family have released a new book on scythes, titled <i>"The Big Book of the Scythe, Part 1"</i>. This comprehensive instructional book is being provided at no charge, as a free download from their Scythe Connection website and related sites. It's still a work in progress, but the information is there, even if it's currently a little "rough around the edges".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The book's contents are </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">based on the Vido family's decades of scythe usage as an integral part of their full-time homesteading and livestock farming. The Vidos have been working on this book during the past few years, and the project will be ongoing, with occasional releases of improved versions of Part 1, along with the future development of the subsequent Parts 2, 3, and 4 (with each part having a different focus, as outlined <a href="http://scytheconnection.com/the-big-book-of-the-scythe-a-brief-outline/" target="_blank">here</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A paperback version is also being produced as a fundraiser for scythe introduction to small farmers in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Below are links where the book can be downloaded as a PDF file:</span></div>
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<a href="http://scytheconnection.com/the-big-book-of-the-scythe-a-brief-outline/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">http://scytheconnection.com/the-big-book-of-the-scythe-a-brief-outline/</span></a><br />
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<a href="http://scytheconnection.com/scwp/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Part-1-Version-1.0-2018-05-01-1.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">http://scytheconnection.com/scwp/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Part-1-Version-1.0-2018-05-01-1.pdf</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here are links for viewing and downloading individual chapters and sections:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SGzkEZpyD_kUK8x3BKtG7kutEeuMfRUi" target="_blank">The Big Book of the Scythe, Part 1 -- Practical User Guidelines</a></span><br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bXABJJqmaitGVMRWU-ZnC5DRODexoo2G" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Table of Contents</a><br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tEJQvVbVH04SsKpteBXdl9Og61esqFzW" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Foreword</a><br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Tw0Q1zsguJol2T5uahn4v22ZCNoBhXhY" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Introduction</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1p8jzFZPKKAeFJAbFVQQB1bVwEq-FMqbq" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chapter 1. Clarification of Terms – as used in these guidelines </span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1t7aF4SKjNLWzMaRIeAKGHje3WuoVMfmF" target="_blank">Chapter 2. Blade Selection</a></span><br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1EX1zUpy2YPDnJ2w815zyJJO4wSRpK9ci" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Chapter 3. Brief Notes on Snaths</a><br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bap30KcHEw_lQZI4DubCPwDR8B_tVoKc" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Chapter 4. Preparing the Blade’s Edge</a><br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QVOVL8meI26J8LgqzR3mSAunZqgSv9ot" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Chapter 5. The Elements of Scythe Fitting</a><br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sHhFgwQ3lkn1GQH_97FZGiTNbZEPwy4b" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chapter 6. Honing in the Field</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LwEiuMfeY9NpB1B4W_ol-L6WvW2K8AIS" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Chapter 7. Mowing Techniques</a><br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Hfa4twnn3f-6KZ6yu7xjxZRBW5oA0839" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Chapter 8. Identifying and Correcting the Causes of Common Mowing Problems</a><br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1fCwZ5aFdmn2PlwisXC9jpa-o-rbKoZqv" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Chapter 9. Repairing Minor Edge Damage</a><br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OPJNTKYEw3HSkr6rU6IS49Ezg1iDCt4b" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Chapter 10. Care of the Scythe, with a few Notes on “Safety”</a><br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vOXsdmBqC51YDUDbEuKbfSu4DIttdxeN" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Chapter 11. The Homemade ‘Eastern’ Snath</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-19852277465773071892018-04-23T11:05:00.000-07:002018-04-29T18:39:31.766-07:00Scythe Calisthenics -- Then and Now<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFgrLwtVYbydgsJSrLieSWwgscHvQ6s-0SdUz5QWRApv3cZX_ObAqbn6dMrMH1AZBfSDzvPIT4YkndvGbtQo7DxHqi9rQFOKRimmWERLjM_UHO9aK1HhPC9hMctkW9rILLI7ha-DGfhVw/s1600/MowingCalisthenics.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="527" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFgrLwtVYbydgsJSrLieSWwgscHvQ6s-0SdUz5QWRApv3cZX_ObAqbn6dMrMH1AZBfSDzvPIT4YkndvGbtQo7DxHqi9rQFOKRimmWERLjM_UHO9aK1HhPC9hMctkW9rILLI7ha-DGfhVw/s1600/MowingCalisthenics.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Source: Watson's Manual of Calisthenics, 1864)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">To get a wider swath, use a wider stance with more knee bending, as shown below, at right:</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTSkBH2eB641acVD4fCKcHg8mqMfVAlQtjALEm9gkS2EbDmC3NegCM7j4INsEqQgGKS7EvNCYue_itoayjcRRjaf5jr2wXtNjc16Fo-o6CLifeIqVRV3I96QUrLI0ZgejK5qwFICjHf90/s1600/MowingCalisthenics2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="497" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTSkBH2eB641acVD4fCKcHg8mqMfVAlQtjALEm9gkS2EbDmC3NegCM7j4INsEqQgGKS7EvNCYue_itoayjcRRjaf5jr2wXtNjc16Fo-o6CLifeIqVRV3I96QUrLI0ZgejK5qwFICjHf90/s1600/MowingCalisthenics2.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Source: ScytheConnection.com </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A report from some recent scything instruction:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Once all the peening and sharpening was done, I did an experiment with the 12 of us (including me) doing a "group calisthenics" warmup starting with David Tresemer's idea of letting one's arms hang loosely while swinging/twisting hips and torso from side to side. This progressed to doing this while having the elbows bent and hands partially closed, as if holding a scythe. This swinging progressed further to include a shifting of weight from side to side, in sync with the arms. This progressed further to have increased bending of the knee closest to the hands, while the heel of the other leg comes off the ground at the end of each left or right swing. This progressed further to have each foot move forward a couple inches as it is unweighted and the heel is raised. By now, everyone is doing the scything motion, including the forward advance with each stroke. This progressed further by having everyone slow down the pace of swinging so that it matched one's breathing, exhaling during the swing to the left, and inhaling during the return swing to the right.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>It was like practicing scything without holding a scythe. It seemed to prime everyone for the actual scything that immediately followed. Right off the bat, they were doing it better than I expected, including a guy who never held a scythe before who came along with a friend. So I consider the experiment a success.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u>Sources</u>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=OiEAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA78#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Watson's Manual of Calisthenics:</a> A Systematic Drill-book Without Apparatus, for Schools, Families, and Gymnasiums. With Music to Accompany the Exercises</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">by J. Madison Watson, 1864</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Scythe Connection, <i><a href="http://scytheconnection.com/mowing-technique/" target="_blank">Mowing Technique</a></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Personal correspondence</span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-66751146411513592272017-11-24T11:37:00.000-08:002017-11-24T17:39:27.815-08:00Scythes are a solution to Delhi air pollution<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN_Kv3A77yBcX2p-qzQDClCMjHsrWXj_Io0_31WggU0wRFcs5fNeKCCPGlCOQ69SfTUhwQZqA-nC_OVWIqFyb6OKvOeyu-Zu-obySCm76rFHgaQ3N_NoeZmJ-mCviOXNOTDkAZOemSWnM/s1600/VikalpNDTVprimetime.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="641" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN_Kv3A77yBcX2p-qzQDClCMjHsrWXj_Io0_31WggU0wRFcs5fNeKCCPGlCOQ69SfTUhwQZqA-nC_OVWIqFyb6OKvOeyu-Zu-obySCm76rFHgaQ3N_NoeZmJ-mCviOXNOTDkAZOemSWnM/s1600/VikalpNDTVprimetime.PNG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Screenshot from NDTV Prime Time program, November 9, 2017</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Delhi has earned the unenviable distinction of becoming the most polluted city on Earth this month, as air quality has reached epically bad proportions... merely breathing the air was, at its worst, like smoking 50 cigarettes in a day..."</span></span><br />
<span style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">-- Vox, November 23, 2017</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Why this spike in pollution?...Farmers in the neighboring states are burning straw from their last rice crop to clear fields for planting the wheat crop... The state of Punjab alone produces about 20 million tons of paddy straw. Roughly 85 to 90 percent of that is burnt in the field."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">-- The Washington Post, November 11, 2017</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Stubble burning is the ‘main villain’ behind the severe pollution in Delhi and neighbouring areas, the Delhi High Court said on Tuesday."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">-- The Hindu, New Delhi, November 7, 2017</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The NDTV news program "Prime Time" looked at how the air pollution is linked to the use of combine harvesters. As seen i</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">n the following video (an unofficial translated version), host Ravish Kumar suggests that instead of scapegoating the farmers, we try to understand their plight. He describes how scythes could be part of the solution to India's air pollution problem:</span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9J2eUoRD8NY/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9J2eUoRD8NY?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">NDTV Prime Time program, November 9, 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">(unofficial translated version - English)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/9J2eUoRD8NY" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/9J2eUoRD8NY</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><u>Sources</u>:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Delhi's off-the-charts smog, explained</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Vox, Nov 23, 2017, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Updated by Umair Irfan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/11/22/16666808/india-air-pollution-new-delhi" target="_blank">https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/11/22/16666808/india-air-pollution-new-delhi</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Delhi is blanketed with toxic smog. This is why.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Washington Post, November 11, 2017</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By Aseem Prakash, Nives Dolšak, Thomas Bernauer and Liam McGrath </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/11/11/delhis-been-hit-with-toxic-smog-why-its-political/" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/11/11/delhis-been-hit-with-toxic-smog-why-its-political/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Stubble burning the main reason for poor air in Delhi: HC</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Hindu, New Delhi, November 7, 2017</span><br />
<a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/stubble-burning-the-main-reason-for-poor-air-in-delhi-hc/article19999044.ece" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/stubble-burning-the-main-reason-for-poor-air-in-delhi-hc/article19999044.ece</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"Vikalp" on NDTV Prime Time</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Unofficial English Translation of the PrimeTime news coverage on the scythe</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Published on Nov 22, 2017</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[translation of original broadcast on Nov 9, 2017]</span><br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/9J2eUoRD8NY" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">https://youtu.be/9J2eUoRD8NY</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Ravish Kumar Prime Time ; 9nov17 |</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Air Pollution किसान है जिम्मेदार ? Vikalp Machine, Delhi Odd Even</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Published on Nov 10, 2017</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[original version as broadcast on Nov 9, 2017]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/dky88Lf21PY" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/dky88Lf21PY</a></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-29154809978544018752017-07-20T09:09:00.000-07:002017-07-23T16:11:15.975-07:00Book review: The Scything Handbook<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Reviewed by Peter Vido</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">***************</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>I wrote the review below as a response to Peter Redden's review of the same book, published in Rural Delivery -- a small country living-oriented magazine based in Nova Scotia, Canada. The former owner editor of that publication (to whom we sent the piece) merely responded that he is no longer involved with it. Instead of tracking down some 'still responsible' persona to have this be considered, I chose to take a simpler route and post it here. If truth be told, I care little if my words are printed in any 'official' source (since it often gets edited 'all to hell'...)</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>However, doing this 'partial piece' has inspired me to review The Scything Handbook more comprehensively, along with another recent book in the same field -- Learn to Scythe, by Steve Tomlin of UK. Consequently, I've begun a sort of two reviews under one cover... but during this time of a year here in the Northern hemisphere, writing time is in short supply; it may take a while to get that task done...</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Interim, may this be of some use to someone 'out there'...</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Peter Vido</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Perhaps The Scything Handbook (by Ian Miller, of USA) indeed deserves Peter Redden's evaluation of "mediocre". I myself am unsure how to average out its score, however, because the various sections of its content so differ in their quality and their merit to scythe users-to-be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The portions meant to be inspirational I have no issue with, even if they take up more than their share of space and closely resemble what anyone doing a bit of research on scythes can find all over the internet, or in the previous two books on the subject in the English language. Same goes for the 20 pages devoted to describing what it took to make a scythe blade during a certain period of history, since the process has gone through many changes since then. Would it not be of more interest to briefly outline how exactly those blades are made now? Then again, the topic might be considered 'trivial' in a rather short book that purports itself to be a comprehensive how-to manual. As for the discussion of the nutritional merits of grains, along with the sourdough-making and bread baking recipes, those have been better covered in numerous other more topic-specific books, and here I view them as a mere filler. But at least they will do no harm...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My concern is primarily with the instructional material directly pertaining to the scythe, because I perceive that a portion of it is likely to have a negative effect on some newcomers' scythe-using experience. What? Such a nicely put together little book and one that comes across in such a holistic manner? And one so beautifully illustrated?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the topic of artwork, I must salute Sandra Pond (the listed illustrator) on her talent. Still, her drawings could not quite save the day; in spite of them, and many other good bits of advice scattered throughout, I consider the instructional portions of The Scything Handbook, hmm... just shy of shoddy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The author obviously tried to do what he thought would be helpful and must have considered himself up-to-snuff. So did the editors and publishers. Unfortunately, their combined efforts do not, in my view, "cut the biscuit". Nevertheless, book-writing projects can take an ungodly amount of time, and this author deserves some credit simply for trying, no? But no worries there; before the book even hit the market he was already showered with praise by the publishers and the rest of the selected promoters who wrote the raving mini-reviews for the book's first page and its back cover. None of them, so far as I can tell, understand much about this tool, and their praise of the author's scythe-related credentials as well as the book's purely instructional content is way overblown. Yes, that will greatly help with the sales of the book, but is it fair, I ask, to its green and innocent prospective readers?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You see, had this very book landed in my lap 25 years ago, I likely would have been enamored with it (as I once was with David Tresemer's equivalent) and swallowed its content 'hook, line, and sinker'. The publisher's oh-so-glamorous promo phrases such as "written by a master of the scythe professionally trained in Austria... drawing deeply on research into original German texts" and "brings centuries-old scything techniques into the 21st century" would have had me, back then, rush like mad to get my hands on such a promising treasure. And I suspect that this is what will take place in many cases with the new or 'semi-experienced' scythe crowd, who are still anxious to learn from a 'master' -- because they have no way of knowing to what extent those phrases are hot air.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But I have spent a significant amount of time over a span of 15 years (with scythe learning as the very focus) within those European circles where Mr. Miller's credentials supposedly come from, hence a few cautionary notes below.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While Peter Redden seems a bit put off by the length/wordiness of the text, my take is that not enough of certain useful details are presented in order to make Mr. Miller's guidelines be as practical and self reliance-oriented as the promos make it out to be. Beyond what I consider omissions, the book also contains numerous blunders. Here is a brief sampling:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One category of blunders concerns those historically or technically inaccurate bits that may have little to do with what a person actually needs to know in order to learn how to cut some grass, but I reckon they have no place in a treatise by a "master". A prime example -- a portion of which was surely borrowed from The Scythe Book by Tresemer (one also flawed in numerous respects) : </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"American and English scythes are stamped (and thus not possible to peen) and were developed to harvest sugar cane and reed and are therefore not suitable for hay and small grain harvesting"</i> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That statement is simply humbug, and given that this topic has been addressed by numerous voices on the scythe scene for more than a decade (and David Tresemer's uninformed notions thereby presumably corrected) I wonder where Mr. Miller has been... Taking his above statement at face value implies that millions of hectares of grass and grain in the British Isles, North America, and Australia were cut with a version of a scythe "not suitable" for the task. Hmm...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(I'd have thought this would get Peter Redden's goat, because when I met him in 2005, both he and his wife entered the mowing competition in Truro with American scythes -- and back then I could not convince them that there is an easier version of the thing to use... a version in front of their nose -- one that our son won the first place with, and his 15 year old sister put a big man with a professional steel-bladed "brush saw" to shame... So not even a word in defense of this continent's generations-old standard in Redden's review??)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Although for more than 20 years my family has been advocating the use of the scythe's "Continental" version, opinions as to which principle design is preferable (and I mean for harvesting hay and small grains, not sugar cane or reeds) still do vary. Interested readers can google, for instance, Benjamin Bouchard (the most prominent among contemporary advocates of the American scythe), and those among RD's readers attending the N.S. scything competitions can ask the oldest participant -- a 90 some year old -- what his take is on the issue...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Another category of The Scything Handbook's blunders are the grossly exaggerated statements that are likely to move a newcomer to be either needlessly cautious or overly optimistic. Among them, these two top the list:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"A scythe, improperly handled or treated with too little respect, could maim or kill you or someone else"</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"... no effort whatsoever is required of your arms to produce the mowing stroke"</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Upon reading the first of these statements I did not know whether to laugh or cry... Regarding the second: Wouldn't "not much effort" (...is required) be enticing enough?? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Peter Redden did also wonder about the validity of comparing the dynamics of a scythe in use under varied field conditions to the action of the den-den daiko, which Ian Miller chose as an underlying analogy to promote his preferred (and somewhat odd) mowing movement. While expressing his doubts, open-minded fellow as he is, Redden promised to settle the issue this season out there in the field; let's see what he comes up with and I'll keep my mouth shut on this one for now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The third sort of blunders are actual instructional hints inviting potential disappointments, lack of efficiency or edge-shaping mishaps. Those blunders may be the least forgivable in a book which -- according to Dr. Ross Mars' (author of The Permaculture Transition Manual) review -- "...will enable you to proficiently master... (the use of a scythe)".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of many examples (which, interestingly, Peter Redden reviewed on a positive note) is the 'troubleshooting' section on page 64 and 65, dealing with consequences of improper peening. In my view, all 'explanations' as to reasons for the troubles (illustrated in figures 47-49) are either partially or wholly flawed (mostly the latter). Yes, it could be claimed that the issue is 'subjective' and a matter of opinion. And yes, a portion of the whole subject on how best to apply this tool is just that. But while the multitude of blade patterns, snath designs, hammer/anvil versions, honing and peening methods, etc. have long been expressions of regional and/or personal preferences, there are certain aspects of all this about which there has more or less been consensus among the really experienced mowers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One instance in this regard would be the distance of forward advance at a stroke -- which this book's guidelines suggest to be 1 ½ inches (or about 4 cm). Could it have been a typo (say, he meant 4 inches instead 4 cm)? If not, I'm quite certain that anyone who has swung a scythe over much more ground than (seemingly) has the author of that advice, would shake his head in disbelief or think it is meant as a joke. Taking such a very narrow sliver off the face of the stand may be fine for the very first few strokes during a beginners' course. But beyond that?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To the (4 cm) suggestion Mr. Miller adds, in brackets, "somewhat more for experienced mowers and for longer blades" but he does not specify what "somewhat" and "longer" mean, in this context, to him. Nor does he anywhere suggest an average blade's length recommended for the general task of today's beginners. That is a serious omission. Nor does he suggest a good/comfortable/efficient width of a cut/swath. That is another serious omission. Yes, both of these (the width of swath in good mowing conditions and the average blade length to be recommended to beginners) are examples where opinions vary. But not to even address the topic? Who then, if not a master, can help enlighten us all?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Although throughout the book the author does expound on certain sub-topics, a portion of it remains rather useless without more solid experiential background on his part and subsequent hints of merit. The haymaking chapter is the most glaring example, to me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Because so little has been written (and so much forgotten) about the art of haymaking, on the one hand I applaud him on including what he did on that theme, especially as he brought into the discussion the concept of curing hay on "racks". Still, I cannot in good conscience give him an "A" for anything more than trying... So far as I can see, he has spent far more time reading about how to best employ the various styles of racks than actually curing hay on them. And because those old texts from which he copied the info and the attractive photos (of hay curing in the field) were written for members of a culture that already understood the basics of 'loose' haymaking, they skipped certain crucial bits of advice, and so did Mr. Miller. And, as we eventually often learn -- "the devil is in the details"...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As a hay-making connoisseur (though still by no means a "master") who has spent the past 40 years learning how to bring in the leaves (as opposed to mostly just stems) for the winter's hay supply, I pray that God would not someday play a prank and transform me into a cow or a goat that is to subsist on the hay made by Ian Miller in the rain, putting freshly cut grass on the "Swedish wire rack" (or any other rack, pole, tripod or whatever structure standing under the open and rainy sky). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All in all, I think that if he re-reads his own scythe-using and haymaking guidelines several years hence (provided he does not -- as did David Tresemer -- leave the scythe-related learning to become just a short spell in his life's story), he will want to do a major revision of the text. Unfortunately, in the meantime the book will have influenced the on-the-ground experience of countless people -- something that cannot ever be 'taken back'... In other words, my overall impression is that he ought to have learned a whole lot more before taking on the task of writing a widely promoted book. </span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-81155413674733495132017-03-03T15:08:00.000-08:002017-03-03T15:25:18.024-08:00Harvesting Rice with a Scythe<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Using the scythe, we could easily manage to harvest between half to one acre of paddy in 6 hours of working thereby saving a considerable amount of time and effort."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVTFrrMjQ28" target="_blank">Harvesting Paddy with a Scythe</a></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-85903361850122055412017-01-17T09:13:00.000-08:002017-01-17T11:40:25.759-08:00Scythe instruction videos -- in Hindi<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Anant Chaturvedi of Kanpur, India, is producing a series of scythe tutorial videos with narration in the Hindi language. Here are the first five videos of the series:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>#1: Unboxing your new Scythe (HIndi)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>#2: Assembly of Snath and Blade (Hindi)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>#3: Cradle Assembly (Hindi)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>#4: Peening with the Jig (Hindi)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>#5: Edge Treatment following Peening (Hindi)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><u>Source:</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">YouTube Channel <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl88Zr3fRxeiczkvBdaLXbQ" target="_blank">Vikalp</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-25208038853093131422016-12-09T18:58:00.000-08:002016-12-09T18:58:03.210-08:00Scythe basics, illustrated?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH6MPCNwyr_pUcqiIrgqUwly866DP-xGjyOoQJkWgXzVRHo-3gQdWHWu-_hL5YG2mc_JjPIMnlwW-TTuWfcDzW3q8huGIH3guOe7YYqT4-cI0VPEZp4YZX2HskVYYT9lS3LohpOsMINYU/s1600/PictorialVersionDemo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH6MPCNwyr_pUcqiIrgqUwly866DP-xGjyOoQJkWgXzVRHo-3gQdWHWu-_hL5YG2mc_JjPIMnlwW-TTuWfcDzW3q8huGIH3guOe7YYqT4-cI0VPEZp4YZX2HskVYYT9lS3LohpOsMINYU/s640/PictorialVersionDemo.JPG" width="476" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Some preliminary sketches made while considering the concept of a pictorial booklet of scythe instructions.</span></span></td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-77746581360939408662016-11-15T14:46:00.000-08:002016-12-01T06:29:28.585-08:00The high cost of scythe stones<br />
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<a href="http://www.otterygazette.co.uk/images/stories/201305/maintaing_an_edge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.otterygazette.co.uk/images/stories/201305/maintaing_an_edge.jpg" height="513" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A tragic story published in 1854, the same year the above drawing was sketched. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />SHARPENING THE SCYTHE<br /><br />In the heart of a high table-land that overlooks <br />many square leagues of the rich scenery of <br />Devonshire, the best scythe-stone is found. The <br />whole face of the enormous cliff in which it is <br />contained is honeycombed with minute quarries; <br />half-way down there is a wagon road, entirely <br />formed of the sand cast out from them. To walk <br />along that vast soft terrace on a July evening is<br />to enjoy one of the most delightful scenes in <br />England. Forests of fir rise overhead like cloud <br />on cloud; through openings of these there peeps <br />the purple moorland stretching far southward to <br />the Roman Camp, and barrows from which <br />spears and skulls are dug continually. What- <br />ever may be underground, it is all soft and bright <br />above, with heath and wild flowers, about which <br />a breeze will linger in the hottest noon. Down <br />to the sand road the breeze does not come; there <br />we may walk in calm, and only see that it is <br />quivering among the topmost trees. From the <br />camp the Atlantic can be seen, but from the sand <br />road the view is more limited, though many a <br />bay and headland far beneath show where the <br />ocean of a past age rolled. Fossils and shells <br />are almost as plentiful within the cliff as the <br />scythe-stone itself, and wondrous bones of <br />extinct animals are often brought to light. <br /><br />All day long, summer and winter, in the sombre <br />fir-groves may be heard the stroke of the <br />spade and the click of the hammer; a hundred <br />men are at work like bees upon the cliff, each in <br />his own cell of the great honeycomb, his private <br />passage. The right to dig in his own burrow <br />each of these men has purchased for a trifling <br />sum, and he toils in it daily. Though it is a <br />narrow space, in which he is not able to stand <br />upright, and can scarcely turn — though the air <br />in it that he breathes is damp and deadly — though <br />the color in his cheek is commonly the hectic of <br />consumption, and he has a cough that never <br />leaves him night or day — though he will himself <br />remark that he does not know among his neighbors <br />one old man — and though, all marrying <br />early, few ever see a father with his grown-up <br />son, yet, for all this, the scythe-stone cutter <br />works in his accustomed way, and lives his short <br />life merrily, that is to say, he drinks down any <br />sense or care that he might have. These poor <br />men are almost without exception sickly drunkards. <br />The women of this community are not <br />much healthier. It is their task to cut and shape <br />the rough-hewn stone into those pieces wherewith <br />"the mower whets his scythe." The thin <br />particles of dust that escape during this process <br />are very pernicious to the lungs; but, as usual, <br />it is found impossible to help the ignorant sufferers <br />by any thing in the form of an idea from without; <br />a number of masks and respirators have been more <br />than once provided for them by the charity of the <br />neighboring gentry, but scarcely one woman has <br />given them her countenance. <br /><br />The short life of the scythe-stone cutter is also <br />always liable to be abruptly ended. Safety re- <br />quires that fir-poles from the neighboring wood <br />should be driven in one by one on either side of <br />him, and a third flat stake be laid across to make <br />the walls and roof safe, as the digger pushes his <br />long burrow forward. Cheap as these fir-poles <br />are, they are too often dispensed with. There is <br />scarcely one of the hundred mined entrances of <br />disused caverns here to be seen, through which <br />some crushed or suffocated workman has not <br />been brought out dead. The case is common. <br />A man can not pay the trifle that is necessary <br />to buy fir-poles for the support of his cell walls; <br />the consequence is, that sooner or later, it must <br />almost inevitably happen that one stroke of the <br />pickax shall produce a fall of sand behind him, <br />and set an impassable barrier between him and <br />the world without. It will then be to little purpose <br />that another may be working near him, <br />prompt to give the alarm and get assistance; <br />tons upon tons of heavy sand divide the victim <br />from the rescuers, and they must prop and roof <br />their way at every step, lest they too perish. <br />Such accidents are therefore mostly fatal; if the <br />man was not at once crushed by a fall of sand <br />upon him, he has been cut oft from the outer air, <br />and suffocated in his narrow worm-hole. <br /><br />Whiteknights is a small village at the foot of this cliff, <br />inhabited almost entirely by persons following <br />this scythe-stone trade. The few agricultural <br />laborers there to be met with may be distinguished <br />at a glance from their brethren of the pits; the <br />bronzed cheeks from the hectic, the muscular <br />frames from the bodies which disease has weakened, <br />and which dissipation helps to a more swift <br />decay. The cottages are not ill-built, and generally <br />stand detached in a small garden; their <br />little porches may be seen of an evening thronged <br />with dirty pretty children, helping father outside <br />his cavern by carrying the stone away in little <br />baskets, as he brings it out to them. <br /><br />Beside the Luta rivulet, which has pleasanter <br />nooks, more flowery banks, and falls more musical <br />than any stream in Devon ; beside this brook, <br />and parted by a little wood of beeches and wild <br />laurel from the village, is a very pearl of cottages. <br />Honeysuckle, red-rose, and sweet-briar hold it <br />entangled in a fragrant net-work ; they fall over <br />the little windows, making twilight at midnoon, <br />yet nobody has ever thought of cutting them <br />away or tying up a single tendril. Grandfather <br />Markham and his daughter Alice, with John <br />Drewit, her husband and master of the house, <br />used to live there, and they had three little chidlren,<br />Jane, Henry, and Joe. <br /><br />A little room over the porch was especially <br />neat. It was the best room in the cottage, and <br />therein was lodged old Markham, who had, so <br />far as the means of his children went, the best <br />of board as well. He was not a very old man, <br />but looked ten years older than he was, and his <br />hand shook through an infirmity more grievous <br />than age. He was a gin-drinker. John Drewit <br />had to work very hard to keep not only his own <br />household in food and clothing, but also his poor <br />old father-in-law in drink. <br /><br />John was a hale young man when first I knew <br />him, but he soon began to alter. As soon as it <br />was light he was away to the sand-cliff by a <br />pleasant winding path through the beechwood <br />and up the steps which his own spade had cut. <br />One or two of them he had made broader than <br />the rest, at intervals, where one might willingly <br />sit down to survey the glory spread beneath; the <br />low, white, straw-thatched farms gleaming like <br />light among the pasture-lands, the little towns <br />each with its shining river, and the great old city <br />in the hazy distance; the high beacon hills, the <br />woods, and far as eye could see, the mist that <br />hung over the immense Atlantic. This resting <br />on the upward path, at first a pleasure, became <br />soon a matter of necessity, and that, too, long <br />before the cough had settled down upon him; <br />few men in Whiteknights have their lungs so <br />whole that they can climb up to their pits without <br />a halt or two. <br /><br />The old man helped his son-in-law sometimes; <br />he was a good sort of man by nature, and <br />not a bit more selfish than a drunkard always <br />must be. He ground the rough stones into shape <br />at home, minded the children in his daughter's <br />absence, and even used the pick himself when he <br />was sober. John, too, was for his wife's sake <br />tolerant of the old man's infirmity, though half <br />his little earnings went to gratify the old man's <br />appetite. At last necessity compelled him to be, <br />as he thought, undutiful. Print after print vanished <br />from the cottage walls, every little ornament, <br />not actually necessary furniture, was sold: <br />absolute want threatened the household, when <br />John at last stated firmly, though tenderly, that <br />giandfather must give up the gin-bottle or find <br />some other dwelling. Alice was overcome with <br />tears, but when appealed to by the old man, <br />pointed to her dear husband, and bowed her head <br />to his wise words. <br /><br />For two months after this time, there were no <br />more drunken words nor angry tongues to be <br />heard within Johns pleasant cottage. Nothing <br />was said by daughter or by son-in-law of the long <br />score at the public-house that was being paid off <br />by instalments; the daughter looked no longer <br />at her father with reproachful eyes, and the <br />children never again had to be taken to bed <br />before their time— hurried away from the sight <br />of their grandfather*s shame. At last, however, <br />on one Sunday evening in July, the ruling passion <br />had again the mastery; Markham came home in <br />a worse state than ever; and in addition to the <br />usual debasement, it was evident that he was <br />possessed also by some maudlin terror, that he <br />had no power to express. <br /><br />Leaving him on his bed in a lethargic sleep, <br />John sallied forth as usual at dawn; his boys, <br />Harry and Joe, carrying up for him his miner's <br />spade and basket. Heavy-hearted as he was, he <br />could not help being gladdened by the wonderful <br />beauty of the landscape. His daughter told me <br />that she never saw him stand so long looking at <br />the country — he seemed unwillingly to leave the <br />sunlight for his dark, far-winding burrow. His <br />burrow he had no reason to dread. Poverty never <br />had pressed so hard upon John Drewit as to induce <br />him to sell away the fir props that assured <br />the safety of his life. Often and often had his <br />voice been loud against those men, who, knowing <br />of the mortal danger to which they exposed their <br />neighbors, gave drink or money in exchange for <br />them to the foolhardy and vicious. Great, therefore, <br />was his horror when be went into his cave <br />that morning, and found that his own props had <br />been removed. They had not been taken from <br />the entrance, where a passer-by might have <br />observed their absence ; all was right for the first <br />twenty yards, but beyond that distance down to <br />the end of his long toil-worn labyrinth every pole <br />was stripped away. Surely he knew at once <br />that it was not an enemy who had done this; he <br />knew that the wretched old man who lay stupefied <br />at home, had stolen and sold his life defense for <br />drink. All that the poor fellow told his boys <br />was that they should keep within the safe part <br />of the digging while he himself worked on into <br />the rock as usual. Three or four times he brought <br />out a heap of scythe-stones in his basket, and <br />then he was seen alive no more. <br /><br />Harry, his eldest son, was nearest to the <br />unpropped passage when the sand cliff fell. When <br />he heard his father call out suddenly, he ran at <br />once eagerly, running toward the candle by which <br />the miner worked, but on a sudden all was dark; <br />there was no light from candle or from sun — <br />before and behind was utter blackness, and there <br />was a noise like thunder in his ears. The whole <br />hill seemed to have fallen upon them both, and <br />many tons of earth parted the father from his <br />child. The sand about the boy did not press on <br />him closely. A heavy piece of cliff that held <br />together was supported by the narrow walls of the <br />passage, and his fate was undetermined. He <br />attended only to the muffled sounds within the <br />rook, from which he knew that his father, though <br />they might be the sounds of his death struggle, <br />still lived. <br /><br />To the people outside the alarm had instantly <br />been given by the other child, and in an incredibly <br />short space of time the laborers from field and <br />cave came hurrying up to the rescue. Two only <br />could dig together, two more propped the way <br />behind them foot by foot; relays eagerly waited <br />at the entrance; and not an instant was lost in <br />replacing the exhausted workmen. Every thing <br />was done as quickly, and, at the same time, as <br />judiciously as possible, the surgeon had at the <br />first been ridden for, at full speed, to the neigh- <br />boring town; brandy and other stimulants, a rude <br />lancet — with which many of the men were but <br />too well practiced operators — bandages and blankets <br />were all placed ready at hand: for the disaster <br />was so common at Whiteknights that every <br />man at once knew what was proper to be done. <br />Those who were not actively engaged about the <br />cave, were busy in the construction of a litter — <br />perhaps a bier — for the unhappy victims. <br /><br />How this could have happened? was the whispered <br />wonder. John was known to be far too <br />prudent a man to have been working without <br />props, and yet fresh ones had to be supplied to <br />the rescuers, for they found none as they <br />advanced. The poor widow — every moment made <br />more sure of her bereavement — stood a little way <br />aside; having begged for a spade and been refused, <br />she stood with her two children hanging <br />to her apron, staring fixedly at the pit's mouth. <br /><br />Down at the cottage there was an old man <br />invoking Heaven's vengeance on his own gray <br />head and reproaching himself fiercely with the <br />consequences of his brutal vice; he had stolen <br />the poles from his son's pit on the previous morning, <br />to provide himself with drink; and on that <br />very day, even before he was quite recovered from <br />his yesterday's debauch, he was to see the victim <br />of his recklessness brought home a lifeless heap. <br />He saw John so brought in, but with the eyes of <br />a madman; his brain, weakened by drunkenness, <br />never recovered from that shock. <br /><br />Basket and barrow had been brought full out <br />of the pit a hundred times; and it was almost <br />noon before, from the bowels of the very mountain <br />as it seemed, there cam up a low moaning <br />cry. "My child, my child," murmured the <br />mother: and the digging became straightaway <br />even yet more earnest, almost frantic in its speed <br />and violence. Presently into the arms of Alice <br />little Harry was delivered, pale and corpse-like, <br />but alive; and then a shout as of an army was <br />set up by all the men. <br /><br />They dug on until after sunset — long after <br />they had lost all hope of finding John alive. His <br />body was at last found. It was placed upon the <br />litter, and taken, under the soft evening sky, <br />down through the beech wood home. Alice <br />walked by its side, holding its hand in hers, <br />speechless, and with dry eyes. She never knew <br />until after her father's death, how her dear John <br />was murdered. She used to wonder why the <br />old man shrank from her when she visited him, <br />as she often did, in his confinement. The poor <br />widow is living now, though she has suffered <br />grief and want. Her daughter Jane has married <br />a field laborer, and her sons, by whom she is now <br />well supported, have never set foot in a pit since <br />they lost their father. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u><b>Sources</b></u>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Picture is from the Ottery Gazette article <a href="http://www.otterygazette.co.uk/news/141-maintaining-an-edge-devons-unique-whetstone-industry" target="_blank"><i>Maintaining an Edge - Devon's unique whetstone industry</i></a>, with the caption: "Peter Orlando Hutchinson visited the mines in September 1854, when he made this watercolour sketch. Picture courtesy of the East Devon AONB and the Devon Heritage Centre". The Ottery Gazette article (written by Al Findlay, and Chris Wakefield, Ottery Heritage Society) is highly recommended.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The story <i>Sharpening the Scythe</i> appears in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=OIwCAAAAIAAJ&dq=scythestone%20pits&pg=PA73#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Harper's New Monthly Magazine,Vol. IX, No. XLIX, June 1854, p. 73-76</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">after originally appearing in the weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=wfRAAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22household%20words%22%20%22sharpening%20the%20scythe%22&pg=PA150#v=onepage&q&f=true" target="_blank">Household Words, 1 April 1854, No. 210, p. 150-152</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(The story was republished later in </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=HS8ZAAAAYAAJ&dq=scythe%20stone%20cutter&pg=PA598#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">The Churchman's Monthly Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 10, October 1854, p. 598</a>.) </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib8mZH5DBOvOefBQM4JERJCk72eUGVgj_rfO3R4PSF2YaynkhWUmT64uWXqnRypVeybI6YYw-efUukIcAaL807Cb0CEXpVegI7f0e6i6crQrBQksoNlwuJHn6-veiVvj8i5xvNWsCgOCI/s1600/DickensHouseholdWords.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib8mZH5DBOvOefBQM4JERJCk72eUGVgj_rfO3R4PSF2YaynkhWUmT64uWXqnRypVeybI6YYw-efUukIcAaL807Cb0CEXpVegI7f0e6i6crQrBQksoNlwuJHn6-veiVvj8i5xvNWsCgOCI/s1600/DickensHouseholdWords.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to the <a href="http://www.djo.org.uk/indexes/authors/james-payn.html" target="_blank">Dickens Journals Online</a>, <i>Sharpening the Scythe</i> was written by the novelist James Payn (1830-1898), and was "a prose variant of Payn's <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=JTpcAAAAcAAJ&lpg=PA43&dq=%22The%20Scythe-Stone%20Cutter%22%20payn&pg=PA43#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">'The Scythe-Stone Cutter' in <i>Stories from Boccaccio and Other Poems</i></a>"</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1852).</span><br />
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<a href="https://books.google.com/books/content?id=JTpcAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA43&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U3JPNQlKGAQ2IprR-flumKj1XONBA&ci=109%2C311%2C689%2C469&edge=0" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://books.google.com/books/content?id=JTpcAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA43&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U3JPNQlKGAQ2IprR-flumKj1XONBA&ci=109%2C311%2C689%2C469&edge=0" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some related information can be found at the <a href="http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/stones_ahrb_2005/cfm/Public/details/RockDetails.cfm?RockCode=HSCYTH" target="_blank">University of Southampton's "Stone in Archaeology Database" entries for Honiton Scythe Stones</a>, including the following details:</span><br />
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<a href="http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/stones_ahrb_2005/cfm/Public/details/RockDetails.cfm?RockCode=HSCYTH&BCnt=29&Choice=1" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Main Details</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>...The best stone was about 80 feet beneath the surface and four beds were favoured by the miners. They were locally known as 'fine vein', 'gutters' (most commonly used for scythe stones) 'bottom stone' and 'soft vein' (Fitton 1836: 236- 238)...The Blackdown Greensand was extensively exploited for siliceous concretions in the vicinity of Blackborough Common. This was an irregularly cemented micaceous sandstone containing glauconite and sponge spicules and rare silicified shells, with traces of ripple marks and horizontal and vertical burrows (Devon County Council n.d.). These concretions were of "just the right lightweight porous composition and abrasive surface" to provide material for whetstones (Stanes 1993). Geologically this stone is described as a quartz-muscovite-tourmaline grit...<br />These whetstones were often known as 'Devonshire batts'.</i> </span><br />
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<a href="http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/stones_ahrb_2005/cfm/Public/details/RockDetails.cfm?RockCode=HSCYTH&BCnt=30&Choice=3" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Quarries</span></a><br />
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<i>...Quarrying began in the 18th and 19th centuries on Blackborough Common,
working extended along to Ponchydown and perhaps as far south as North
Hill. A thriving industry was developed which provided whetstones of a
very high quality to a huge market. The stone was soft when first dug
and could be shaped, but later it hardened on exposure to air (Edmonds
1975: 70). Unfortunately by 1900 most of the stone was worked out and
only three mines remained, and by 1910 the invention of carborundum
meant the end of the whetstone industry (Rugg 1999). The mines were
driven horizontally into the hill for up to 400 metres and today the
remains of the mines can just about be discerned as hollows on the
surface (ibid.)</i></div>
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<a href="http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/stones_ahrb_2005/cfm/Public/details/RockDetails.cfm?RockCode=HSCYTH&BCnt=31&Choice=4" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Usage</span></a><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">...This stone was primarily used for the manufacture of whetstones, these
were stones used for sharpening the edges of implements, such as scythes
and sickles etc. The ones made at Blackborough were more or less
rectangular in shape with bevelled corners and tapered at the ends, and
approximately 31x4x3cm (Moore: 1978: 62).</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/stones_ahrb_2005/cfm/Public/details/RockDetails.cfm?RockCode=HSCYTH&BCnt=32&Choice=5" target="_blank">References</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Edmonds, E.A, McKeown, M.C. & Williams, M. (1975)<br /><i>British Regional Geology: South-West England.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fitton, W. H. (1836)<br /><i>Observations on some of the Strata between the Chalk and the Oxford Oolite in the South-East of England.</i><br />Journal: Transactions of the Geological Society of London, 2nd series. 4. pp. 103 - 388.<br /> <br />Moore, D. T. (1978)<br /><i>The Petrology and Archaeology of English Honestones.</i><br />Journal: Journal of Archaeological Science. 5, pp. 61-73.<br /> <br />Stanes, R. G. F. (1993)<br /><i>Devonshire Batts, The Whetstone Mining Industry and Community of Blackborough in the Blackdown Hills</i><br />Journal: Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association. Vol. 125, pp. 71 - 112. </span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-34480739079531114312016-06-08T10:15:00.000-07:002016-06-08T10:42:58.944-07:00Scythe Initiative in India - Video<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhGPCQMwo9KBOqyss4VAgwedGhOH0lKzXSkd2oru67nj6Pe5AepbAmLbTax53mZyMyK-I2B3-DVLHD8atLGw56U4Is09A9MGbJX0kw0hYtshczSjkfFlDS8Lw3qvyZELYzXZCpuEbQl2U/s1600/ScytheIndiaVideoStill1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhGPCQMwo9KBOqyss4VAgwedGhOH0lKzXSkd2oru67nj6Pe5AepbAmLbTax53mZyMyK-I2B3-DVLHD8atLGw56U4Is09A9MGbJX0kw0hYtshczSjkfFlDS8Lw3qvyZELYzXZCpuEbQl2U/s640/ScytheIndiaVideoStill1.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Contest" between scythe and sickle (from the video)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here's a new video by Alexander Vido about his Scythe Project in India:</span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-88240126945139122462016-06-01T17:38:00.001-07:002018-11-14T07:24:00.404-08:00Sowing seeds for a scythe revolution<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The following report was written by Sy Schotz about the recent introduction of scythes to India (population 1.25 billion). Some background: </span>80% of the farms in India are
considered “Small” or “Marginal". The average size of land holdings is 1.3 hectares, and manual labor plays a
large role. More than 50% of India's working population is involved
with agriculture (compared with 2% for the USA, and 4% for Western
Europe), and there are still shortages of agricultural labor.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sowing seeds for a scythe revolution </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">by Sy Schotz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />For one month in the spring of 2016, I had the opportunity to join Alexander Vido (of Scythe Works) in demonstrating the use of the scythe to harvest wheat in India, where the tool has been practically unknown. That country perhaps stands to gain more from the use of scythes than any other, because of the hundreds of millions of its farm workers who still harvest wheat and rice with sickles. Replacing the sickle with the scythe would make it possible for crops to be harvested in a fraction of the time, besides being much easier on the bodies of the users. <br /><br />The seed of this scythe mission was sown in Alexander's heart ten years ago, when he first visited India. Moved by the living conditions of the lower classes, it struck him that the application of scythes could greatly improve many lives. In 2011, he made his first attempt to introduce the scythe to farmers who'd only used sickles: the Scythe Project in Nepal (<a href="http://scytheworks.ca/SPIN.html" target="_blank">SPIN</a>). Despite his focus and dedication, SPIN failed in its purpose of putting the scythe to widespread use, due to a lack of common vision between Alexander and the local co-organizers</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />The redeeming value of SPIN came in the form of videos from that trip, which Alexander posted on youtube. Three years later, one of those videos came to the attention of Vivek and Anant Chaturvedi, of Kanpur, India. This father and son team are committed to rejuvenating the life of India's villages and helping to reverse the current trend of migration into cities. They have already developed two appropriate technologies which could contribute to the quality of village life: a rice hull-powered generator, and an animal-powered deep well pump/fodder chopper. They had nearly completed a third technology: a solar powered, hand-held, grain harvester. This contraption was intended to be an alternative to the sickle, that is until Vivek saw a video of Alexander mowing wheat in Nepal, and dropped the 'solar harvester' project. Instead, they tried to have a few scythes made, but none of the models were satisfactory.<br /><br />Eventually, the Chaturvedis contacted Alexander when they learned that he and his son Gabriel were already in India. Alexander and Gabriel were by then only a few days away from their flight home, having already spent six weeks visiting folks who had reached out in the aftermath of SPIN. Impressed by the Chaturvedis attempts at manufacturing a scythe, Alexander decided to fly back to Delhi in order to leave time to travel another 500 km by car, through the night, to spend but one day at the Chaturvedis' farm in Kanpur. It turned out to be the most fruitful day Alexander had yet spent in India or Nepal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">What followed, three months later, stands out as a dramatic success amongst other recent attempts to introduce this tool to third-world countries.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">After Alexander returned to Canada, he remained in contact with the Chaturvedis, who hurriedly began preparing for an introduction of the tool during the upcoming wheat harvest. Their ambition was to demonstrate the utility of the scythe to a select audience who might become trainers and distributors in their own regions. While Anant waded into the bogs of Indian bureacracy, setting up a company to import scythes, Vivek arranged a full schedule of demonstrations across Northern and Central India. <br /><br />Our schedule began with an official 'launching' of the tool on the Chaturvedi farm. The press was lured to the event by the presence of Palikarji, a natural farming guru with more than 5 million followers, who endorsed the scythe and suggested its inclusion in his program of 'zero budget farming.' The launch was covered in major Indian newspapers, and the scythe would be covered by the press a few more times over the course of the month-long tour. During demonstrations, thousands of people witnessed the tool in action, and many had a chance to try it out themselves. On the last day of our trip the Minister of State of the Indian Department of Agriculture hosted a demonstration at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. A number of video clips from this trip have ‘gone viral,' including one of the minister excitedly trying out a scythe for the first time. Needless to say, the scythe is turning lots of heads in India, and elsewhere.<br /><br />Alexander's dedication notwithstanding, this scythe introduction in India would not have taken place without the contribution of the Chaturvedis to our common vision, nor without Vivek's personal connections across Northern and Central India. Finding similarly motivated partners in other 'scythe-needy' countries will be the key to reenacting this success story elsewhere.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">-- Sy Schotz, 2016</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Below is an excerpt from a follow-up email sent by co-organizer </i></span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Anant Chaturvedi:</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now a month has passed since the extensive demos, and exhausting as the whole 'scythe tour' was, in hindsight it was necessary. The scythe received much deserved attention and respect as "the tool of the future" -- and we have been contacted by enthusiastic people from all over the country. Many, by the way, express dismay at the fact that it took so long for it to reach India... <br /> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Clearly, the hopes and excitement have been generated and now it is our responsibility to come up with a package which meets people's expectations and is easy on their pockets. For this to happen, much of the material has to be made with local materials and by local craftsmen. <b>You will be happy to know that we have almost finalised prototypes of quite a few things like the snaths, jigs, ...and small items like the rings. These will be made locally</b> and it is just a matter of time before things start rolling. This, we anticipate, will also take off as much as 25-30% of the costs. I must again thank Alexander for all the tips and guidance regarding the same.<br /> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I hope that we will keep building on the somewhat auspicious beginning to this venture and that the needy and marginal farmers of India reap the benefits of a tool which should have reached them decades ago.</span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">-- </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Anant Chaturvedi, 2016</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><u>Sources</u></b>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Statistics on India's agriculture from <i>Mechanization Trends in India</i>, by Sanjeev Goyle, Mahindra and Mahindra, December 2013. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Photos by Alexander Vido, used with permission. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-76462208589070918102016-04-29T18:54:00.001-07:002016-04-29T18:54:54.580-07:00Scythes go viral in India<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH1AyUVdDQZTUQ1ifOvqReeP9DH_deS8Pw9Ww_7XrauRE6RAwFMDfhDRJzLEW0yu1gyBiuPsMJrdqJ_v3U_xVzqqCLG9dz9kdYXG_-9uxtvUlhkCtxcc7vFMzfl2k0rLN7WraJjwt2WDc/s1600/ScytheIndiaVideo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH1AyUVdDQZTUQ1ifOvqReeP9DH_deS8Pw9Ww_7XrauRE6RAwFMDfhDRJzLEW0yu1gyBiuPsMJrdqJ_v3U_xVzqqCLG9dz9kdYXG_-9uxtvUlhkCtxcc7vFMzfl2k0rLN7WraJjwt2WDc/s640/ScytheIndiaVideo.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Screenshot from recent video with 1.3 million views.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Scythes got a lot of attention this past month during the wheat harvest in northern India, thanks to Alexander Vido and Sy Schotz, who travelled there to demonstrate the cradle scythe at numerous villages. This short video was posted on April 1, and got over 1.3 million views in less than a month!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/atul.awasthi.792/videos/1036528816406184/" target="_blank">Link to the video</a> </span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-87361625810471526902016-03-28T12:59:00.000-07:002016-04-24T20:16:22.759-07:00Scythe Success in Costa Rica<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRAt_b5pHEo1K8qHU9Rw2zlnYH2JBQ6uTm852gtFAjKMlz5oVmOdvlSBHzpcTLgEpJ0n2MmX4pTHxqld4p_FQ3O-SQjEp3wnVYu2ymxIM1o5f3B6j2SrI3S-AXkN5-ed3ak9Te29LdPSg/s1600/CR1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRAt_b5pHEo1K8qHU9Rw2zlnYH2JBQ6uTm852gtFAjKMlz5oVmOdvlSBHzpcTLgEpJ0n2MmX4pTHxqld4p_FQ3O-SQjEp3wnVYu2ymxIM1o5f3B6j2SrI3S-AXkN5-ed3ak9Te29LdPSg/s400/CR1.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rolando
(left) and Michael honing their blades. Rolando's snath seen in this shot was made
of dry balsa, supposedly 'good for nothing' wood, and along with a narrow
old 65 cm blade the unit was truly 'featherweight'. After being used
from day one, it was still in one piece when I left...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"...the
rage of the weed-whacker has not been heard from for over a month now.
Nobody, not even the workers who once rejoiced in weed-whackers, mention
them; the scythe has clearly been universally accepted. Given how
workers typically cling to ingrained procedures, this is an enormous
achievement!"</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b> -- Jagdish, from Sat Yoga Institute, Costa Rica </b></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Yogis and the Scythe</span></u><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">by Peter Vido</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />This little 'scythe success story' began when permaculture teacher Scott Pittman taught a course at the Sat Yoga Ashram in Costa Rica, and suggested that they 'need a few scythes on the place'. Trusting his advice, they did some research and decided to contact us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After a short exchange of emails, one of the members, Jagdish, promptly hopped on a plane and spent a week-long intensive scythe session on our farm in September. He went back with 50-some blades and accessories. But, being educated in other ways than hand tool use, he didn't in the end feel confident to 'properly' introduce this strange new tool to the ashram's full-time work crew of ten local farm-raised Costa Ricans who, it would appear, were born with machetes strapped to their sides. So we decided to take the efforts a step further... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />In mid-January I shed my long johns and travelled south to swap the snow for the heat of tropics, not looking forward to that part of it -- because excessive heat has never been my cup of tea. But I was surprised that up there high in the mountains, with nearly constant breeze present, a northerner could actually function. The ashram is situated amidst the breathtaking scenery of a cloud forest and though it was the 'dry' season, the landscape was green and growing vigorously. And much of it -- in line with the ashram's objectives -- needing to be cut.<br /><br />The objectives are twofold: One is to maintain a very diverse, permaculture-style ecosystem where edible crops are interplanted in creative patterns with ornamentals and native flora. Obtaining material for compost making, mulch and erosion control is an ongoing task. The other objective is the ashram's obsessive manicuring of certain portions of the grounds -- and those were maintained in accordance to the dictate of the "American Lawn Culture". Such a lawn can indeed be cut with a machete, but only at a great cost to some humans' comfort and health.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />In the past I've read exclamations by those who have never tried to 'walk a mile in the machete-swinging man's moccasins' to the effect that the African or Latino men 'are not averse to working with a bent-over back'. That -- after talking to numerous such men from different countries -- I conclude, is uninformed bullshit! Those men do such work because they have to, or believe they do. Strong and agile as they generally are, many have told me that their backs and right shoulders are routinely sore. Accidents of sometimes serious cuts to the left leg are also not uncommon...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Nevertheless, I did witness much excellent machete work during the first half of my month-long stay there, and it was impressive. These men keep their machetes sharper than I saw anywhere else. The daily routine consists of scraping (not filing or grinding) the edges -- lengthwise -- with a tool self-made of a sideways-tapered 12" file, its one side shaped to a knife-like profile. This, in a way, can be likened to the grinding of Scandinavian, British or American scythe blades, except the steel is removed lengthwise and no grindstone is needed. Then the edge is finished on a stationary water-lubricated stone. In the field a smaller version of the 'scraper' is carried along and used as needed to mend the frequent nicks (because a machete's edge, more typically aimed downward, 'finds' more earth and rocks than does a scythe blade in experienced hands). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Following this maintenance routine, I was told that the ashram's workers, on average, wear out (or break) 2-3 blades, each, per year. In view of the combined outlay ($5-10 apiece) for such a short period of use, the cost of a scythe blade (provided it is obtained through dealers who do not triple its FOB price) seems to offer a very good EROEI.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There is no doubt in my mind that both tools can (or 'ought to'?) have their niche-specific places in tropical agriculture. The machete, I agree, is an utterly useful multipurpose creation, and watching a competent native gracefully swinging it is a joy to behold. For certain tasks, the same can be said of the scythe. Not so with the other more recent among the grass-cutting alternatives -- the tool that (in his Love and Revolution) Alaistair McIntosh calls "an accursed strimmer"...<br /><br />Contrary to what one might expect somewhere amidst a near pristine wilderness, I had to put up (both philosophically and psychologically) with the noisy racket of just such a thing, at least initially. The yogis had obtained 6 of them -- at the cost of $800 each -- to both ease the drudgery of their workers and to expedite the manicuring process. (For the same reason -- with the 'lawn disease' first paving the highway -- the petrol-dependent strimmers are making significant inroads into many corners of even the very poor countries around the globe. And, of course, most spiritual/ecological centers in the West are 'taken care of' in a similar manner...)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here they were used practically on a daily basis in some place or another of the ashram's extended territory. As opposed to watching the machetes in action (when I felt 'sorry' only for the men's bodies), while witnessing the strimmers blasting small rocks in all directions, I felt additional compassion for the shredded up little beings whose homes were being mercilessly ransacked whenever the men with plastic aprons, work gloves, face masks and protective head gear showed up. With the manicure completed they departed, leaving behind the torn-up ends of plant stems crying...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But hopefully, at least in this one place, that is now over.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvCaKScaunQGGCLK6qS1SNUMuui85ob5z7Gf3OM7U-n8htPjyRLW0hiZbY2vfSQV3bna4BensnoQ5pRDyg1sT48vrqt5mxdvHxt8KrfiJempnH-U0EbdnZQI6-s5l7SRtl5iowMPSgIo8/s1600/CR2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvCaKScaunQGGCLK6qS1SNUMuui85ob5z7Gf3OM7U-n8htPjyRLW0hiZbY2vfSQV3bna4BensnoQ5pRDyg1sT48vrqt5mxdvHxt8KrfiJempnH-U0EbdnZQI6-s5l7SRtl5iowMPSgIo8/s400/CR2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here
each of the workers exhibits a different posture. The nearest one is
probably leaning over momentarily to pick up some trampled stems, the
middle one is in the average 'comfort zone', and Rolando (furthest away)
seems to be angling his tool so as to trim a side of a steep ditch.
Note the heaps of grass behind them, piled up in short spells between,
and nearly simultaneously, with the actual cutting. Previously, the
machete or strimmer-scattrered vegetation required more work to gather
for removal to composting sites, with much of it remaining behind.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And, it is a beautiful place. I had never before mowed where the equivalent area was so diverse with regards to topography, variety of plants and spacing between what was not to be cut. And it is a 'land of ditches'. Even the few relatively flat patches are rimmed or crossed with drainage ditches from a few inches to two feet in depth, all covered with vegetation that is periodically trimmed. New tree seedlings continue being planted and need to be 'protected' from disappearing in the sea of wilderness. There are raised or wood-framed garden beds with very narrow paths between them and floral designs rimmed with immaculately managed grass. The banks along the roads of this whole property (that only four wheel drive vehicles can navigate) are from two to 'infinity' high, and in places virtually vertical.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4kjxXU7Ip9M1HneDW5VOQQmpY1SABMaVe9eCDYp-I9kBKQqoS48uITEVkYs5fDbCR9qzAbgXMTB9C-O6s3So8Isr23LY6XqY5vG_gzO2b3K87RhOrEh3kzeEZLy8nuetqiYbsrqKsM2E/s1600/CR3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4kjxXU7Ip9M1HneDW5VOQQmpY1SABMaVe9eCDYp-I9kBKQqoS48uITEVkYs5fDbCR9qzAbgXMTB9C-O6s3So8Isr23LY6XqY5vG_gzO2b3K87RhOrEh3kzeEZLy8nuetqiYbsrqKsM2E/s400/CR3.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One
of many examples of a snath with multiple grips. Such specimens are 'a
piece of cake' to make, and as you can imagine, the left hand has more
options as where and how to hold the snath than the actual grip per se.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While 'setting-up' a scythe the "ideal" lay of a blade becomes a joke. All in all, this is a paradise-like terrain for a scythe-swinging person who likes diversity. Our friend Niels Johannsen from Denmark -- the most creative mower, when it comes to scythe-wielding techniques that I know of -- would be in 'seventh heaven' there; he'd have done all that work with his one and only snath -- the one that in much of his daily work travels through his hands as if it were alive. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVGMVXF03Y6vuh2pYv3Q7kYL-T-7yw68M4d4fznjJEsvo5HM0oCAo7l-z9wUq3ypemyogUibQmnM7d1wRCWk18FSwJbxbP_5y4QKlFCv-5IG1Y030NyqMJgY8JclJ7tC5uBOz0jHtdr0/s1600/CR7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVGMVXF03Y6vuh2pYv3Q7kYL-T-7yw68M4d4fznjJEsvo5HM0oCAo7l-z9wUq3ypemyogUibQmnM7d1wRCWk18FSwJbxbP_5y4QKlFCv-5IG1Y030NyqMJgY8JclJ7tC5uBOz0jHtdr0/s400/CR7.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A portion of the snath/blade combinations I left behind.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But to meet the needs of more common people along with these diversified tasks, I ended up making nearly 30 snaths of different sizes and with grip positions breaking many normal rules. Some snaths custom-fit for those steep banks were not much longer than their long (80 cm) stiff blade, and some had 3 or 4 grips, plus (as the need called for it) were meant to be held in more positions than that. I was glad that Ashoka, one of the yogis, had fashioned a 'shaving horse' before I came, and that two of the workers were commissioned to gather a large heap of snake-shaped branches of trees they routinely trim. Thus there was material to work with in order to make both grips and shafts in an infinity of shapes. Not many turned out typical-like. It so happens that I enjoy working with such a diversity. And between what Jagdish initially took home from our place and what I brought additionally, I had ample room for fooling around with blades/snaths fitting. The inventory of blades included products of scythe industries from Austria, Germany, Italy, Russia, Slovenia and Turkey, and they ranged from short and heavy (or light) to long and light (or heavy and stiff) and with diversely-set tangs.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpE3MgevcpSvB0bAs7U6G6IKBb40weHh2KVLqFGba5_L4rIfN1P9fPBm4TGcLRawBSx34MSwGRNie-K8ALrD14AvvMStom7bHCtW9eVPlNkYifBgJeCD0W8goK1ak45gk_AoM98Vz1qoU/s1600/CR4.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpE3MgevcpSvB0bAs7U6G6IKBb40weHh2KVLqFGba5_L4rIfN1P9fPBm4TGcLRawBSx34MSwGRNie-K8ALrD14AvvMStom7bHCtW9eVPlNkYifBgJeCD0W8goK1ak45gk_AoM98Vz1qoU/s400/CR4.PNG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here
a Costa Rica-born woman -- the chief mind behind the truly
perma-cultural flavor of the ashram grounds -- is showing a fine bodily
posture (but not one that in that terrain can be maintained for very
long without various shifts).</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One notable thing regarding 'blade suitability' was that not too many mowing sessions into the experience, the two most talented of the mowers (Parvati among the yogis and Rolando among the workers) came to appreciate the blades of the lesser weight, and overall, the 'grass' models were used far more than the heavier (per length) 'bush' blades. I was also surprised how few nicks ended up on the blades' edges in all that challenging terrain with some rocks in most places. Rolando -- the supervisor of the workers, a talented jack of all trades, but who initially seemed very reserved about the scythe's introduction -- 'made' one of my days when (as we worked near each other on his third morning of the hands-on experience and he was trimming a shallow ditch with graceful diagonal strokes) he exclaimed, more to himself than to me: "THIS IS AN AMAZING TOOL".</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWWqGczxEADaYFH7FGb86NhO0q4bqzTIcxFJg2a3EGK-xo-qcAB6SKI3JG3o_2DZ7xXRp1xdAiuOOccXyy7N2cjDo-73tcy_WJs50u5rT7E8oGHhE2XWXltwMT0_JbMiwtURmYaUoKzw/s1600/CR5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWWqGczxEADaYFH7FGb86NhO0q4bqzTIcxFJg2a3EGK-xo-qcAB6SKI3JG3o_2DZ7xXRp1xdAiuOOccXyy7N2cjDo-73tcy_WJs50u5rT7E8oGHhE2XWXltwMT0_JbMiwtURmYaUoKzw/s400/CR5.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I
was surprised how practically all of the seemingly (visually) 'tough'
vegetation could be cut with a scythe. Here some dry sorgum-like plant,
allowed to die and partially lay down, is easily handled with a 45
cm/300gram blade.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />In closing, here is an excerpt from email I recently received from Jagdish, the ashram's member who traveled to our farm and continues as one of the primary scythe enthusiasts:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />"This morning, like many these days, included a delightful hour of mowing in the stillness as the sun broke over Bodh Gaia. You can imagine it well. Not so far away Roy and Parvati are usually found cutting the grass somewhere around Hridaya. The agricultural team will soon be joining us. You’ll be pleased, though not surprised, to know that <b>the rage of the weed-whacker has not been heard from for over a month now. Nobody, even the workers who once rejoiced in weed-whackers, mention them; the scythe has clearly been universally accepted. Given how workers typically cling to ingrained procedures, this is an enormous achievement!</b>" </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPaWF20jDnmIkfJKFTOp2VLtoYvFlotD7eY2OjxOqn3YQ2olfEiJF_HvoyGNpAVFA33tKgo87uoZ6gjbO0nlDYTVf-GPVv5L7azY-ksy-gkXj-bugfvL4TNmsqZcoPsngjzTt5NaVMSiQ/s1600/CR6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPaWF20jDnmIkfJKFTOp2VLtoYvFlotD7eY2OjxOqn3YQ2olfEiJF_HvoyGNpAVFA33tKgo87uoZ6gjbO0nlDYTVf-GPVv5L7azY-ksy-gkXj-bugfvL4TNmsqZcoPsngjzTt5NaVMSiQ/s400/CR6.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The
blades' edge maintenance proved to be less of a challenge on this place
than I expected, perhaps because bulk of the students are already
sharp-tool-using men. Rolando took to the freehand peening like fish to
water, and even two of the yogis (Parvati and Kalyan) were not far
behind. Here is the robust Michael at the task.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-- Peter Vido</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u><b>Sources</b></u>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Text and photos from Peter Vido, and used with permission.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A shorter version of this story, with the title "<b>Scythe Mission to Machete Land</b>" appears in </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://groups.google.com/group/scythe-association-of-britain-and-ireland/attach/26c5bf034553b/windrow11%20final.pdf?part=0.1.1&authuser=0" target="_blank"><i>The Windrow, Newsletter of the Scythe Association of Britain and Ireland</i>, No. 11, March 2016</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">More information and photos can be found at the Sat Yoga Institute blog, in the post by Jagdish titled</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.satyogainstitute.org/the-scythe-comes-to-arunachala/" target="_blank"><i>The Scythe Comes to Arunachala</i></a>. </span>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-89668326616365841122016-02-28T08:51:00.000-08:002016-04-29T18:47:14.313-07:00Scythe Initiative in India<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G10D_C_oPrc/VtHy3qHTvGI/AAAAAAAABIs/UnV_OMRFw98/s800-Ic42/IMG_7169%252520copy%2525202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G10D_C_oPrc/VtHy3qHTvGI/AAAAAAAABIs/UnV_OMRFw98/s800-Ic42/IMG_7169%252520copy%2525202.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Alexander Vido (of Scythe Works) was contacted by a number of enthusiastic people from various parts of India in response to his <a href="https://youtu.be/6kgblvM26DM" target="_blank"><i>Scythe Project in Nepal</i></a>, so he arranged a trip to "lend a hand" where he could. While there, he found that a cradle scythe could successfully harvest paddy rice, as long as it wasn't too ripe. He plans to return in the Spring </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">for the wheat harvest in northern
India, where he was invited to assist with the local adoption of scythes
(instead of sickles) for the task.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">A <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/113658354666020409938/SlideShowWeb03?authkey=Gv1sRgCM2G5-eQ7uuLkwE&feat=flashalbum#slideshow/6254213341033123794" target="_blank">slideshow</a> of his recent trip can be found at his <a href="http://scytheworks.ca/SIDW.html" target="_blank">Scythes in the Developing World</a> site. Here are some samples:</span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nNGLbgrNBwM/VstumCyqq2I/AAAAAAAABCA/-IW8lP8-bm8/s800-Ic42/IMG_8277%252520copy%2525202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nNGLbgrNBwM/VstumCyqq2I/AAAAAAAABCA/-IW8lP8-bm8/s800-Ic42/IMG_8277%252520copy%2525202.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VkVVWU2BY0I/VstvGqd175I/AAAAAAAABCI/0K4fEcHnHNg/s800-Ic42/IMG_8752%252520copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VkVVWU2BY0I/VstvGqd175I/AAAAAAAABCI/0K4fEcHnHNg/s800-Ic42/IMG_8752%252520copy.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>Sources</u>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All photos from Alexander Vido, used with permission. </span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-35084032018749864172016-01-01T06:00:00.000-08:002016-01-01T07:46:39.879-08:00Go ahead... with a scythe<br />
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<a href="http://www.chrisbeetles.com/sites/default/files/stock-images/OLD-FATHER-TIME-OF-WILTSHIRE-1-E2637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.chrisbeetles.com/sites/default/files/stock-images/OLD-FATHER-TIME-OF-WILTSHIRE-1-E2637.jpg" height="640" width="505" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I want to go ahead of Father Time</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with a scythe of my own. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-- H.G. Wells</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Line-engraving titled <i>Old Father Time of Wiltshire</i>, <br />by Stanley Anderson, R.A., 1944<br />Royal Academy of Arts Collection</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">H.G. Wells quote from the Introduction to</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Book of Catherine Wells</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">by Amy Catherine Wells</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran, 1928) p. 22</span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-58679816205937683142015-12-28T18:06:00.000-08:002018-07-08T16:02:57.593-07:00I used to mow at the head of the crew...<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Text version:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"WHEN A MAN GETS OLD" </span><br />
<br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The clash and the clatter of mowing-machines</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Float up where the old man stands and leans</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His trembling hands on the worn old snath,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As he looks afar in the broadening path,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Where the shivering grasses melt beneath</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A seven foot bar and its chattering teeth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When a man gits old, says he,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When a man gits old,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He is mighty small pettaters</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As I've just been told.</span><br />
<br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I used to mow at the head of the crew,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And I cut a swath that was wide as two.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Covered a yard, sah, at every sweep;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The man that follered me had to leap.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I made the best of the critters squeal,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And nary a feller could nick my heel.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The crowd that follered, they took my road</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As I walked away from the best that mowed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But I can't keep up with the boys no more,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My arms are stiff and my cords are sore:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And they've given this rusty scythe to me</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-- It has hung two years in an apple tree --</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And told me to trim along the edge</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Where the mowing-machine has skipped the ledge.</span><br />
<br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It seems, sah, skurcely a year ago</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That I was a-showin' 'em how to mow,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A-showin' em how, with the tanglin' grass</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Topplin' and fallin', to let me pass;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A-showing 'em how, with a five-foot steel,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And never a man who could nick my heel.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But now it's the day of the hot young blood,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And I'm doin' the job of the fuddy dud;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hacking the sides of the dusty road</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And the corner clumps where the men ain't mowed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And that's the way, a man gits told,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He's smaller pettaters when he grows old.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-- by Holman F. Day</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Sources</b>:</span></u></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Whetting the scythe</span></i><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">by Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945), 1905</span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Whitworth Art Gallery,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The University of Manchester</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://gallerysearch.ds.man.ac.uk/Detail/15049" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" target="_blank">http://gallerysearch.ds.man.ac.uk/Detail/15049</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Up in Maine: Stories of Yankee Life Told in Verse</i><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">by Holman F. Day</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Boston, Small, Maynard & Company, 1901</span>, <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">p. 57</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Yb0XAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA57#v=onepage&q&f=false" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" target="_blank">Google Books copy</a></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-52417592178036106762015-10-03T22:05:00.000-07:002015-10-03T22:05:48.887-07:00Convertible field anvil<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ludovakultura.sk/fileadmin/images/hesla_full/nakuvanie-kosy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.ludovakultura.sk/fileadmin/images/hesla_full/nakuvanie-kosy.jpg" height="272" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">© <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Slovenský ľudový umelecký kolektív</span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A short anvil can be converted to a field anvil by mounting it into an easily-carried wooden base having a point that's driven into the ground. This type of field anvil was traditionally used in Slovakia, as shown in the above photograph (with a wide anvil) and the drawing below (with a narrow anvil).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ludovakultura.sk/fileadmin/images/hesla_full/naradie-na-nakuvanie%20kosy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.ludovakultura.sk/fileadmin/images/hesla_full/naradie-na-nakuvanie%20kosy.jpg" height="344" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">© <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Slovenský ľudový umelecký kolektív</span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A metal band reinforces the top to keep the wood from splitting. When it's time to use the field anvil, it can be driven into the ground using the peening hammer without causing any damage to the hammer or anvil, as long as it's done while a piece of hardwood is held in place as a cushion between the hammer and anvil. (The hardwood "cushion" can be small enough to easily fit into a pocket.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alexander Vido made a modern version of this Slovakian field anvil, using hardwood with a short length of copper pipe to reinforce the top portion. Before the bottom portion was shaped into a point, it was drilled to install a lag screw, and then the head of the lag screw was cut and filed (or ground) to a point. The wooden point was then shaped to fit into a large washer that acts as a base in contact with the ground.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Centrum pre tradičnú ľudovú kultúru, SĽUK -- Slovenský ľudový umelecký kolektív (<span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">The Centre for</span> <span class="hps">traditional folk culture</span><span>,</span> <span class="hps">SĽUK -- </span></span><span class="notranslate">Slovak Folk Art Ensemble), <a href="http://www.ludovakultura.sk/index.php?id=140" target="_blank">http://www.ludovakultura.sk/index.php?id=140</a></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.ludovakultura.sk/fileadmin/images/hesla_full/nakuvanie-kosy.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.ludovakultura.sk/fileadmin/images/hesla_full/nakuvanie-kosy.jpg</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo P. Slavkovský, 1972. Archives of the Institute of Ethnology negatives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.ludovakultura.sk/fileadmin/images/hesla_full/naradie-na-nakuvanie%20kosy.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.ludovakultura.sk/fileadmin/images/hesla_full/naradie-na-nakuvanie%20kosy.jpg</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Archive drawings SNM Martin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Two photos by Alexander Vido.</span></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-12697528328182799012014-09-22T09:17:00.000-07:002019-01-31T22:09:56.472-08:001 scythe, 5 acres, 8 hours?<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"<b>Mowing Matches</b>" were competitions where contestants with scythes would try to mow a certain area in the least time, or try to mow the most area in a given time. These contests date back to the 1700s or earlier. (From the mid-1800s onward, mowing matches were also held to compare the performance of various designs of mechanical mowers and reapers.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Listed below are the published results of some mowing matches held during the past few centuries.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u>1795 -- Finchley, England </u></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>2 acres (0.8 ha) of grass cut in six hours and 40 minutes</b></u></span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>A mowing match was decided a few days ago at Finchley; the prize being a fat hog of eight and twenty stone, and a wooden powdering-tub lined with lead. Only married men under one and thirty years of age were allowed to be candidates, of which there were eleven The winner cut down, and laid in swathe, in a neat and farmer-like manner, two acres of grass, in six hours and forty minutes.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u>1822 -- New Boston, NH, USA <b> </b></u></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>One acre (0.4 ha) of grass cut in one hour and 26 minutes</b></u></span></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There was a famous mowing match in New Boston, on Saturday, August 17th, between Mr Daniel Andrews, of New Boston, and Mr Abel Hart, of Goffstown. The competition was who should mow an acre of meadow grass the quickest and best. The ground was staked out and the work performed in the presence of numerous spectators. Mr Andrews completed his acre in one hour and twenty six minutes. Mr Hart in one hour and twenty eight and a half minutes. The victory was of course decided in favor of Mr Andrews.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Amherst (N.H.) Cabinet.</span></i> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1826 -- Stratham, NH, USA </span></u></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>813 square feet (75.5 square meters) in one minute</b> </span></u></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHoAlChlSCJZFkYK8g0j1kHVo8CaJuE9WQdWqPkkujjGy4hXBMOHDCJE4S7vW6UVPRMkSUu55ArWENjIJnB9sjKg-Rk-J6zPyd2zETIzL0QeZ-Rizf8RLroIgw6-miUNPmHiMG8u22Frc/s1600/StrathamMatch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHoAlChlSCJZFkYK8g0j1kHVo8CaJuE9WQdWqPkkujjGy4hXBMOHDCJE4S7vW6UVPRMkSUu55ArWENjIJnB9sjKg-Rk-J6zPyd2zETIzL0QeZ-Rizf8RLroIgw6-miUNPmHiMG8u22Frc/s1600/StrathamMatch.png" width="315" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> On the morning of the 4th inst. many of the farmers and other inhabitants of Stratham assembled at the Plain's corner to witness the novel exhibition of a mowing match. The premium was an elegant scythe, by which the work was executed. The rule was previously established that no candidates should be accepted, excepting those between the ages of 18 and 21; that after the work was executed it should be measured, and the three best mowers should again perform the task. Three judges were appointed: Major Benj. Clark, Major David Robinson, and Capt Joseph Smith, with liberty to the mowers to select two additional ones. if they should think fit.<br /> When the work was executed by the nine mowers who had presented themselves as candidates, it appeared that Messrs Benjamin F Clark, Nathan L Morrill, and Benjamin Kelly, had done the best minutes mowing; and the work was again performed by them, when it was declared by the judges that Mr C. had mowed in one minute, 45 strokes, 8 feet swathe, and 101 feet in length, being 808 feet square; Mr M. 50 strokes, 7-3/4 feet swathe, and 103 feet in length, being 796 feet square; and Mr K. 48 strokes, 7-7/12 feet swathe, and 107-1/4 feet in length, being 813 feet and one quarter square; and Mr Kelly accordingly received the premium. The thanks of the company were tendered to the gentlemen who acted as judges; to Capt Smith for the use of his field; and to Rev Mr Cummings, for an elegant and appropriate address delivered by him upon the occasion.<br /> Previous to the dissolution of the meeting, Major Smith, aged 80 last autumn, mowed one minute and cut over a surface of 803 feet square. The work was executed by him with great ease, and he was rewarded by the applause of all present and with a badge of respect and honour. It is proposed to continue these meetings; and we shall endeavour in our next paper, to give some further account of the plan. We regret that our limits will not allow a more extended notice of this first exhibition of the kind.<br />[Exeter Gazette]</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1827 -- Canandaigua, NY, USA</span></u></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">586 square feet (54.4 square meters) in one minute</span></u></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZD1Zr-Z79ot9V4mrnuwjnAoVetCff0IeI4ZhPw2sf_v142U7icoPgsSqizPB_YgwpXWmtc0YYcKCC0De6VI4Ew3H4aSDbiTXF3q6JOXb8hyphenhyphenyVL2FmN4poEysX4_FKBc7qIcCMCE3XhAg/s1600/CanandaiguaMatch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZD1Zr-Z79ot9V4mrnuwjnAoVetCff0IeI4ZhPw2sf_v142U7icoPgsSqizPB_YgwpXWmtc0YYcKCC0De6VI4Ew3H4aSDbiTXF3q6JOXb8hyphenhyphenyVL2FmN4poEysX4_FKBc7qIcCMCE3XhAg/s1600/CanandaiguaMatch.png" width="365" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <i> In giving an account of the festivities off the 4th, the mowing match should not be forgotten. As soon as the procession returned from the church, a large concourse of people repaired to the meadow of Mr Thaddeus Chapin, a few rods west of the burying ground, where the following exercises took place: Fourteen candidates entered for the premiums, six in number, to be awarded to the man who should cut the most grass, and in the best manner, in the space of one minute. The first premium, (an elegant scythe with snath) was taken by Calvin Simmons, who cut 586-1/2 square feet; swarthe 9 feet 2 inches wide. The second do. (an axe was) awarded to John Kentm who cut 511 square feet; swarthe 9 feet 9 inches wide. Third do. (a hoe), to John Woby, a colored man, who cut 546 square feet; swarthe 9 feet wide. Fourth do. (a fork) to Daniel Trowbridge, who cut 508-1/2 square feet; swarthe 9 feet wide. Fifth do. (a spade) to Elias Russell, who cut 557 square feet; swarthe 9 feet wide. Sixth do. (a shovel) to K. Murray, who cut 496 square feet; swarthe 8 feet wide. <br /> All the work was extremely well done, and it was with some difficulty that the judges, Messrs. Bates, Wilson, and Hubbell, could determine which of the men ought in justice, receive the last two premiums.<br /> The premium articles were all of elegant workmanship and were given by several of our most respectable citizens. <br />[Canandiagua Repository]</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1828 -- Canandaigua, NY, USA</span></u></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">892 square feet (82.9 square meters) in one minute</span></u></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRmCPHh-D7OMYb6erPzeLw5nunOSSIg9D7cBLrx2Vcsb05BlH-Jf9Yb8ymeE3eozIBmbOjidCM_FrgqoyKNZE8Tfc-N55dX_YBDLiiQV6xcDpWkv27Vo0XBDVRcE3a0O8z7MYs1ttxkpo/s1600/CanandaiguaMatch2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="95" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRmCPHh-D7OMYb6erPzeLw5nunOSSIg9D7cBLrx2Vcsb05BlH-Jf9Yb8ymeE3eozIBmbOjidCM_FrgqoyKNZE8Tfc-N55dX_YBDLiiQV6xcDpWkv27Vo0XBDVRcE3a0O8z7MYs1ttxkpo/s1600/CanandaiguaMatch2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Mowing Match at Canandaigua on the 4th excited much interest. The first premium, a Plough, was awarded to Samuel Remington, of that town, who mowed in one minute 100 feet in length, and a total of 892 square feet.</span></i></blockquote>
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<u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">1856 -- Vallejo, CA, USA</span></u><br />
<u><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5 acres (2.0 ha) of grass cut in 7 hours, 55 minutes</span></b></span></u><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ8CQO0T6sqzyor4B5LAtZB5J-OD41JiX8HrwflW9bXNgn2jN_dyOG7zDzmVO6sIy3Rf5kSeHhO92ZatL3TwfXvxrYQTvA4yL3RfYLX5QZlOKFGnIubKImeWEvPKQG31IOh0hH51u05Cw/s1600/VallejoMatch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ8CQO0T6sqzyor4B5LAtZB5J-OD41JiX8HrwflW9bXNgn2jN_dyOG7zDzmVO6sIy3Rf5kSeHhO92ZatL3TwfXvxrYQTvA4yL3RfYLX5QZlOKFGnIubKImeWEvPKQG31IOh0hH51u05Cw/s1600/VallejoMatch.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">True Californian</span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> gives an account of a mowing match which came off on the 9th instant, in Vallejo Valley, near the town of Vallejo, between Addison M. Ripley, from Maine, and Mr. Ball, from Vermont. The task was five acres of grass each, turning off two and a half tons to the acre! They mowed against time. Mr. Ripley won the match, finishing his work in seven hours and fifty-five minutes, and beating his adversary a quarter of an acre!! The stake was five hundred dollars. Mowing machines would not stand much chance with such men.</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">COMMENTARY</span></b></u></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The results of mowing matches
should give some indication of what extremes are possible when a scythe
is in very skilled hands attached to a strong body that is
pushed to its limits. Such a pace is obviously not sustainable for actual farm work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of course, the results of non-standardized contests cannot be compared too closely, since there are numerous factors that can cause variations in the outcomes. These factors include differences in grass type, height, density and moisture content; contest format; requirements and penalties related to quality of cut; and inaccuracies in area measurements. "Sloppy reporting" could also distort the results of a match.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Interesting to see so much variation in the reported results from 1827 and 1828, with the matches held only one year apart at the same town.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nevertheless, these published results show some remarkable achievements in the realm of hand mowing, during times when scythes were common tools on a farm. In the early 1800s, more than 800 sq ft (75 sq m) could be cut in one minute, and an acre (0.4 ha) could be cut in an hour and a half (assuming that the reports are factual).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The report from the 1826 match gives some notable details. The mowers in this match cut only one swath, at whatever width was optimal for them. The swath widths were around 8 feet for the top contestants. The winner mowed a distance of 107 ft (33 m) in one minute using 48 strokes, which means that his average forward advance was over 26 inches (68 cm) per stroke! The corresponding advances for the other top contestants were similarly over two feet (60 cm) per stroke.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To obtain such a large advance with each stroke would require a long blade (swung a certain way) and a sturdy snath (to withstand the forces from moving that amount of grass with each quick stroke). The American scythes of that era could qualify, with their stout snaths, and blades commonly available around 4 ft (1.2 m) in length.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYOq9a6g64oixvHg14G2t3kMZ1hKjgef9Et-GvzrZzb_hjcdHhMh0gt4L4PGUYt7oORe_StJnkKYlcACmPcy22J8l27yvIYbfTS7JDhu9B9l816z5Vrk8RhWwuzw7RFgTEqIq_OZcsHsg/s1600/1848+painting+-+Farmer+whetting+his+scythe+--+by+Mount.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYOq9a6g64oixvHg14G2t3kMZ1hKjgef9Et-GvzrZzb_hjcdHhMh0gt4L4PGUYt7oORe_StJnkKYlcACmPcy22J8l27yvIYbfTS7JDhu9B9l816z5Vrk8RhWwuzw7RFgTEqIq_OZcsHsg/s1600/1848+painting+-+Farmer+whetting+his+scythe+--+by+Mount.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>[New York] Farmer whetting his scythe</i>, by William Sidney Mount, 1848</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSJ8J_2LIvWFI74b0oXOjzuk0txai06O2y81hBdbmeOet0ylCYT" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSJ8J_2LIvWFI74b0oXOjzuk0txai06O2y81hBdbmeOet0ylCYT" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Competition scythe (Südtiroler Bauernjugend photo, 2010)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The 1856 (Vallejo) match results are outstanding, perhaps unbelievable. The newspaper reports that the winner's name was Ripley -- so believe it or not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In closing, the following newspaper article from 1900 gives an account of a mowing match that was surely a "tall tale" from a storyteller:</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">TOLD BY THE OLD CIRCUS MAN.</span></b></i><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Greatest of All Giants Enters In the Farmers' Mowing Matches.</span></b></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"If anything," said the old circus man, "the great giant used to come out strongest In competitive contests. You see, there he showed for not only what he was, but even greater, by the contrast. Of course, he was always in contrast, but here the contrast was made more striking; but we never failed to enter him in any sort of a competitive contest that we could get him into. Mowing contests, for instance, the giant was very strong in; and we never missed an opportunity to put him into one of these when we could. The old man was always on the outlook, sharp, for this sort of thing, in any form, and if he ran up against a mowing match coming off, say the day the circus struck the town, he'd get the old man into it somehow, sure; not, of course, entering him as a giant or a big man, or anything of that sort, but simply as an unknown. He used to go equipped for this mowing business.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"I suppose that the average scythe blade would be three feet or thereabouts In length, and the snath maybe four feet and a half long. Well, now, the giant's scythe had a blade about ten feet long and a handle about fifteen. Those farmers would get together in a grass lot to see what a man could do, say, in half an hour, everything to count; width of swath, forward cut, cleanness and evenness of the mowing, and so on. I suppose that a man might cut a swath five feet wide, possibly more, but more likely less, and his cut as he stepped forward with even swings of the sharp scythe might be a foot to eighteen inches. The young farmer, and some old ones, too, for that matter, would try, one after another, in this competition, every man swinging along in fine style, till pretty much all of them had had their chance at it and then they'd begin calling for the unknown, and then we'd bring up the giant.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"And he never failed to make a sensation when he appeared; but when he stepped into the field and took off his coat and tossed it into the wagon alongside the lot, and took his scythe out of the wagon, with its <b>ten-foot blade and fifteen-foot snath</b>, and rolled up his sleeves and took the scythe and set to mowing, then there was a sensation. Talk about cutting a wide swath! Why, you ought to see the giant! The farmers cut maybe five feet, the giant fifteen. They'd step forward a. foot or a foot and a half with every sweep, the giant four or five feet. And he was a good mower, too; cutting close and even and clean from side to side. Just think of it, will you!—a man <b>cutting a path fifteen feet wide and going forward five feet at every stroke</b>!</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Pretty soon the giant would stop and pull a scythe-stone out of his bootleg—this <b>stone was three feet long</b>, as long as an ordinary scythe blade —and sharpen his scythe with it; and then he'd drop the stone in his bootleg and go to mowing again. And pretty soon he'd get dry and want some cider; and that's where he used to come in again with business. We had a jug that was as big around as a barrel in the biggest part of it, and that was pretty near as tall, but a regular jug in shape, and we used to get this over the fence to him wherever he was, and he'd lift that up as easy as coud be and turn it up, looking like a balloon up there turned up in that way, and take a big, long drink and then set it down and go to mowing again.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Well, when the giant had got through mowing there wasn't likely to be much grass left In that lot to mow, and there never was any doubt about who'd won the prize. And he used to cut as wide a swath among the farmers as he did in he grass. There wasn't a farmer for miles around but used to come to the [circus] show and bring his family. Maybe they'd ha' come anyway, but the giant's mowing hit 'em hard; and as for the rest of the community, why, It just simply got 'em all.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"My, my; but It makes me sigh to think of the great old giant."</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">—N. Y. Sun.</span></i> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[appearing in the Los Angeles Herald, 1900}</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u><b>Sources</b></u>:</span><br />
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<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MUTCD_CW21-8.svg" target="_blank">Mowing Ahead sign</a>, U.S. Federal Highway Administration, <i>Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices</i>, sign number W21-8, public domain</div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=kp0aAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA327#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Finchley match results</a> from <i>The Sporting Magazine</i>, Vol. 6, Rogerson and Tuxford, London, September 1795, page 327 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=IiROAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA35#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">New Boston match results</a> from <i>New England Farmer</i>, Vol. 1, No. 5, Boston, August 31, 1822, page 35</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=3FBGjbbMjpAC&pg=PA139#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Stratham match results</a> from <i>The American Farmer,</i> Vol. 8, No. 17, Baltimore, July 21, 1826, page 139. Also reported in <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=jSNOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA411#v=onepage&q&f=true" target="_blank"><i>New England Farmer</i></a>, Vol. IV, No. 52, Boston, July 21, 1826, page 411</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=B_MaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA373#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Canandaigua 1827 match results</a> from <i>Niles' Weekly Register</i>, Vol. 32, No. 829, Baltimore, August 4, 1827, page 373</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=TDY5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA6#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Canandaigua 1828 match results</a> from <i>New England Farmer</i>, Vol. VII, No. 1, Boston, July 25, 1828, page 6</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=lmgXAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA267#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Vallejo match results</a> from <i>The Genesee Farmer</i>, Vol. 17, No. 9, Rochester (NY), September 1856, page 267. Also reported in <a href="http://news.hrvh.org/cgi-bin/newshrvh?a=d&cl=search&d=rocklandctyjournal18561025.2.8&srpos=3&e=-------20--1----%22mowing+match%22-all" target="_blank"><i>Rockland County Journal</i></a>, Nyack (NY), October 25, 1856, page 2 </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/display_image.php?id=45487" target="_blank"><i>Farmer whetting his scythe</i></a> painting from </span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>William Sidney Mount </i></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">book by </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Frankenstein, Alfred. NY: Abrams, 1975, plate 31 [color] </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=21906">http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=21906</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> Hay in Art Database ID: 133</span></span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.sbb.it/images/default-source/news-bilder/maeher-der-suedtiroler-bauernjugend-machen-ausflug-bild-1.jpg?size=517" target="_blank">Competition scythe photo</a> from <a href="http://www.sbb.it/home/news-detail/index/2010/04/15/maeher-der-suedtiroler-bauernjugend-machen-ausflug" target="_blank"><i>Südtiroler Bauernjugend</i></a></span>,<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> April 15, 2010</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19000218.2.195&srpos=&st=0&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-------#" target="_blank">Circus giant story</a> from <i>Los Angeles Herald</i>, No. 141, February 18, 1900, page 17.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also appears in <a href="http://news.hrvh.org/cgi-bin/newshrvh?a=d&d=rocklandctytimes19000310.2.79&e=-------20--1----%22%22-all" target="_blank"><i>Rockland County Times</i></a>, Nanuet (NY), March 10, 1900, page 6 </span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-43675333205701209042014-09-21T09:40:00.000-07:002014-09-21T16:02:38.313-07:00Monet and me<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisGUMZqIarHZuaCwVeX0FTPYEbPQBTyU4RMW7myz9kHB6o4xZQ184Z8XQxX2MSKhQYHFmgeTBD8J9oVPYZ99y78Ju6_F3X2FfuF51grLQ6zqAxHt8rm9tkIQ4iJYO5yNarVPY4HXNBLAo/s1600/MonetAndMe.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisGUMZqIarHZuaCwVeX0FTPYEbPQBTyU4RMW7myz9kHB6o4xZQ184Z8XQxX2MSKhQYHFmgeTBD8J9oVPYZ99y78Ju6_F3X2FfuF51grLQ6zqAxHt8rm9tkIQ4iJYO5yNarVPY4HXNBLAo/s1600/MonetAndMe.JPG" height="640" width="438" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.wikiart.org/en/claude-monet/haystacks-at-giverny" target="_blank">Haystacks at Giverny</a> painted by Claude Monet, 1884.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photograph by Christine Hemp, haystacks by her husband.</span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8610153724082539314.post-47720884778700013752014-08-31T18:02:00.000-07:002014-08-31T18:02:38.716-07:00Scythe Fiction (Scy-Fi)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDD8U3tpvOvbEYVJu7oe_sLb06VLvsBF7oZwSqKVzpQH6VeXmIPcUP05bJFxw2iBLwGOwpvqx60h1VjEHhKXd01b6kt7hZQse6iC8UKAl6PQ36qUC4wlHi02pUiU-VSCCdlpqJZluZcSI/s1600/Scy-Fi1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDD8U3tpvOvbEYVJu7oe_sLb06VLvsBF7oZwSqKVzpQH6VeXmIPcUP05bJFxw2iBLwGOwpvqx60h1VjEHhKXd01b6kt7hZQse6iC8UKAl6PQ36qUC4wlHi02pUiU-VSCCdlpqJZluZcSI/s1600/Scy-Fi1.jpeg" height="400" width="253" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here's a story that was published 102 years ago:</span> </span></b><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">WHEN JOHN WAS MEDIUM</span><br />BY SHELDON C. STODDARD<br /><br /><br /><br />"In choosing a scythe, John, same as in lots of other things, it's a pretty good plan to be medium".<br /><br />Sylvester Bristow cast a shrewdly critical glance at the well-made but unusually long scythe that his son had picked from the rackful in the village hardware store. "There are places, John, I'll admit, where the stroke you'd get with that thing would work mighty fine, and then again there are places where it wouldn't. It's a long hard pull across Amasa Barton's Big Twenty -- and it's a long day, John, from sun to sun in July."<br /><br />"But you know what I'll have to meet, father. I shall need the best there is."<br /><br />The older man laid a big, wrinkled hand on the square shoulder of his stalwart son. "Even if he is past fifty, Amasa Barton claims to be as good with a scythe as the best in this end of county. And perhaps he is. He's in a hurry to get through haying, too. He'll rush things. He doesn't like his neighbors to be ahead. That's why he's offering pay and a half for hands provided they'll stay with him in the field. But, John," -- his shrewd eyes had been scanning the rack, and his big hand now held a scythe much like the one that his son picked out, but several inches shorter, -- "There you are, now, for a pull on a long, hot day and an all-round pull in all kinds of grass -- medium, John. Your father's been there."<br /><br /> A smile lighted up the young fellow's lean brown face. Replacing the long scythe in the rack, he carefully balanced in his hands the one his father had selected.<br /><br />"I guess it'll be this one, father. Amasa Barton may be the best in these parts just now, but if you hadn't the rheumatism, I should be prompt to dispute it. I don't know whether I can 'stay with him' as he calls it, or not, but I'm going to try. If you say this scythe," -- his gaze returned for an instant half-regretfully to the long, rakish one, but he finished decisively, -- "why, this one it is. I hear Ben Langton came on a day or two ago to help Barton."<br /><br />"Yes, Langton is there. I've heard a number say the young fellow is a clipper with a scythe -- fully up to Amasa. He's a great talker, but unlike most big talkers he can perform. He's stocky and wiry, but I guess you needn't worry."<br /><br />_____<br /><br />John Bristow hung his new scythe, ground to a razor edge, in a convenient crotch of the old greening tree in his father's yard, and glancing speculatively at the cloudless evening sky, sauntered slowly to the house. From the porch his sister Kate called to him, "So it's Waterloo for sonny boy tomorrow, is it -- eh, John?"<br /><br />"Must be, if you say so, Kate."<br /><br />"And Benny Langton, too, John -- of all others. Whose black eyes will dance if you take second place, little boy?"<br /><br />"Possibly, now, she means Sue Barton's," said John, tranquilly. He sat down beside her, and after a while he said, "I wish I had more of the 'gift of tongues,' Kate -- could talk, you know, like Langton and such fellows. It's a great gift. Sue likes that chap -- and I don t blame her. He can talk on all occasions -- right word for the right place, and all that, you know. But my tongue, now, when I want it the most, is about as valuable as a piece of beefsteak.<br /><br />"Yes, I like Sue," he continued. "I may as well own up to you, because I know you know it already. But there it is. She's bright and quick herself, and a bold, bright, quick-witted talkative chap like Langton would naturally take her fancy. Just compare him yourself with a thick tongue like me."<br /><br />"Startling contrast, that's a fact," commented his sister. "Ben Langton can talk, we all know, in all places and under all conditions. But did it never occur to you, John, that a girl might like to apply some of father's ideas to persons and things?"<br /><br />"Such as?"<br /><br />"Medium, John. Think it over now and then."<br /><br />_____<br /><br />"This is the field, boys -- the last one, and I'm glad of it. It's the Big Twenty, you know." Amasa Barton cast a proud glance over the broad meadow, its tall grasses swaying lazily in the early morning air. "Grass hasn't hurt any to speak of yet, and won't if we get it before another rain. Is it pay and a half, boys? All right, that suits me exactly. We'll make a mark in the Big Twenty before sundown I guess."<br /><br />Big and brawny, a trifle stout, perhaps, but hard as nails, the farmer, with his huge arms bare to the elbow, looked the picture of rugged health as he unslung his scythe and stepped promptly to the front.<br /><br />Langton came next. Both men glanced sharply at John's scythe, and Langton, catching the farmer's eye, grinned slightly, and received a wink by way of response.<br /><br />John had already noticed that each of his opponents carried a long scythe, formidable in appearance, and almost the exact counterpart of the one that he had so nearly selected shortly before. He cast a critical glance over the big meadow. Although fairly tall, the grass did not seem particularly thick on the ground. He wished most fervently that he had stuck to his own choice of scythes. The outlook seemed decidedly dubious. But <i>swish!</i> -- Barton had struck out. The day's work had begun.<br /><br />Long before the first long, straight swaths had been laid across Amasa Barton's "Big Twenty," John Bristow fully understood what confronted him. The grass in the Big Twenty proved to be, as he had thought, not especially heavy on the ground. With long, easily carried strokes, the two leaders swept up the long meadow; they swung their scythes in perfect unison and with but little apparent effort, and each, as John well knew, watched out of the corner of his eye to see how the new hand was doing.<br /><br />By using all his art and covering every possible inch of his shorter blade, John was able to keep stroke, through the first long swath, without loss of place. But well he knew that when the others warmed to their work, the pace would be far swifter -- and for several reasons. Barton was shrewd, and as his neighbors said, a trifle "close." He was not the man to offer "pay and a half" without expecting the better end of the bargain, He knew well his own endurance, his skill and prowess in the field, and he loved to excel. John knew how his boisterous laugh would ring out if a younger man should fall behind. And John particularly wished to stand well in the opinion of the stalwart owner of the Big Twenty.<br /><br />Langton and John had never been very good friends at best, and just now John knew that nothing would give Langton greater pleasure than to see him discredited with his employer. For an hour or two they mowed steadily. Once or twice, Langton had said something trivial in itself, but containing, as John well knew, a thinly veiled innuendo. He understood that the others felt they had taken his measure. He also understood that sooner or later, one or both of them would attempt that crowning proof of superiority in the hay field -- mowing him "out of his swath."<br /><br />Along toward noon, when it was John's lead, the two strong mowers behind crowded up nearer than at any time before. Well warmed to their work, they were lengthening the stroke of those long scythes without diminishing the time. Langton, next to the leader, was almost abreast. He was beginning to roll his swath just enough to make it difficult for John to "toe in" properly for the beginning of his stroke.<br /><br />John knew there was but one thing to do -- he must quicken his stroke. It called upon his reserve of strength and endurance, a reserve that he was carefully hoarding, and that he ought not to call upon until far later in the day, if at all. He was quite conscious of all this, but he was not going out until forced out. With a quick bracing of muscles, he "broke stroke" and forged ahead slowly to his proper lead.<br /><br />Langton slightly increased his peculiar whistling. Barton glanced up quickly with a look of surprise. Each quickened stroke a trifle, but not much. They knew it was not necessary.<br /><br />As they "carried swaths" for the next trip, Barton told with gusto the story of one of his former triumphs at a mowing contest. Langton commented freely, and laughed heartily at the right places. But the new hand had nothing to say. His quickened breathing and flushed, perspiring face showed the beginnings of distress and the fact that if he had comments to make, he had little breath with which to make them. At the foot of the field he whetted his scythe with the others; but Langton ostentatiously dressed his scythe with a rattling accompaniment of the stone on the blade -- plainly the mower's challenge. It was his lead, and he stepped promptly to the front with a slight nod -- which was returned -- at Amasa Barton.<br /><br />John Bristow got through that long swath somehow, he hardly knew how; but he found at the end, almost to his surprise, that he was still in his place. And no sound that he had ever heard seemed sweeter to him than the loud clang of the farmhouse bell, which then boomed out the noon dinner call. </blockquote>
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Except for John, it was a jolly group that gathered about the table in the long, cool dining room. Barton himself seemed in an especially genial mood, and Langton quite outdid himself as a talker. Sue Barton, keen-witted as ever, met his raillery with quick repartee. John thought that he had never seen her more charming. And he had had more cause, he thought to himself, to regret his own obstinate, thick-tongued silence.<br /><br />Amasa Barton dwelt much on the fine progress that they were making in the Big Twenty; and Langton took occasion to say that would make a still better showing before night if they all held out.<br /><br />With a glance at Sue, he added that he thought they would all hold out, with exception, perhaps, of her father and himself -- a thrust at which Barton and he laughed boisterously. John saw that the girl understood. She laughed, but somehow her laughter did not seem quite genuine.<br /><br />The first swath or two after the short noon hour were as hard for John Bristow as those of the morning -- a little harder, perhaps, because the pace at the start was swifter. And now again it was his turn to lead. Although he more than half-believed that this swath would be his "Waterloo," he stepped to the front with dogged resolution.<br /><br />That morning he had noticed out in the big meadow a vague line that seemed to mark a different quality or kind of grass, but he had had time to give it only an occasional glance. Now the mowing had brought them fairly to this line, and he understood what it was -- a wide piece of "new-seeded."<br /><br />Amasa Barton was a good farmer. The ground had been cleared of stones and well tilled: there had been an excellent "catch." The new growth stood rank and thick, and although not lodged, was still a tremendous burden. Eying the thick growth askance, John struck into it tentatively; to his intense relief, his scythe came through clean and free. Again he reached forward, this time with nearly a full stroke, and again his scythe came through without a "buff."<br /><br />Close behind, and still with that irritating whistle, came Langton, swinging vigorously. With a full, unhesitating stroke he swung into the thick new-seeded.<br /><br />John listened attentively and watched from the tail of his eye. Langton's whistling ceased abruptly. and in its place came an explosive ejaculation of disgust. He had found three forceful thrusts necessary to drive that long scythe of his through the thick, tangled growth.<br /><br />A moment later Barton's scythe struck the line of new-seeded. Although no word came from the sturdy farmer, John's quick ears caught a distinct and most expressive grunt. The young haymaker laughed softly to himself. He said nothing, but carefully using a medium stroke that almost invariably brought his scythe through clear and free, he mowed steadily across the wide field. Then he turned back.<br /><br />Several rods away, and fairly close together, the two were pulling along. By lifting their left hands to a high, strained position, they had contrived somewhat to shorten stroke. They were coming -- after a fashion.<br /><br />As he waited for them, John looked carefully round. He smiled contentedly as he noticed that nearly all the rest of the big field was covered by new-seeded grass.<br /><br />Breathing hard and perspiring freely, the two men finished their swaths. As Barton turned at the end, he cast a sharp glance at John's swath. He said nothing, for there was nothing to say; the swath was plainly the cleanest cut of the three. This time there was no story-telling as they carried swaths.<br /><br />Twice more they cut through the heavy tangled growth, the new hand easily, the champions of the morning only through grim determination. Again at the foot of the field, they wiped their scythes with the fresh-cut grass, preparatory to whetting them.<br /><br />Whetstone in hand, John Bristow looked for a moment square into the flushed faces of his two opponents. Then, once more over the Big Twenty there rang out, in no uncertain tones, the peculiar sharp rattling notes of the haymaker's challenge. But this time the new hand played the tune!<br /><br />Although John was not in the least vindictive, he did believe that in certain times and places people should be given a good strong dose of their own medicine. He thought that one of the times was this July day, and one of the places was Amasa Barton's big meadow.<br /><br />Whenever either of the men, visibly fretting over his long and now unwieldy scythe, took the lead, he followed closely. He was sure at last that he could easily mow either out of swath; more than once he was on the point of doing it. But he refrained; the extreme course is seldom the best. He smiled as he remembered his father's words with their wide application. But steadily, sharply he crowded the work; for perhaps two hours not a word was spoken by any one of the three.<br /><br />Finally, it was easily to be seen that both Langton and Barton, seasoned workmen though they were, had nearly reached the limit of their endurance -- and especially Langton. That hitherto complacent young man gazed time after time anxiously across the meadow in search of a possible end to that killing new-seeded. But apparently there was no end. It stretched far back, wide and menacing. To add to his discomfiture, it really seemed as if the victim of the morning were carrying his stroke stronger and growing fresher hour by hour. Finally, at the end of a swath in which he had kept place only by using every last shred of his reserve strength, he stopped. Without looking up, he ran his finger over the edge of his scythe, shook his head, and saying gruffly that he "must go and grind," left the field.<br /><br />For a moment Amasa Barton eyed his slowly retreating "help." He was himself breathing heavily, and perspiration streamed down his face; but his mouth was set, and there was evidently still some fight left in his sturdy frame. He looked at John silently.<br /><br />"Fine piece of new-seeded grass this, Mr. Barton," remarked John, cheerfully.<br /><br />Although the sun beat down relentlessly and there was not a breath of air, the sturdy old veteran of the field held his place twice again across the wide meadow. Then at the end a swath he deliberately shouldered his scythe.<br /><br />"John," he said, slowly, and in his voice was a note of respect that the young man had never heard before, "my scythe isn't dull, and I'm not going to pretend that it is, but -- I'm going to sit in the shade a while. It's pretty hot."<br /><br />He started toward the house, but stopped to call back, "You understand, John, that you don't have to mow any more today unless want to?"<br /><br />"Yes," said John, "I understand. But I guess I'll mow till night, thank you."<br /><br />Twice on his way to the house, Amasa Barton turned to look back at the solitary mower steadily swinging along in the Big Twenty meadow. He understood perfectly well that more than once that stifling afternoon, the young man's courtesy alone had saved him from the disgrace of losing his swath.<br /><br />From the wide farmhouse porch his wife and daughter glanced up inquiringly as he went slowly past. He scowled at Sue; then suddenly his face relaxed. Stopping, he jerked his big thumb in the direction of the meadow. "That young fellow allows he'll mow till night," he said in an odd tone expressive of mixed emotions. "He's gritty enough -- but it's frightful hot down there. I guess he'd appreciate a jug of our Cold Spring water, if you have time, Sue." And he stumbled into the house.<br /><br />_____<br /><br />"Thirsty, John?" John Bristow looked quickly at the end of his long swath. A look of delight came into his face at sight of the bright-eyed girl in the wide sun-hat. Her eyes were twinkling roguishly, and he wondered whether she understood the situation. In the true back-handed style he tossed up the jug and took a deep, refreshing draft.<br /><br />"Thank you, Sue; this certainly is kind of you," he said, as he handed back the jug. And then, much to his surprise, he suddenly found himself talking with fluent ease.<br /><br />Soon he again took up his scythe. The girl, with a half smile on her lips, had been looking out over the long row of swaths. Now she looked at the tall young mower, holding his scythe so easily, and said:<br /><br />"Benny Langton came up to the house a while ago, John. He said he'd dulled his scythe, but he went home without grinding it. And father's lying on the couch in the sitting room." She laughed softly. "I heard them talking at noon. They said you weren't in their class -- that you couldn't stay, and that they were going to put you under the fence before night. They didn't do it, did they?" She hesitated a moment, and then added shyly, "I'm glad, John." And John was alone with his mowing.<br /><br />The shadows were falling when, with his scythe over his shoulder, John turned into the home lane. Milking was over; his father was putting up the pasture bars. They understood each other, these two, and they said little as they went together up the green lane.<br /><br />But soon the father said, and there was a pleased light in his eyes, "I saw someone mowing alone this afternoon in Amasa's Big Twenty. It couldn t have been you, John?"<br /><br />"I guess it was, father."<br /><br />"Scythe work pretty well, John?"<br /><br />"Best in the world, father. The very best in the world."<br /><br />His father nodded appreciatively; then he added, "Taking things by and large in this old world, it's a pretty good plan, John, to be medium."</blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><b>Source</b></u>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=GXJNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA230#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">The Youth's Companion</a>, Vol. 86, No. 18, May 2, 1912, pages 230-231 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Illustration drawn by Charles Hubbard </span><br />
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