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Tayport Community Garden diariesVolunteer voices

Fraser’s scything adventures at the Community Garden

By 15th September 2016March 8th, 2020No Comments

Fraser, our PLANT volunteer, has recently cut the grass in our Community Garden’s wild corner using his very own scythe. This is what he wrote about scything for us:

I learned to scythe at the Transylvania Hay-making Festival in the Carpathian mountain meadows of Romania.  This runs for a week every August and is a wonderful opportunity to live with local villagers and take part in scything the beautiful flower meadows.

Scything is much easier if you use an Austrian scythe. The blade is shorter and lighter than traditional British scythes, which makes them more manoeuvrable and requiring less physical effort.  Austrian scythes can be purchased from Simon Fairlie or Steve Tomlin and they both offers short courses on scything.

Scything is great exercise (a bit like a golf swing), quiet (no lawnmower noises) and green as it does not require electricity or petrol.  Why not give it a try?

You can read more about the comeback of scything and its advantages for biodiveristy on a recent Plantlife blog here. And if you are up for a trip to Glasgow there is a free scything course on 23th of September with Steven Porch.

PLANT

People Learning About Nature in Tayport (PLANT) is a Tayport Community Trust subgroup which works to achieve TCT’s overall aim of promoting a vibrant and sustainable community, with improved quality of life, specifically through projects involving growing food and flowers, while enhancing Tayport’s natural environment. A key aim is to establish a community garden. Tayport Community Trust, Registered Charity No. SCO42558, Company No. SC350253, Registered Office: 10 Broad Street Tayport DD6 9AJ

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