How to Scythe + STOP Weeding, Watering and Fertilizing

you know this grass-fed vegetable system using Masai then fertility growing on the farm I don't water I haven't watered in seven years here including transplant day I don't weed if I keep the grass on the beds you know don't let the soil life eat it all and I don't fertilize at all because of a handheld sight right okay you know that's a pretty incredible difference I mean that's something that it could be game-changing for small farmers yeah you know and this is all technology that's from you know like it's long ago the scythe laid that I got in my side is made by a company this minute was in business 500 years ago Wow you see in Austria this is so they actually buy the blades and put together these sides into European South not the one you had in the right now I heard that your pin one is lighter or more ergonomic crazy light okay I mean like three pounds and then believe it or not you sharpen it with a hammer I mean this is such a I thought it was such a crazy good idea so imagine you've got a thin edge right that you've stoned and so the bevel is kind of getting steeper yeah you put it on an anvil and pound it out thin look right so now you've got a razor edge nice and then high carbon steel when you pound it it also case hardens okay I'm a hardened you affect so now you've got this razor blade that's harder and then in the field you're slowly stone and it goes bad and then you bring it back and paint it again over the hammer makes sense and if you want it I can show you that okay pretty good-sized blades because I know if I supply two more these are brush blades you can actually they're like small axes right but I've kind of found a one blade this is probably my favorite blade Felder mr. Scott's it's got to really see the tip how it really dips down yes so imagine when you're coming up to a tree and there's grass growing here all you just put this against the back edge of the tree and you can't hurt the tree see what I mean yeah and yeah yeah so I mean you put it up against the tree and then you do that and they're so razor sharp it it'll cut so this is killer more better than a weed whacker okay this was a tree right so you you know there's grass growing right here you just put it up against here and then do this and I can show you in the field huh all right and the other thing is killers think about that Electra Nattie right yes which you know you're always trying to keep it from grounding if you put this against the back of the neck you're always going away so I can trim right up next to it well let me imagine this Electra Nettie you catch it right there and then so there's not I mean you can go ahead you can start from just holding it against there you don't have to have a momentum of a swing you just hold it there and then chop right okay and I'm actually a hired side now so I spend a day a week down at I'd no farm mowing their electric fences think about pig fences yes four inches off the ground right so I can go right under it I'm not carrying the weight of a weed whacker right and it runs all the time as long as I'm healthy enough okay it's an incredible tool people should know more about it well show us how to sharpen this thing then let's go do it okay so this is our anvil it's got a hint of a little curve right and so this blade also will have a little bit of a curve so as I'm stoning in the field right so I'm doing this this so that's how touch it up in the field right how often you have to touch it I would see that's what everybody wants to know they wanna what it is is when it's not small and good you got to touch it up right yeah so it's all a feedback loop okay right after I pinned I might go 10 12 minutes before I stone by the time I'm needing the pain again after moyen maybe a quarter-acre I might be sewn in every minute okay just so I got a good cut to stay here all strolling is imagine this is on the thing I'm done okay so it any like this big thing it's more of a break and look around okay you know but so during that you know me I'm all quarter-acre and maybe you know four hours or three hours then that bevel that I pinned out before there was really thin and sharp now it's very increased it's more of you know like that and what I'm gonna do with the anvil is put it right there and squeeze it out right so all you do it and I can show you hopefully you can see this I hope you can so I kind of pre did this so you'd know what's going on so IP in this area right can you follow that yes and then look how it would the wave kind of moves in I haven't pained right here can you see that yeah can you see it in your eyes yes okay so what I'm doing is drawing out that and so that's gonna be thinner and stronger so you know Europeans know well so they pretty much all use anvil but there's a jig that's pretty much no-brainer that they felt with the outfit that's our custom fit for you so that's kind of like a I can show you that later but it's just a no-brainer way to peen and I have burnished the edge so that I can see every stroke almost and this way I can use it on the edge but all I'm doing is holding it right in the center and then hitting it you don't very hard but it's kind of cool so I guess in Europe during a season every morning that's what you hear all over the valley is I think think think think there's even I think the Austrians got a p9 song that's pretty cool but you want to go mo yeah let's do it this field has never been mown right she's been running her chickens here for four years during the middle of the summer that'll be about four foot tall with goldenrod asters all that you can see the rim mm then remnants of that okay three four years ago I started mowing here right and so that's the difference but what's amazing me imagine four years of chickens the greenness there I was expecting to be much greener than here where I've removed every bit of grass three cuts a year for four years Wow I read it on the a field again right why do you think that is I think it's a rotational grazing effect okay I mean the idea that if I do it and like salatan talks about you let it get to the teenage grass you know it's just past the the diaper grass right now okay so when I start down there by the time I get down here it'll be teenage grass because it's gonna take me probably ten days so you're harvested in this a hair early but you got to get going right and by the time I get here it will be and then the second cut will be really nice teenage grass and then what I did in the fall is you'll see the remnants I'd already moved one haystack that's what we saw early there there's the second haystack that I'm gonna be moving later today after you guys leave probably you know and it's not like that's worse than that but it's a disturbance that benefits me and the crops I grow because I mean that's a lot of wildlife habitat yeah let's show this I think we can see it better here mode with mode with a sigh not mode probably Bob probably cultivated this 15 years ago and it's a wet field right now if you walked out there I mean you put a tractor out there it would think so I'm able with his hand side to get a cut way before anybody could ever get in there with a machine now think about how I just heard Erin talk about he just let his cows out the first time a couple weeks ago right yeah I think it was only a week ago and they just ran out of the barn because they knew that was out there you know that teenage just great grass okay so they love it right but what if I give that to the maker instead of the mulch a which we always give it the last stuff what are they gonna do with that high nutrient grass full of protein full of chlorophyll is it gonna be it's gonna be different I don't know better or worse but it's gonna be different and nobody's doing it so you start doing something like that then you get something I gotta grab my side what's the micro herd so imagine all those critters in the soil the bacteria the worms you know all that stuff needs to eat so you know we give it the mulch a which is crap hey that the big lifestyle won't eat right okay let's say we give it the same stuff we give our best livestock what are they gonna do with it in the soil their poops gonna be different I think yeah you know this I'm no scientist again this might be all a bunch of bull you know but I think there's some cool stuff potential going on I'm learning just to try stuff and see what happens this is it so this is the European this is the European style side so you'll notice um it's a it's not the humpy one that you know the American style yeah which and it's a lot lighter feel that oh my gosh compare that to weeks like a performance bicycle tour defraud side through right and think about the fact that they measured my arm length they call it the cubit right so and then they measure from the bottom of your foot to your hip bones did not cast this not this is not factor this is custom this is custom that's where they decide where to drill the holes you send them the measurements yep or they'll measure you if you come to common ground where's Carmen ground common ground is that big fair that I talked about in in September that seventy thousand people come to unity make up these in America you want to take haven't ship from Europe the only thing you ship from Europe is here there's only one other company that makes them in America this size Supply and Perry Maine which is only five miles away so there's this kind of cool thing that developed that I knew these people so I bought one I thought it was a cool tool okay so where do people get this if they want to do this where do they go sigh supply.com i supply tacoma got cool and i'll be going there yeah I mean wait until you see how well okay so while you were probably having breakfast because I wasn't sure when you were coming yeah we ready brunch so I come you know I when I came out here probably at about 6:00 and I mowed until like 8:30 just so you'll see how much I mow in that time as a novice you will know this much it's kind of frustrating at first because it's not the same thing but and I think this field is three acres and it takes me this time of the Iraq and Moe an acre in about eight hours okay do that in one day nope I'm learning okay you know my theory is you know spend six to nine when you know and then go do the rest of my work see this is a kind of a meditation for me too yeah because you won't believe how simple a stroke it is it's not full of effort so that's what I'm owed in the time can you see that yeah so and the thing is they took all the grass and put it in a window that I can pick up with a fourth night Joe he's exactly like sigh alright alright I do wear gloves Jesse I mean I've knock on wood I've never cut myself with this razor when i'm sharpen it but i think it's a potential so i think this is just a good protection plus it keeps my hands nice and slowly soft so when you're stoning I actually bring two different kinds of stones these are natural stones from they ship these in from somewhere in Europe so there's two of them here this is a very fine stone and a little coarser right so right after I peen when they've got that thin edge I'll use the fine stone right but after about an hour that's not going to be as effective so then you know the rest of the two or three hours I'm oh and I'll go to this one this is called a Roz attack and this is a bog Anza so I've been mowing a lot so I'll use it for ganzel but this technique let me say thanks to Megan they're well on the road just like that without I did it right yep that's screwed not to not know but if you're doing this you'd be taking a lot of Steel on so it this is how I do it and then I'll usually just run that burr edge because what happens is when you're drawing it this way a curl a little bit of a burr and then you knock that off okay okay and that's all it is for sharpening Oh watch out and then that's the technique and best of all in the morning like sweat believe it or not but even now it's so alive but my swath is about ten foot so you kind of reach and it's not and you always want to have lying around believe it or not but see even on the backstroke I'm right here on the ground so even as right as if to live I'm not even carrying the weight and you can see that's not much effort it's more like when Richard Scott who works for site supply he's kind of my mentor he said stand like this right and then do this what happens your hands they go up now you put the size in it that's all the efforts you need to do when everything's right but you know for novice I've watched these big burly guys come cook at common ground we do mowing lessons kind of and they'll come out there in no and even some of the permaculture gurus I won't name names but they put it online like this is how I'm over the side oh but I won't name names you just barely do it but yeah smell the clothes oh wow yeah [Music] are you something then other people started out with it so like I said now I'm a hired side I just you know the seedlings I'm gonna pick up this week a friend of mine who has the greenhouse I mow her fence line and she does now it's getting dull I felt a drag it's so now we have an effort is that because you hit the ground a little bit because the mound I'd be a little Anthony so then you go ahead and well no what you I mean I wear the gloves so what I'll do is when it's wet cuz you got to wipe the grass out okay but traditionally it's a do this to wipe it but I got sick I mean I'm oh so much - how many bends would that be over today cuz it's probably every five minutes so I just wipe it with my hand and I've never cut myself not that would okay my turn Jim okay first time saving y'all so back left hand here front right hand there you're left-handed yeah but like this yeah the thing about left-handers because we use they in y'all we'll talk about it later but yeah honey on the ground think about that and think about your swinging like imagine that blades on a string I'm too hot okay and follow-through put your hand in your back pocket here and I'm not getting friendly but on the ground okay yeah yeah you're kind of pointing it down okay you're like teaching girls and so when you start it can be frustrating I like sent a team oh okay that was a good one there we go but then cuz we're kind of on the top here yeah yeah I'm glad when you can feel that sweet spot when everything's right can yeah I'm totally been an over to right then it's probably because you're a little taller than me so it's probably you're having to bend over okay the thing is if it's on the ground the whole way so that follow-through there we go you'd pick it up you'd be good at it the instinct is to lift it up y'all like this to go into the ground but it doesn't you know one you've got a lot of food this has been low before having no problem cutting it barely swinging it that's where we go yeah that's what people really need to realize you can move it like an inch a second [Music] thomas key hi I was a girl your arms are gonna get tired now the idea that you're moving your whole body okay but believe it or not this tool with absolutely I can shut berry bramble I can cut a small sapling which good and not hurt the blade because I ain't got the rage fell about the stroke when you're hitting something baked you got to have a slicing somatic chopping motion it's the Hangout you just I gotta get you scut do it yep and I you know I'm good enough now that I really believe I can no cutting green Wow I mean I do it around the farm you know sometimes I'm the only one two inches of grass just some of it's not there that was a good one you can feel it yeah all right you call a boat cuz the closer to the ground you got the less it's gonna want to bend over anyway and so that's all about that the lucky thing is this has been mold so there's no thatch so it makes it good that way because you went across and mold where it's hasn't been mowed it would take me three times as long to mow that but I could that was a good one I think so and it was good enough so that you get going and then you find tuners it's kind of like bowling to you know sometimes you after you haven't bowled for a while you can do really great and then after your moulds are bold for a while then nothing's happening and that happens with sight into that yeah you're getting good because most of the time novices don't make much of a windrow and look at your window it's pretty good I want to show you how I you know I'll show you later how hey for can pick that up because I can probably take when this is dry yeah I can take a hay fork and pick up about probably 30 feet of that on 1/4 I just do this and then I just pick it up nice and then I'll show you when we're moving the mulch down there into the beds how I do it with a tarp okay that's a no lawn care trick we used to move leaves around its but again nothing's new and agriculture like Eliot Coleman said last night in that video I mean it's just a travois you know the Indians you see use so the fact that you know it'll go over it doesn't have the wheel so it'll go over this rough ground and it's not yeah and then once you dump it it only weighs ounces when I'm coming back do you harvest to put it on your gardens when it's green or do you let dry out like depends on what I want to do if I want to do with some other crop you know kind of like a sheet mulch I stop using card because you don't need it here if you've got the volume you don't need cardboard I just instead of cardboard to smother the weeds elbow like that critical mass so this is non-toxic right I mean potentially cardboard is I got a friend that was in publishing and so you know it's a waste stream but it's potentially a problem in that you just don't need it no and you got to collect it so I actually saw you familiar with witchcraft I don't think Carolina they got it three acre field ten days it's coming out and get in the morning workout and and it looks beautiful you're getting the green grass off of it you're using it as mulch it's feeding your life that is in the soil the good stuff not the bad stuff Jim let me ask you what you think about this because I do rotational grazing I would run cattle along through here moving them every day I think I would go back with the scythe and get what they missed maybe a good idea if my beard is going behind them with a mower yeah definitely if you're doing that with a mower I definitely do with the size of the thing about you know there is site that equipment even walking through this one it's a little taller it bends it down makes it harder to mow so the fact that the Kyle isabetta cross would be harder and a little bit then you know I could do it so as you got better on it you could okay what are some other uses fine it's the killer trim tool well I'll show you more would you recommend people get this instead of a string trimmer and mowing the grass I'm been in lawn care for 20 years I never touch a weed whacker okay and then look what it can also do weed whacker guys what this is the same thing we're cutting out fine grasses look he's not even putting any strength into it goodnight your breathing art vote that's incredible and then you know but you wouldn't want to do that with something that's just been pinned with that fine edge okay so it's better to like if I know I'm gonna do and stuff like that I'll do it after I've ultra4 else repeat again next thing we know he's gonna be shaving his face with the spell you know believe it or not I watched this video of this guy in somewhere in Europe with clear in a ditch Bank yeah he was doing like the Banzai thing oh wow you know you'd be down here and they may be doing stuff up there trimming the trees yeah but I mean that's not very thick around here but see I'll find that grass is yeah you think that you hired the cut right but I mean it's okay wow that's like hair that's like hair on your arms that's fine grass right okay look how he's starting on that tree you know I mean you cannot do the good with a weed whacker no not you can't not without hitting that tree you don't have to hardly move you do have to position yourself [Applause] it's just the ultimate permaculture tools talked about chop and drop and you mulch right there you've been swinging off somewhere else I didn't have no deal with stuff hitting me in the eyes or the noise no fuel no smell that was my original draw to it but now it's it's hands down a better tools nothing about the aesthetics or the cost it's about that it works better nice which I would never believe

Channel: Justin Rhodes

Views: 2,907,308

Rating: 4.7465229 out of 5

Keywords: scythe, how to scythe, european scythe, scythe supply company, how to scythe properly, why scythe, where to get a scythe

Id: VVn1kiZnldQ

Length: 23min 17sec (1397 seconds)

Published: Sun May 21 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/yupyepyupyep]

He said he mows a quarter of an acre in 3-4 hours. Good gravy that would take forever.

[u/[deleted]]

"I'm not gettin' friendly" lol

[u/IccyOrange]

The best part is, he sorta looks like Death.

[u/MiskaDaisuke]

I love his enthusiasm and dedication to his work.

However, I couldn’t get past the dude who responds like he just wants him to stop talking.

[u/CoSonfused]

This guy sure loves his scything

[u/happyamosfun]

Oh hey, it's that guy from the tractor video my 2-year-old has watched 548 times!

[u/[deleted]]

"I'm a hired scythe now."

It's always a pleasure watching someone talk about something they are truly passionate about. The terminlology, tools, and dedication to his craft are infectious.

[u/[deleted]]

My wife and I recently turned in our riding mower to start mowing our happy little acre with a scythe. I like it a lot. This guy’s videos were really helpful.

[u/Shurikane]

Never thought I'd spend 23 minutes scytheseeing.