Few people today know the art of scything, but old Swedish traditions are coming back and it is nowadays possible to see this old way of cutting the grass at special landscape events, or you could sign up for a course in using the scythe.
The scythe is a tool that was used for cutting crops such as grass or wheat, with a long curved blade at the end of a long pole attached to which are one or two short handles.
My scythe is very old. The pole I got from a friend, the blade and the beautiful fastening parts were a present from a neighbor. The pole is in fact too short for me, so I am searching for a longer one, but on the other hand I am very fond of this old one.
Important is the knife-grinder, and recently I was able to buy a perfect little grinder tool. When the scythe is sharp, it is sheer pleasure to cut the lawn. Yes, in fact we have saved the grass on our lawn to create a good environment for bees and other insects, but also to discover a whole world of different species of flowers that have been popping up in our field/lawn – which happens when you let the grass grow. Well, in a week or so we are going to scythe everything, and then my husband will be happy to run his garden tractor over the grass to transform it into a perfect lawn again.