Scything for Beginners - May 2024

Scything is an historic method of managing fields and grassland that is as effective today as it was hundreds of years ago. If you are growing a wildflower meadow, have grassland near water or simply want to sustainably manage an area of interest, this the perfect maintenance tool.

Your tutor will begin by discussing a brief history of scything before explaining where and when this management technique can most effectively be used. She will also discuss safety and tool maintenance before helping you to achieve the best fit with your scythe.

The remainder of the day will be spent gaining practical experience in cutting a variety of grasses in different natural settings.

We will be working with Austrian scythes. If you have your own, please feel free to bring it along. Your tutor may or may not wish to use it on the day, but she will certainly be able to advise you on how best to use it.

A bout your Tutor: Mary Ellis

In 2005 I left a large area of my garden completely untouched. The insect population thrived and diversified. Large ant hills developed attracting green woodpeckers. The chirrups of crickets and grasshoppers was a joy.

But by 2014 the grass was nearly two metres high and clearly needed to be cut back. Using a lawn mower wasn’t feasible and a strimmer too risky for the frogs and small mammals.

Remembering happy times in my childhood, using a scythe with my dad, I bought a scythette – very hard to use and impossible to sharpen. Frustration drove me to search online for a blade sharpening course and I found myself reading about Austrian scythes – how easy they were to use and to sharpen and that there were courses where you’d learn all this and be fitted with your own scythe.

I signed up immediately for a course at Brighton Permaculture and was taught by two doyens of the scything world: Simon Fairlie and Chris Riley.

I have been an avid scythes woman ever since: training further with Phil Batten, Christiane Laganda and Steve Tomlin, teaching privately and in schools, appearing on Countryfile, BBC South News and Radio 4’s Saturday Live, and coming first in competitions for Best Quality.

I love to teach and have never seen anyone pick up a scythe and not smile. Welcome to the wonderful world of scything!