Haymaking: How did Medieval peasants make hay? (I prove I can't use a scythe!)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 22 июл 2019
- Jason discusses the importance of the medieval hay harvest, what it meant for the medieval peasant and how it was done.
Credits:
Direction, Camera, Sound, Editing Kasumi
Presenter Jason Kingsley OBE
/ rebellionjason
/ modernhistorytv
/ rebellion
Falcon Eyes Bi-Color Video Led Lamp Soft Studio Light amzn.to/32N2Hei
Sony camera amzn.to/2PNHcop
Tripod amzn.to/32QUWEo
Wellies amzn.to/2wvRylT
Work gloves amzn.to/39pK1DV
Radio mike amzn.to/2Tne0H0
Music licensed from PremiumBeat. 
Развлечения
![Finesse2Tymes - Pretty Ricky [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xIoP_mhYRT0/mqdefault.jpg)
Takes charisma to be able to stand in a field talking about how to make hay for 14 minutes and have it be interesting.
Tell me about it. I can't talk for one minute about anything needing explanation or teaching, and that's for things I know a lot about and enjoy. I'm also a shite researcher because I can't focus long enough without getting frustrated to really get into any of the good resources and details or applications. I also hardly ever go past the first page of Google, which obviously doesn't give me much in terms of sources.
Yup.
Also takes bravery to stand in any type of grass that tall for as long as he did with all the ticks and chiggers around.
Now kiss.
Also a British accent
Apparently my son has a 30 acre bedroom, because it takes him a month to clean
Ha nice one. 👍
@@ryand.3858 is that your mum?
Time to harvest again.
@@danrush88 no that's his dad with that great dad joke
This comment deserves a trophy!!!! 🏆
I appreciate that this channel focuses on the practical side of history. Bits of what the ordinary folk would have experienced and mundane observations of the technology that you don't usually find elsewhere. There is so much more to life than swords and warfare. This channel is a gem.
Malcolm P.L. You may also like Townsends and sons. Same thing but for early American.
@CodingCrusader1095
Yes, but this design wasn't practical.
Let me just say I've never used a scythe. But I really have to question whether the shaft and blade are as long as needed. If you have to bend down to cut, this is going to impact the length of your stroke. You want a shaft long enough so that the man doesn't have to bend down at all. Jason stated that the scythe he was using has a shorter blade than what would have been used. A longer blade makes sense as the longer the blade the more hey cut per swipe. And you have to consider what 66ft x 660 feet represents. That is a six foot wide swing which is what you are going to need to do if you really expect to clear 66 foot wide stripe of land that is 660 feet long. You are expected to clear a 6 foot wide strip 660 feet long every hour if you are working an 11 hour day which is to be expected during that time of year.
IKR, I hate how most history or historical shows either documentary or fiction always focus on nobility and politics, rather than the everyday life of the big majority of the population.
Yes. How ordinary life has changed through time tells us much more about humankind.
My Latvian grandpa still uses one at his countryside, and taught me how to do it. It's really not supposed to be that exhausting, you're not supposed to move your whole body like that. Only rotating the hips/spine, with the blade parallel to the ground, and sharpened blade, it's honestly easier than an electric lawnmower.
I enjoy using my scythe, it’s great exercise. The blade is forged, Austrian, who make the best blades. His blade is very short, mine’s about 50% longer. Experts carry a horn full of water on their belt, and a sharpening stone in the water, and from time to time they stop and hone the blade while working. We actually try not to rotate the body at all, just swinging the arms. His blade is not sharp, and he is leaning over, which one also shouldn’t do.
His snath is not fitted to him. From there, everything falls apart. A properly fitted snath would put the blade at the right orientation and position relative to the ground.
Also I think you need to have right shaft length, so you can use it standing straight.
yes, think his bad needs to e sharpened
The shaft is too short for his stature. Our scythes, when I was a kid, had curved shafts and much longer blades. We could make hay all day and not exhaust ourselves. It's all in the technique.
When I was a kid in the mid 60s our neighbours here in our Bavarian village in the Alpine region were an elderly couple still running their farm (1 horse, 10 cows, a calf ot two, a coop full of chickens and a rooster, 2 dogs and some cats) without modern machines... All by hand - the mowing, milking, seeding, harvesting, stacking of grass, hay, tatties, roots, wheat, raye, apples, pears, plums and all the work that comes with keeping tools in good working condition and with storing the harvested items, the meat and the milk all done by hand.
They were my 'extra-grandparents' and by 'helping' and being around them everyday I learned a lot without knowing I was taught. Sadly these days are long gone and Max and Marie with them but my memories are still alive.
I remember well how Max, then in his 60s (Marie almost 70) went out with the first daylight to cut the grass everyday and Marie following with the horse and wagon later to bring it home so they could start milking the cows, muck out the barn and feed the animals. In summer Max went out again after this chore to cut the hay, I remember his cutting sounds were like music: even and steady, the rows straight as arrows. He'd stop ever so often to hone the blade with a whetstone that he carried in a metal 'horn' that was strapped to his belt and contaned some water to keep the stone ready for use. The blade was a bit straighter than yours and the tip was not as much curved as yours. He kept the blade close to the ground and 'swayed' it more than' hacking'. My dad once helped !!! and him not being a farmer held the blade to high so he couldn't form a row and the stems were all different length. I stood too close and he nicked me with the sharp tip of the blade pretty close to my eye... the scar has faded but it's still there. Taught him to hold the blade down and myself to stay away when I'm told not too get to close.
The hay rows then were losely shaken spread out with forks. In the evening we prayed the weather will hold. Next day the hay was raked in rows again, spread out and then hung on 'Hoanzl', that's 3 wooden sticks that were held together with wire on top so that they could unfold and stand like little tipis in the fields.each stick had wooden pegs and the hay was neatly draped on them. Us kids loved to crawl underneath and hide and better beware of the farmers catching us 😊. When the hay was dried Marie brought the horse and wagon again and 2 other neighbours helped loading the hay up which had to be done carefully and skillfully so that we won't lose any on our way home. There the work still wasn't finished. In Bavaria the hay was stacked in the hayloft above the barn and it had to be lifted up with forks and quite a bit of 'Achselschmalz' as we call it (arm grease). It was very hard work and when it was done it was again time to milk, feed and muck out the barn.
Hard work but everyone was in a good mood because the weather had held. In times when it 'rained into the hay' the whole spreading, shaking, raking and draping started anew.
Long read, sorry I got carried away. I left out the picnics in the fields though 😁. I stll have a photo with me (5yrs old) riding Blacky when he pulled the wagon loaded with hay on a cold winter day. Max's farm was small and he had an additional hay barn near the fields. I'd upload the photo if it was possible, 1967 😁 good times in rural Bavaria.
Thank you for your memories.
@@stanlygirl5951 🌹😊
Lovely story thanks for sharing
that was an awesome story. thank you for sharing
What a wonderful story 🙂
I imagine Jason as a child saying "I'm going to be a knight when I grow up!!" and the adults around him going all "yeah, of course you will dear".
Look who's laughing and scything now.
@Matt Dardeau
I've heard OBE in movies and other places, but what does it mean?
@@doppio8602 I believe it's "Order [or Officer?]of the British Empire"! It's an officer designation :).
An OBE is not a knighthood.
@@BoopSnoot No, the definition of service to the Crown has broadened.
Great video on a true history lesson. When I was a kid about 11 or 12 my Dad asked me if I wanted to learn driving the tractor for hay season. Of course! He then handed me a scythe, and told me after I cut 1/2 an acre by hand, before noon, then I could learn to drive the tractor. I had learned the "proper way" of the scythe, so the next morning, before school, I went out and staked off a 1/2 acre... 30x330 feet. The next morning (saturday) I went out and cut a row, then shocked each row and cut and row etc. By noon, I was 2/3rds done but my dad gave me my 1st tractor lesson that afternoon. He told me to be up for church and after I could practice on the tractor. I never made it to church or the tractor practice the next morning... I didn't wake up until 9 or so and then I could hardly walk to the john. My Dad had left orders no one was to wake me. After church my Mom rubbed me down with liniment, and my Dad brought me aspirins and told me to get out and check the oil etc. for my tractor practice. I hurt... really bad, but I did it. And I practiced for a couple of hours before my Dad hooked up the swather and made me stand beside him as he showed me the mowing technique and tricks. When we broke for supper he told me that the pain I was feeling should do well to remind me what hard work really was. Driving the equipment is hard too, but it's working smarter instead of harder. What a lesson.
Nice one, reminds me of a Spartan upbringing, good lessons for the future.
Your dad is my hero
Must be a nice supper you have that day after those hard work
33*330 is 1/4 acre, so you actually finished about 1/6th of an acre. Still not an easy task.
Dude you should totally make a video about it!
One other tip, each swipe only requires the scythe to advance 2-3 inches per stroke. The stroke starts with the blade heel at 90 degrees to your hips, and follow through until the heel is just a few inches to the left of your left foot. As you step forward (approx 2-3 inches, each step) your left foot will be parallel to the swath. I tend to cringe when watching period dramas depicting hay making. Dad would have laughed his socks off. Been 60 years since I watched that skill. After school, mum and I would roll the swath over with a dowelled hay rake (to get the damp side up), then fluff it up with a 2-pronged pike to speed up drying. Just before dew forms, we'd rake it back into a narrow swath to minimise overnight dampening then mid day dad would fluff it up before starting scything. Then rinse and repeat.
i think that scythe just wasn't sharp enough. i saw a video of a guy mowing his lawn with a scythe and it cut through the grass a lot easier than yours was.
Yes you’re right, blunt scythe!
The scythe is also about having the snath (the wood part) set up just right for the user, so the blade lays with the edge just 1/4" off the ground at just the right upward angle, with the blade at set laterally at just the correct angle. There's supposed to be very little effort to using a scythe when it's setup correctly.
@@ModernKnight his technique also needs work. You're supposed to lay the spine of the blade on the ground and drag it lightly over the grass as you cut, letting the blade do the work. He's hacking at it, trying to use brute force to cut.
It takes quite a bit of practice and prep to do it like some on RUclips, which they don't really talk much about when they try to sell people on scything.
Having used a sling blade exactly once (one of the more unpleasant summer days in my memory!), I can see the similarities. It's so strange to me to think of harvesting in June though! Where I live, that simply isn't the case - folks that grow alfalfa for hay don't harvest it until nearly October depending on the rain. But, I also live in a southern area and very very humid, and it stays summer here for months on end or at least feels that way! (Which is why I am rather jealous of your sky that looks like rain, the whole field looks so wonderfully cool compared to my yard today!)
In the case of a sling blade, sharpness helps, but it's a very heavy blade, thick metal and with a rough, almost saw tooth edge for a portion of the blade's length. It's not for cutting hay-grass, though. It's intended to deal with heavy brush, thick weeds, undergrowth of the wild and pernicious sort that we have in this southern climate. But you are completely right, it's both zen like and exhausting. You have to concentrate, really pay attention, or you're likely to do yourself a serious injury; but your entire body has to move to complete the action of a single stroke, and you cover perhaps one foot at a stroke. I can't even imagine six hundred and sixty strokes with *anything* like that! We modern folk are used to our comforts, aren't we!
Even with everything sharpened, adjusted, angled, and all, I imagine a farmer would still be quite shattered with weariness at the end of a haying day.
Such a wonderful video! Thank you once again!
@@Beryllahawk Any time from the end of it growing till the start of it again is a good time, dodge the rain and done... though some places in a good season you can get multiple harvests, if at X height by Y time cut down.
Nice microphone work. You could barely tell how windy that field was by the audio.
Indeed. I really wish more outdoor video creators would learn that art. Some videos out there are interesting, but unbearable to listen to.
Major props for that.
Just curious, do you work in audio or film? How do ModernHistoryTV get such good sound? As someone who needs to do some outdoor filming, often with the subject at least twenty feet from the camera, I'd love some input on what type of camera and microphone to use. I've begun researching online (and watching channels like this) and your comment caught my eye. Thank you for your time.
@@austinmeadowswilkerson8428 Oh, I make videos for my own channel so I've had to learn a few things about microphones, peaking, noise reduction, and so on. In this video it looks like they used a regular lapel mic but put a huge foam windscreen on it. A bigger production probably would have had a sound guy to hold a boom mic and get the equipment completely off the screen, but this setup has clearly worked well.
What brand is that microphone?! i need one!
Ye I almost thought he was in a studio for a sec while having the video minimized
You absolutely do want lots of flowering plants in your hay meadow. They are deeper rooted than the grasses and 'deep mine' minerals, bringing them to the surface in vegetation which is so beneficial to livestock. Ancient unimproved meadows which are sadly now so rare in the UK, can have over 100 plant species present in the sward and are also awesome for insects.
To encourage more flowers and discourage dominance by grasses, never add fertiliser, keep the nutrient level low, but consider adding lime every 5 years, if necessary to nudge the pH close to 6.5. Grasses out-compete flowers in high acidity soils.
Farmers who complain about your 'weeds' are the same misguided ecological vandals who have ploughed their ancient meadows and resown them with high yielding perennial rye grass ( and 'achieved' more quantity but much less quality fodder ).
@@Zombiesbum Everybody removes noxious weeds, though. That's not really relevant. Getting them off your land may be more work than plowing the whole thing under in favor of monoculture, but a proper meadow with a good species balance won't have them popping up any more except off of other people's land after you do it the first couple years, same as a plowed field.
We have "native prairie" - a wide variety of grasses and plants native to Tennessee - many of them flowering plants which attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds - and all of them quite nutritious for livestock and wildlife alike, along with the red and pink clover added by my grandfather decades ago. It works well as forage and hay. Plus, it takes care of itself. Since we use no chemicals on our land, we have gobs of earthworms and other beneficial organisms in the soil to provide aeration and nutrients. We have never had to feed our cattle anything but the grass and hay grown in our own fields, and they are in better shape than most these days. We always get top dollar for those we sell each year to an organic meat company. We are very careful to maintain a ratio of 5 acres pasture to one cow/calf pair, however, and ten acres per horse or mule. Anything more than that lowers productivity by putting too much stress on the pasture.
@@Zombiesbum He has another video that talks about that. Specifically ragweed, which damages the liver long term, but the livestock generally leaves alone in the field since it's bitter but loses the bitterness when it dries out.
Some weeds can be even useful. Not all of them, nut like brenessel taken early can be used for stuff (because its not yet getting very very stingy) and i dont know, a lot of herbs and plants that kinda can be used or eaten also overlaps as weed.
And some plants are noce for bees and insects and the environment, bur enough can be eaten or herbal used if you know what to, even brennessel, early enough.
Oh some weed also has apearently nutritientts and once rotting becomes fast fertalizer.
5:05 Kind sir I wisheth not to alarm thee, but I believeth a dragon is approaching thy farm.
It attacked the next village, took two pigs and burned a haystack.
actually there is a secound dragon coming 10 secounds later
Where?
@@therespectedlex9794 There's a helicopter flying in the background at 5:05.
@@nelsoncabrera6464 Merci, I have a big myopia.
You call it medieval hay making, I call it a normal summer's activity in modern day rural Eastern Europe
You beat me to it... 🇷🇴
Just got back from Romania helped make some hay stacks good fun
@@mmmbrrr3232 middle class culture vulture
And many of the more mountainous regions of Austria, also ;-)
@Podkova i was mostly in breb and there it seems people live in little villages with there life stock which are housed because winter is -20°c and summer 40°c+ so not all ways ideal to have animals out side. They dont have much land at home but they have little bits of land around the village so it id ideal to make hay and bring it to the stock and have food winter. The reason they dont have tractors is cost they cheapest tractors is 5k usd and then you have to put desiel in it where as you can do it all buy hand with 100 dollars of tools. The people are cash poor but time rich because they mostly self sufficient.
This is really just 15 minutes of him standing in a field telling us about how to cut grass, but it's the most compelling thing I've seen on RUclips today.
I love your channel!! As a shepherdess-in-training, I can tell you the “bits and bobs” in the hay are great for your animals. My professor refers to them as “forages”. Living near a saltwater river, I am fortunate to be able to add marsh grass to my hay, too, which adds valuable salt and minerals.
In Jane Austin's "Mansfield Park," a lady moving to the country cannot hire anyone in June to transport her harp, which has been sent down by carrier from London to her sister's house, where she is staying. The local landowner's son has to tell her that the local farmers are getting the hay in and can't take the time. She is incredulous that there is not a wagon to be had anywhere in the area for even that small job.
Lol. Yes!!! I love how he's like " Look Lady! HORSES GOTTA EAT SOMETHING!!!"😂
Speaking of practical measurements, in rural Greece they used to describe distances in terms of the number of cigarettes you'd smoke while walking to a destination.
Modern Greece, or past Greece.
Blugale Doh I think it was pre WWII.
@@blugaledoh2669 Ancient Greece, obviously
And time would be measured in the duration such a person would survive with the corona virus.
Ever used a weedwacker with the sun on your back? It's miserable. Swinging a scythe all day in the height of summer must have been unbearable.
Scything is usually best done in the mornings because its easier to cut before its started drying for the day, so they may have started and finished before the worst of the day
That's why you wear a hat.
A good way for a young strong man to make some extra money. Perhaps paid with meat. Similar to the Bible account of sheep shearers.
@Democratic Communist Especially if their diet is as good as he mentions in previous vids
@@MrDavidknigge You don't need strong young men. You just need an old man to drive a combine harvester, and a middle aged man to fix it.
OBE Jason always prefaces his talks/ etc. saying he is not an expert. I appreciate that and his willingness to give it a go himself on whatever the topic or task. A curious and brave experiential learner.
Some may call these weeds
Me, I call them herbs in the mix
Love these videos, it’s so interesting finding out how things were done historically in such a modern way.
Me too, it's lovely to have such a connection to the past in the modern age
It was really bad scything. The grass should not to be cut with force, as being showed, but sliced of with inertion of scythe . In this way it is much easier. The scythe should be slide by earth with the heel, and, if scythe are sharp enough, the grass fall imediately by herself.
The skillful man with scythe is more productive than man with modern grass trimmer.
such a great channel, keep the great work! I like how diversified it is, not just about medieval warfare.
I remember when writing my dissertation for my medieval history course one of the most difficult things (for a city dweller lol) was to actually picture the agriculture of the medieval people when reading Mark Bailey or Bruce Campbell. You’ve done a wonderful job at fixing that thank you
I might see one reason there why there was this old crack down on left handed people. In this instance someone swinging the blade in the wrong direction being in a line of people might cause trouble.
Ah, In morocco all the family eats from one dish, and my problem with my sister as children was that she was left handed and so she would always annoy the hell out of me when eating ! i cannot imagine what that would do in group activities !
Amine Kebdani if you put them on the far left it should solve the problem
well scything grass is still maintained in balkans as a form of traditional competitions in a lot of regions and ofc some people who dont have access to infernal combustion grass cutters they do still use those things.....
My grandfather used to cut the areas around trees in the orchard and other spots that are difficult to access with a scythe in the South of Germany.
I love the idea of practically defined units, such as a league being an hour's walk and a penny (pre medieval) being a day's labour. And a furlong being the length a mule can plow in one go (ie furrow-long).
We were doing this on our small holding in County Down in the 1950s! My father was a great scythe man. We had the pitchforks for turning the hay so it dried properly. Kept in tied down haystack and pulled in the winter to feed the two cows in the byre.
You have the idea but not the technique correct. For you the handle should be longer so you are not stooping Also the blade should never be going down into the hay. It should slice parallel to the ground. The important part is the blade. It needs to be sharp enough to slice off your leg without you noticing until you fall over. My grandfather used one to mow the weeds along his property line. It was a joy to watch him work
Ah yes, finally an upload! I love that you're paying attention to more humble people. Nobility and knighthood are very interesting, but the peasants stories don't get told as much. Great video!
A sythe must be tuned by size and dimension of the handle and be sharp as a razor. After 60 feet you would give a quick 2 to 6 swipes with a stone to restore the edge. If this is so the tool would slide easily in an even and complete mow. No need to bash the grass down with violence , just a tenth the effort you displayed and you harvest all the crop.
I got a setup from Scythe Supply and the snath was completely the wrong dimensions for the measurements I gave them. When I contacted them they wanted to critique my technique, lol. Stay away from that sham company.
Haven't tried it since.
I'd imagine farming tools of the 1500s would be poor quality and made of bad steel
@@nonotanymore They would have been made by local craftsmen well known by the farmers or the farmers themselves. Bad steel? Maybe, but making good steel was not impossible--it depends on the blacksmith's skills. A bad blacksmith did not stay in business for long.
@@daveh3997 yeah cuz small villages had such a abundance of blacksmith they could just go to the next block and buy from that smith instead.
Jesper Roos | long distance trade existed, you know
I love this video and the particular playlist it is in because it just shows you how much went into a peasant's life, and that it in fact was a way of life. It is very humbling to watch just because you can see how much we take for granted in our own lives. Well done, these are great videos.
We have to do this on steep hillsides where we can't safely use the tractor and haying equipment. We have four 160 yr old scythes and 2 wide hay rakes which we keep properly maintained. When my kids were growing up and were acting up, I used to make them mow the yard with the scythes. It certainly worked the kinks out. My younger daughter has her kids doing this, too.
As a modern farmer, this is absolutely fascinating! I’m truly thankful for the equipment we have now, but I have absolute reverence and respect for how our ancestors accomplished the same feats.
"It's almost harvesting season"
7 more days brother! And we shall all have good heads on our shoulders then
Mount & Blade
I love this channel! Huge props to the guy running it. As for the scythe, the trick is to keep the blade just above the ground at all times, sort of sliding it in circles around you as you are bending over the scythe is fairly perpendicular to the ground with a slight angle. Your arms should be almost completely straight and the real work is in the twisting motion and having to bend over. It is easier, and that way, you can actually get as close to the ground as any lawnmower! It is also less work as you as using the curved design of the scythe to your advantage and your arms move less. The movement comes from your hips and back, and should be fluid and steady in a continual rhythm.
Thanks, yes my scythe technique and knowledge was poor, lol.
Very similar to using an axe or machete. Did a bit of scathing years ago but used the machete to clear brush etc a lot more. Let the blade do the work but don't try to use brute force to hack. Hurts too much, too. Just a nice, smooth action and keep touching up the blade to keep it sharp. Hats off to Jason for trying but hope someone has given him some help so he can enjoy it more.
Really love the broad range of topics that get discussed on this channel, rather than just all warfare all the time. Endlessly interesting. Keep 'em coming!
Nothing better than getting off work and sitting down after a long day to watch some medieval hay cutting. 👌
So glad you're finally back! Can we keep our hopes up for new episodes weekly?!
(Even if you must lie, please say yes.)
Sometimes my day job gets in the way, but yes, I’ll be making more.
I’m the CEO of a games company.
Targaryen Dynasty he's the owner of the rebellion gaming company, for example they created sniper elite series
@@ModernKnight, I was going to tell you to quit the day job, but that sounds cool enough that I would hate to see that happen. If you were a banker, on the other hand....
@@ModernKnight -I genuinely hope you can make this your day job. It's very informative and entertaining. Provided you enjoy it, obviously.- Just read the entire thread. Nevermind. Although I still do hope you can find the time to make more of these videos, I 100% did not expect any of that and hope you make medieval games left and right. I fully believe you'll do them justice. PLEASE make medieval games.
I'll say it as many times as I need to convince you. Please do it.
Enjoyed that. Thought you are right about your scything technique. From about 11 years I would take on the job of mowing, we called anything cut with the scythe "mowing", anything cut with a sickle "reaping". We mowed the banks where we couldn't cut the grass with machinery. Also sharpened the scythe by tapping the edge with a hammer. You are making harder work of it, and losing a lot of the hay, by holding the scythe too far off the ground. The closer to the ground the better. Love your videos.
Another wonderful, educating video -- thank you!
I was struck by what you said about the oblong shape of the medieval fields - we have the same phenomenon in ancient Mesopotamia, where the oblong shape was based on the use of teams of ploughing oxen (the fewer times you have to turn them around the better!)
History is truly amazing, showing that people across vast expanses of time and space were thinking similar thoughts 😀
Indo-Europeans spread far and wide. Terracing was another variation. In Asia the rice paddies were not oblong but more squarish. Not sure how those ones measured their work of the day.
People are the same and many of the problems they faced are the same, so the same solutions crop up all over the place. Even where enviromental conditions are different and different solutions might work better, there are often still similarities. Roundhouses, for example, were very widespread. Local conditions might change the materials used (e.g. wattle and daub in cooler, damper places and sun-baked mud in hotter, drier places), but the fundamentals of the design are the same because the problem was the same - building a house by hand using freely available materials that optimised living space, simplified the building work and which wouldn't collapse under the weight of the roof.
The oblong shape was so much a part of medieval English farming that it was how farming land was parcelled up and named. Farming land wasn't divided into fields (that came later). It was divided into strips.
We still use the scythe here in Bulgaria, most homesteads have them. And harvest in the same way, all used to feed animals.
We work hay in an old fashioned way (I suppose) - putting it on spikes and top it with rough patches. Works quite well.
It's a lot of work doing it that way, but up in the mountains we cannot use fancy machinery.
Nonetheless, hay smells fing nice and it is somewhat calming - can only encourage others to indulge in the wonders of nature ;)
Where I grew up (Piedmont, Italy) the fields, even nowadays, are measured in "Giornate" which translates to "days", the size varies from town to town, but are roughly equal to 1 Acre. So you're idea of what an Acre is is pretty spot on imo.
12:00 My grandfather was a peasant in Eastern Europe all his life, and taught me how to scythe when I was a kid. From what I remember, there's a coupla things being done wrong here:
- Jason's moving the scythe with his hands. There's two reasons that should be avoided: it's really tiring, and it's not imparting enough strength to the scythe. The way to do it is to keep your arms more or less stationary, and move your torso from the waist to give the spinning motion. You're moving kinda like a tank turret, just left to right and back again.
- Jason's advancing too much per swing. Each swing of the scythe should catch 1/4th to 1/3rd of an inch of hay or grass; you're never supposed to _push_ the scythe through grass, you just swing it off to the side, let it come back, and all the grass gets cut by pure inertia. The one time when you're putting force in this system isn't on the cutting swing, it's on the other one.
And this is how you can scythe grass for literal hours without losing the use of your arms :)
Interesting enough, In Austrian (and parts of Germany’s) agriculture, surface measures like »Tagwerk« (~a day’s work) and »Joch« (~yoke) are stil common. They have their foundation in the surface a team of oxes could plow in a day, and vary greatly, depending on the terrain - usually between 2,500 and 4,000 m2
Anton, what area would the team plough and how many in their team??
groseillegrowa as often with old measures it would vary - but usually it would be two oxen in the harness. Depending on the landscape, the area ploughed in a day would be 2,500-4,000m2
The same oxen based units where used every where an every where the unit differed, an acre was the amount of land tillable by one man behind one ox in one day.
I had a property in Germany and the land attached was listed as "a 3rd of a morning". That distance varied depending on region and soil.
I love these slice of life type of episodes. The insight into what life was like back then is my favorite thing.
Another video with amazing quality. Thank you very much for the effort you put into this. This is absolutely one of my favorite channels.
It's nice to see you taking on the tasks that medieval people would have done. 😊
I remember the one where you tried out the tooth brushing that they would have done. I enjoyed that one, too. 😊
We harvested hay with scythe and pitchfork when I was a kid in rural Nova Scotia.Great video.Keep up the good work!
I loved this!!! I loved your talk about the diversity in the hay. I made hay with my scythe last year for my cows. It was really hard work and my job kept getting in the way but it was strangely satisfying.
Thanks so much for sharing. I remember my dad using the scythe on our small acreage as we did not have a tractor early on. Keep up the fine work. Gloria🐂
Nice! And very instructive indeed!
Remarks: 1) "tidiness" is much overappreciated in the modern civilisation, as it implies standardisation, which kills variety.
2) I ain't know about other places, but I know we are still using scythes in national parks in Poland wherever we wish to keep meadows; as they are incomparably less harmful for the environment... it also serves as an opportunity to practise "the old ways"; actually international tournaments of mowing are orgainsed :-)
Cheers!
I was literally scything on Sunday. Spent the whole day in a field doing it and LOVE it!! 😃
Emily Lloyd-Gale must of been hard work
NPC #5433334 yes it was, but very satisfying. :) I was cutting very long grass, which is much harder than crops as it flops over, which makes it harder to cut. Still, I did a marvellous job. ☺️
Emily Lloyd-Gale cool! Hope the blade was sharp :)
NPC #5433334 oh yes!! I had sharpened it to within an inch of its life. Haha.
Am I the only one who gets goosebumps every time I watch the intro?
No, I love it too! :)
Same here!!
Used to do this on my Granddad's farm as a lad - East Anglia, England around 1970's - and then used to do this for bracken clearance when a Wildlife Warden on Lundy Island - Bristol Channel, England / Wales - 1990-93. The key was always to get the rhythm going and critically to always carry the sharpening stone with you and regularly sharpen the blade - hard work, but also rewarding :-)
Every video is like seeing an old friend thanks always too you and crew for making these.
"bits and bobs" has just become an official part of my American English vocabulary.
Wonder if the word acre came from the chap that did a days work and then stood up stretched his back and said " That gave the a back ache " thus one acre lol ;)
Yup. That was one ache-er!
I appreciate this video. My dad grew up on a farm in rural north-eastern US in the 1920's and 30's that his family had farmed since before the revolution. I remember him saying they grew hay for their dairy cows and draft horses. I suspect they probably used a horse-drawn mower, but I would not be surprised if they used scythes as well. I remember him saying that they were always concerned about keeping the hay dry. He often told stories about how they worked the land and preserved food for the winter. Those methods seem to be not very different from the methods from pre-industrial and maybe even medieval England that I have seen on your channel. Your videos help connect me to my ancestors in a way. Thank you for making them.
I am always excited to see your latest video. Great work, and as always very interesting. Thanks so much!
Been waiting so long for this episode
I am working with a few organisations to bring back Michaelmass in a big way.
We are thinking of using the festival to unite demographic groups
We have Easter and Christmas big parts of our year however we don't really have a festival that celebrates humanity and human achievement working together.
With Michaelmass we really hope in the future that it will be a feature in the UKs calander
Would love to talk and discuss ideas to unite the past with the future
@UClyUcFhVAnEn4ZsV79gfHag
Who cares? The satanic temple has more of my trust than north American Protestants let alone roman Catholics.
That's great and all, but it's pointless if you try and divorce Michaelmas from it's actual context. All you'll end up with is an empty shell with no life in it. Just look at how we celebrate Easter and Christmas. It's all just fake. And don't get me wrong, I do want to see Michaelmas take a prominent role in society again.
Those farmers wouldn't have necessarily looked muscular but you wouldn't want them to get their hands on you. LOL
I have two scythes. My grandfather used to cut his lawn with a scythe, having been a farmer (milk, and forage) in his working life.
Thank-you for another wonderful video! Love that these videos aren't just lectures; very much appreciate the demonstrations.
"As fit as butcher's dogs." I have not heard of that one before, but it makes a lot of sense.
I love to collect hay with a horse cart, its relaxing really. Building the stack while being alone far from the noise. Of course the mowing is done by a tractor.
Now it's the third time I've come across one of the videos of this channel and it's always been interesting. Time to sub. Finally!
How did I get here? A hay making video.... yet here I am, and so impressed by it and its ability to keep me interested that I’ve subscribed to your channel... 🤷🏼♀️
Thanks!
A scytheman had a steady swing that was totally repeatable. So much so that when they wanted to vary the length of the grass they didn't (couldn't) alter their swing. instead they altered their footwear.
In the 1920's my grandma made some ale for the men getting the hay in. She went off to visit her sister but when she came back a week later all the beer was drunk but the hay still was in stooks and hadn't been brought in. She was very cross indeed according to my mother. I have no doubt a lot of ale
was drunk at haymaking in medieval times too.
Whenever i see your videos I feel like I want to do time travel.
I’d prefer the simple life with worries about hunger and sour muscles to the life today with worries about overweight, burnout and depression.
A few years ago I worked at a stable where I used a scythe. The beginning is difficult because you go in with force, but with some training you adjust the angle and rotation and you need less power when your technique gets better. Why don’t you offer summer haymaking camps for stressed people? Would be lots of fun and saves you the gas 😄😉
Sorry for my bad English. I love your videos ☺️
Experimental archeology is really where it’s at. You’re really adding to Historical Knowledge, engagement, and education with this channel! Love it!
Your videos are so incredibly interesting, and in my opinion it is really amazing to keep this kind of knowledge alive. I feel like the day/acre relationship was buried somewhere in my mind, and I’m glad to have it in my pool of knowledge now.
Informative, thank you (and thank for the Imperial measurements too)!
Yeah, we instinctively use imperial measurements in the UK. Sorry if it's confusing to you guys.
@@JohnyG29 I'm an American, I use the U.S. Customary Systems of Measurement which are directly based on the British Imperial System, it's second nature to me. Metric not so much.
@@miaththered Ok, I learn something new each day, cheers! I thought you guys had gone full metric like Canada.
The concept of an acre as one days' work for a man falls within the same vein as a league being a measure between two to three miles: the average walking speed of a man is two and a half miles per hour. A league is, at its simplest understanding, the distance of one hours' walk. To say that the next village is three leagues' away is to say it is a three hour hike down the road.
A summer hour or a winter hour? An hour being a tenth of the time between sunrise and sunset.
I remember seeing my father scythe once. He was beautiful. I had never thought so before. He was so graceful.
Great stuff as always, thanks to all who put in the work. The information about the concept of an "acre" is fascinating, dope shit.
If the Grim Reaper has a good twin brother dedicated to life, that would be Jason Kingsley. 🌻🌞
Keep up the good work! Your scythe didn't seem to be sharp enough.
I live off grid in the USA. Love seeing your videos. Learn a lot of things to use off grid from them.
Have 5 horses all are light riding/ saddle type horses. Two are pacers (ex harness racing horses). With what is happening in the world today this is a very useful skill to have.
I love your channel
Yay! My favorite knight is back! Keep up the good work Jason! Love these video's!
Farmer: i have ten acres of barly
Weird flax but okay
Booooooo! Get off the stage! Boooooo!
Excellent work
I use a scythe as an alternative way to maintain our farms fields and ditches. I prefer it over a fuel power cutter because its quiet and doesn’t bother the livestock. At first it’s a very physical demanding task, especially on your lower arms but you get use to it. I find it incredibly soothing and therapeutic as well as functional. I can easily imagine how fast a group of experienced workers could cut down whole acres.
Thanks for doing a video on this, it’s was very interesting. We have cut and dried our own hay too, it’s surprisingly simple...if you can keep it dry.
We also have the exact same scythe and blade. The blade you were using is better for thicker stemmed plants such as dock and nettles. There are longer blades suited for grass which cut though it like butter.
Keep up the amazing video, very educational to watch!
For that thick of turf you may want to try a ditch blade, or even a brush blade. The scythes were custom made for them and they used a lax sweeping motion, versus trying to heft the blade through. Honestly, with a little adjustment to your form, a proper (sharpened) blade, and a scythe custom built for your body, I think you would not only be good at it but you would also find that "zen" you spoke of. Keep up the great work and I love your series.
the sound of the hay being cut by a scythe is oddly satisfying!
I'm a man of science and don't lay any credence to past lives or souls and yet so many manual activities are soothing to the soul. Obviously I assume we evolved slightly to enjoy the work (and sounds and smells) we used to do but some part of me feels there is a deeper connection than that.
@@Spedley_2142 I agree. I thought having a sense of familiarity with something from ages past was impossible twaddle, until I travelled to Scotland. I had an amazing sense of being home, that was completely unexpected (I'm Australian, no idea where my ancestors came from). My friend has a theory that it's a not-yet-understood form of epigenetic memory - sort of a familiarity with places, objects etc imprinted into our DNA. Sounds a little more credible than past lives, maybe??
Having seen some other videos about mowing with scythes, I feel like your scythe might be a bit dull. It looks like you're having to put a lot more speed and force into it than the other guys I've seen.
Either way, thanks for the video! I'm looking forward to the next one!
Excellent quality content as always, thank you for your faultless presentations.
I Love your channel! Maybe some of these things won’t be lost because of people like you! Thank you for sharing all this with us!🥰
I cut ski runs, in summer with a scythe, took ten of us about 2 months. A few years later I got a proper gas weed whacker and 2 of us did it in under a month. lol No one complained about not having to scythe, plenty of better jobs to do at a ski hill.....lol
We cut the runs so as to reduce the amount of snow we would make at the beginning of the season as it gets below freezing some time before it snows.
When are you taking up stone masonry to build your own keep?
When the NHS do new backs for free...
I was actually literally thinking about this a few days before you made this video, I have chickens and I need partial hay as well as sawdust for the coop. So this was very useful since I won't need as much hay and some people, that being said I don't know if I can do enough hay by hand with my schedule. I say all of this because I really enjoy your videos, though you are a Brit across the pond and I'm a PROUD YANKEE (I was a history major), I really seriously do enjoy, look forward to, and quite often love and learn from the videos you put out (I've learned quite a bit from ya) so keep up the good work and please keep giving people like me awesome content to watch. Also if you're ever in the US in Northeast near Pennsylvania feel free to look me up, there's history here that's very interesting at the same time different but still similar to the old world, oddly enough 🤔
There is a charming and informative RUclips video (called "Martin Kibblewhite and The English Scythe, ( how to use )") which gives excellent advice about how to ensure that the handles are correctly placed, how to sharpen the scythe, how to use the scythe, etc. Jason, I think you are probably exhausting yourself without necessarily needing to! Apparently the heel of the scythe is to be on the ground, and the swing is described as "gentle".
We've only just mowed the grass here (and we tend to keep it relatively short since the Lord only knows what snakes may be lurking in knee-high Australian grass), so I haven't any land to scythe at this time to test the technique.
Thank you for another fascinating video, and I look forward to the next one in the series.
I always loved the smell of hay - and straw too, don’t start me on haylage😀😀😀
Booo... Silage here, more damp on bailing.
When you have a good technique, you don't need to put that much force into it. You were hacking the scythe through the hay. It should be just a swing from pelvis. But still, much harder than it looks.
Not many of us have used scythes, but I love doing it. Yes, it's more a loose, sweeping motion with the whole upper body, not "chopping" with your arms. Once you get into a rhythm it's really not that difficult a job. "Be loose, man." LOL
Also he just doesn’t have the strength of a peasant would have.
@@dzikijohnny Being a 50+-year-old woman, I don't either. But with the right technique, you don't need strength to cut hayfields with a scythe. Using a brush-cutting blade is a different story, but grass doesn't take a lot of strength. But you do need a high-quality, well-balanced scythe, and I doubt his is. Mine was made specifically for my height and arm length, which is what makes it so easy to use. Back in the day they were made to fit the user so they *could* be out in the fields with them all day long.
It looked as though the scythe might be a bit dull as well. I found that having a really nice sharpened edge helped alot when I used one.
@@practicallymedieval2027 You could be right. The way he touched the cutting edge -- I would never touch mine like that.
As a kid I used to go to the countryside where my family has a nice little house and some land. We have a scythe there and I loved helping the farmers which were our neighbors with some of their work. Once we got to gather some hay with scythes and I had an absolute blast though I never got to use the tool myself. Once I got older I wanted to learn how to use it and just grabbed it and tried it out. It looked a lot like what your use of the scythe looked like. Even at that rather young age I thought that it must be skill but also the lack of sharpness. I sharpened it for nearly an hour until I slipped and cut my finger without even noticing. Thats how sharp it was. So I got up, grabbed a bandage, got back outside and started using the scythe. It worked very well. I instantly learned how to handle it from just remembering what the farmers used to tell me back then. I still look back with joy, to this very pleasant time.
Thanks for reminding me. This video was great and very informative!
One of the reasons you want your hay to be as dry as possible is that if it is damp, it is a fire hazard. It will get hot enough to ignite, if you at some point have had a big pile of grass and left it alone for a while you might notice this phenomenon.
I think your technique is incorrect. Mt Great Aunt was still using a scythe at 87 years of age.
I remember her motion was smooth and steady. The scythe seemed to glide over the ground and through the grass/hay .
Sorry, but after all that explanation, which was interesting, was expecting something as smooth as silk. Not hacking with a dull scythe.
...and as they say, Cheers.
Could you convert feet to meters that would be nice
This video has made my day and I’m glad to see more videos from you :)
I love everything medieval, and love your videos. Even when covering basics you make it informative and interesting.