TODAY IN THE ORCHARD

Today was MOFGA’s annual Farm and Homestead Day, a small but wonderful educational event focusing on skills we all might find useful in our lives. I taught an apple ladder workshop. We made a beautiful ten-foot pointed ladder with rails of cedar, ash rungs fashioned with a draw knife on the shaving horse and a point made of apple wood. A number of attendees stopped by to help during the day. It was a rainy day but productive and fun.

A high-light of F and H Day was seeing Sy Scholtz and hearing him talk about scythes, snaths, blades and all things Scything. Most people think that scything on the farm and in the orchard is antiquated and irrelevant. Far from it. Scything is great for your body and your spirit, uses no electricity or fossil fuels, and enables the user to do large scale as well as detailed grass and perennial mowing anywhere on the farm. The scythe itself is a simple, elegant and magnificently designed tool that can be sharpened to a razor edge. Everyone should have one. But watch out for your toes!