One man went to mow...

One of the founding precepts of my działka was that it was to be as ecological as possible. Keep the carbon footprint of land ownership to a minimum. So I had the old wood-burning kitchen stove and fireplace removed, made a massive investment in thermal insulation, and I use public transport to get as often as possible. And around the house there will be meadow rather than lawn. A policy decision.

Looking after 4,000m2 of land is a responsibility to the planet; functionality needs to be balanced with environmental concerns. I have 80m of path between the porch and the front gate; over time the drive has become overgrown with weeds, flowers and tall grasses, bonnet-high to a car. Buying a fossil-fuel lawn mower is out of the question. The answer is a traditional scythe (kosa). I ordered one online, it arrived last week,

Today, I took it down to Jakubowizna and gave it a try-out. First of all, assembly. The blade attaches at one end of the shaft; one handle sits at the other end of the shaft, and a second handle about halfway down. Included with the scythe - a whetstone (osełka).

Left: La kosa ostra. It's all about the design and ergonomics. It is crucial to buy the right size (a 50cm blade is too small, a 100cm blade too heavy; I ordered a 70cm blade but my scythe arrived with a 60cm blade. As it turns out, it's entirely adequate for my requirements; this is for a garden, not a field. Once set up for my ergonomics - in particular height of the lower handle, the next thing was to get the blade razor-sharp. This required the use of the aluminium oxide whetstone, getting the blade's cutting edge sharp enough slice right through the most robust of stalks. There are a few good YouTube tutorials about mowing with a scythe.

Right: here's the task in hand. In the house next door my neighbours are having lunch; a petrol mower would be so antisocial! An electric lawnmower would need 80m of cable. So don't fear the reaper. Good exercise after a week's sitting at an urban desk.

Mowing with a scythe is an interesting experience. You get into the groove, the rhythm; you focus - to get the swing right, the height, the angle - you watch out for irregularities in the ground, for molehills. After a while, it becomes hypnotic; step - step - SWING - step - step - SWING; a cross between batting in cricket and waltzing.

But scything is by definition an asymmetric activity. I can feel the muscles of my lower left back aching somewhat while my right side is fine.

Left: Reaperbahn. All clear. I reach the gate and mow my way back up to the house again, looking out for tufts that missed the blade first time round.

Time to do the path through the back garden. This is longer - 104m from the garage to the fence. Here, I feel regret as my scythe slices through goldenrod, chamomile and young oak saplings; everything on either side of the path, however, is spared.

Below: my favourite view of my działka; a peaceful summer's day, the afternoon sun still high and the back of the garden far out of sight. The two cherry trees are past their productive peak; replacement beckons.

As I mowed down the weeds and flowers and grasses and saplings, I recalled this old children's folk song...

W poniedziałek rano,
kosił ojciec siano,
Kosił ojciec, kosił ja,
kosiliśmy obydwa.

["On Monday morning, my father mowed the hay. My father mowed, I mowed, the two of us mowed."] Subsequent verses tell of the raking, drying, carting and selling of the said hay on subsequent days. And on Saturday, the money was spent on drink; so Sunday was spent weeping.

Such is life. Niedola, Panie! 

The scythe plays an important part in Polish national consciousness; the kosynierzy ('scythemen', infantrymen armed with scythes) were associated with the battles for Poland's independence in the late 18th and 19th century, the Kościuszko insurgency and the November and January risings against Russian domination of 1831 and 1863. And in a country where very few people can claim not to have rural roots, being able to handle a scythe in a field of wheat or hay is the attribute of many a Pole!

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