Takes charisma to be able to stand in a field talking about how to make hay for 14 minutes and have it be interesting.

Apparently my son has a 30 acre bedroom, because it takes him a month to clean

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.

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 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".

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.

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 ).

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.

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 microphone work. You could barely tell how windy that field was by the audio.

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 KZfaq today.

5:05 Kind sir I wisheth not to alarm thee, but I believeth a dragon is approaching thy farm.

You call it medieval hay making, I call it a normal summer's activity in modern day rural Eastern Europe

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.

Love these videos, it’s so interesting finding out how things were done historically in such a modern way.

such a great channel, keep the great work! I like how diversified it is, not just about medieval warfare.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Some may call these weeds Me, I call them herbs in the mix

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.

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.

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

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.

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.....

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.

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.

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!

"It's almost harvesting season"

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!

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.

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 😀

So glad you're finally back! Can we keep our hopes up for new episodes weekly?! (Even if you must lie, please say yes.)

Nothing better than getting off work and sitting down after a long day to watch some medieval hay cutting. 👌

Another video with amazing quality. Thank you very much for the effort you put into this. This is absolutely one of my favorite channels.

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

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

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.

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.

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🐂

I love these slice of life type of episodes. The insight into what life was like back then is my favorite thing.

We harvested hay with scythe and pitchfork when I was a kid in rural Nova Scotia.Great video.Keep up the good work!

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.

Every video is like seeing an old friend thanks always too you and crew for making these.

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 ;)

I was literally scything on Sunday. Spent the whole day in a field doing it and LOVE it!! 😃

Thank-you for another wonderful video! Love that these videos aren't just lectures; very much appreciate the demonstrations.

We still use the scythe here in Bulgaria, most homesteads have them. And harvest in the same way, all used to feed animals.

Am I the only one who gets goosebumps every time I watch the intro?

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 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 am always excited to see your latest video. Great work, and as always very interesting. Thanks so much!

"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 ;)

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 :-)

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. 😊

"As fit as butcher's dogs." I have not heard of that one before, but it makes a lot of sense.

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

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.

Experimental archeology is really where it’s at. You’re really adding to Historical Knowledge, engagement, and education with this channel! Love it!

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.

Informative, thank you (and thank for the Imperial measurements too)!

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.

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!

Those farmers wouldn't have necessarily looked muscular but you wouldn't want them to get their hands on you. LOL

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.

Excellent quality content as always, thank you for your faultless presentations.

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 love your channel

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!🥰

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 ☺️

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.

I love everything medieval, and love your videos. Even when covering basics you make it informative and interesting.

I wrapped a long bladed antique scythe around some tall weeds that I was cleaning out of a ditch. Pretty much bent the blade beyond use. It was long and light so I should've known better. Excellent info!

Yay! My favorite knight is back! Keep up the good work Jason! Love these video's!

the sound of the hay being cut by a scythe is oddly satisfying!

Thank you for these awesome videos. So interesting!

I remember seeing my father scythe once. He was beautiful. I had never thought so before. He was so graceful.

Farmer: i have ten acres of barly Weird flax but okay

When are you taking up stone masonry to build your own keep?

Loved this! Thank you for your wonderful content.

i thoroughly enjoyed this video as i do all of your content. best wishes for you and yours

I always loved the smell of hay - and straw too, don’t start me on haylage😀😀😀

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!

This video has made my day and I’m glad to see more videos from you :)

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... 🤷🏼‍♀️

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.

Could you convert feet to meters that would be nice

This reminded me about how my grandfather used to cut hay and weeds around my grandmother's blackcurrant bushes and strawberries using scythe and how later when I was old enough one task I had to do around our farm was to cut hay and the like below electric fences using scythe... I can still hear the sound of my grandfather sharpening the scythe and how fluent and easy it looked.

I love these vids! Makes me grateful to live today with modern machinery. But love seeing how it can be done and was in the "old days!"

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.

Scything is actually a type of sport in germany

This channel is so under rated! Give this guy a tv show!!

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.