Scything

After some tinkering with my scythe this morning (adjusting the position of the handles, peening/repairing the blade) I set to work cutting the hay. The weather is not set fair, but I need to cut the sward before it goes to seed and becomes too woody, and to let me get a second hay harvest - there is no good weather on the horizon so its a gamble. The grass keep is already amazingly dense and it was hard work, becoming harder as the day progressed (best to finish cutting grass by mid morning at the latest and I was still cutting at one!). In fact there is still a little more to cut but by 1.30 it was almost impossible, so I'll finish tomorrow. After 5 hours of scything the dense vegetation the underside of my scythe blade is polished like a mirror. My back is also aching - a combination of moving the handles, trying some new techniques, the heavy dense grass and the sloping terrain.