Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Oat harvest
I mentioned the Bantry CSA in a previous post. Well, today we harvested the first acre with scythes. The weather made using the reaper and binder impossible. The cut oats were tied into sheaves and stooked. Lots of tea was drunk and we are looking forward to the threshing. The rest will be combined.
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Nice video Madeline.
ReplyDeleteThe way the weather was last night we may be doing the top field the same way!!
Thanks Ron, it was a great day and a great experiment by John. Thanks for letting me try your scythe. I am inspired to grow a few oats here next year, sharpen up my old scythes, and let the strimmer get rusty.
ReplyDeleteI found your blog from one about peak oil and I like it. But are you seriously aiming for sustainability? Because really you are playing at it. When diesel becomes too scarce and expensive for your tractor you will need to use horse power to get a meaningful amount of work done.
ReplyDeleteYes, you are right. I'm sure they are the most expensive oats, in terms of carbon, ever produced in West Cork, as we all drove to the field on several occasions. I think what is important about Bantry CSA is that it is a real community effort, and raised a lot of awareness about how much work is involved in producing food. Here at Brown Envelope Seeds we are working on other staples that can be grown on a garden or community scale, such as drying beans quinoa and maize.
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