Tai-chi or Golf?

-The Zen and Sport of Scything

by Chris Devaney

I have to cut some hay.  It’s one of those must-do things.  If I put it off, I pay the price in the end.  So I ask myself, “What’ll it be? Tai-chi or golf?”

That doesn’t sound like a mowing question, but hold on!  A few more questions will clear things up.  Or will it? 

Question 1: Will I be cutting good grass or spanking weeds?

Question 2: How much do I need to cut today?  A leisurely pace or the max?

Question 3: Am I in the need for a physical workout or a mental balance adjustment?

Huh?  Mental balance adjustment?  What the heck does that have to do with mowing a field?  It does, please read on.

Two Styles of Scything

The art of scything comes in two flavors, a European style and an American style.  The styles are different because the hardware is different.  More on the hardware a little later.

Using the European equipment and scything style is less of a physical workout and more Zen-like.  Similar to some Tai-chi movements, the mower cuts an arc of grass with an upper body rotation from the hips swinging the tool in an arc that is comfortable to the individual mower.  The action distributes muscle activity from the legs through the torso and finally into the arms and shoulders to guide the blade along the intended path.  Since the force applied is distributed over a large part of the body, scything ends up being less tiring, less of a physical challenge.  The equipment is lighter too.

Clumsy at first for sure, but once a comfortable style is found, an equilibrium of sorts arises; the mind relaxes and wanders off to tend to other activities instead of guiding the tool.  At this point, my brain shifts focus off of the mowing and on to more important things like repeating a chant of personally useful affirmations…“Health, wealth, success, comfort and security, and happiness to us all…” or maybe it will wander back to mentally inventing that “thing” I’ve been working on for a while.  But when needed, as if some sentinel is at the brink of consciousness ever so watchful for imminent disaster, subconscious activity pops me out of my trance when a pending swish of the scythe would take out a particularly beautiful wildflower or a stray clump of Angelica I could use in my next V-8 concoction.  Cutting around a flower or obstacle is certainly a lot easier with a scythe than it is with a tractor or mower.   The tool runs on coffee, and it always starts, even after storing it for a year. 

The American style of scything is different.  It is a heavier tool, more robust, and once sharpened correctly, will stay sharp longer.  The mere fact that the American scythe is heavier makes that excursion into the world of Zen less likely than with its European cousin.  It’s all business here.  And when you find yourself knee deep in heavy growth, woody stems, late September goldenrod, you’ll find no better friend than the American scythe. It also runs on coffee.  It just takes a little more of it.

The act of swinging this scythe is quite different from the European version and I’ll discuss that in more detail in a moment.  In a general sense, rather than swinging the tool in an arc, the dance is more of a short shuffle of the blade back and forth… cut, return… step, step… cut, return… step, step… in a rhythmic fashion while facing the grass as if putting on the golf course… not the driving range, mind you, it’s more like the soft swing in miniature golf  (do they still have miniature golf?).  The step-step routine is like a crab-walk, traversing sidewise to the uncut grass.

Not too much is written about the American scythe and less so about this technique of scything.  What I have found in print has always been negative.  Finding that irksome, I refused to believe it, so I had to find out for myself.  It seems to me there are just too many American style scythes around and about in old farmhouses to warrant such a bad reputation.  I figured they wouldn’t have made so many of these tools if they didn’t work.  So I bought one.  And then I found a real old one at a garage sale for two dollars.  Next, I went out and talked to some old scything guru’s familiar with the cutting style and took on the task of learning the American scything technique.  I’m glad I did. 

 (continued)

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