Serenade of the Scythe

Briton Simon Fairlie has initiated a gentle mowing revolution in the United Kingdom - and uses only scythes from Rossleithen in Upper Austria.

Determined, Caroline Morgan-Grenville grips the handles tighter on the meadow in Dorset, England, takes a breath, swings the blade - and the tip drills into the ground. ‘Embarrassing!’ she thinks. Her consolation: she is not alone in her dilemma. Around a dozen course participants around her are similarly frustrated.

‘Feet shoulder-width apart, bend your knees,’ reminds her trainer Simon Fairlie. ‘Just like skiing’ - or at least the way he imagines it; he doesn't actually know anything about the winter sport. But it's a fitting analogy for handling the tool, which originates from Austria.

Continue reading (in German) at KURIER