Dan Vernon

Picking up a bay laurel tree and curious what would you guys recommend for a guild? It's supposed to be tolerant of different kinds of soils, but susceptible to scale and aphids.

1 year-ish update. Just adding it bit by bit. I have started persimmons, mulberries, apple, kumquat, loquat, guava, fig, elderberry, gooseberry, loganberry, blueberry, chokeberry, goji, guomi, muscadine, and some other stuff. Also have some volunteer greens, peas and nasturtium from dumping microgreens trays in the dirt last november, lol. Maybe the sunchokes will pop up again this year too. Still lots of room for more.

Benjamin Bouchard wrote:

Dan Vernon wrote:You can literally put a mid-size flat tip screwdriver crossways in the square slot and get it off. No need to build a forge in the backyard to get your scythe blade off.

Literally no one said that was necessary. I was discussing how to make a new key to replace the lost one. It's very simple and doesn't require building a forge to make one. If just trying to get the blade off once a screwdriver will suffice. If planning on using the ring repeatedly having a proper key so you can really torque down on the set screws properly. Even when fully cranked down, the blade is still predisposed towards slipping out of its proper hang, so getting it clamped down tight is pretty important and a screwdriver will lack the torque to do the job well. You can limp along with that method, but having an actual wrench is better.

First, it was a joke. Second, getting it off is what he wanted to do, and has a replacement on order. Sure he could go your route, though for a lot of people that's a bigger investment in tools than just ordering and waiting for a replacement. It's a trade-off between time and money that they'll have to make a decision on. Thanks for the info.

You can literally put a mid-size flat tip screwdriver crossways in the square slot and get it off. No need to build a forge in the backyard to get your scythe blade off.

Lina Joana wrote:I also got mine from scythe supply, so the measurements were up to them. I got their hybrid ditch blade, and have been quite pleased with it overall.
On their design, the blade is super easy to change, as long as you don’t lose the key for the ring, which is like a hex key, but square and not easily substituted. Important to keep around, because the blade can loosen a bit with use and weather changes. Sadly, I used it without tightening enough one day when I had misplaced the key. We have weeds that dry out in the winter to some of the toughest stalks I have come across, and in trying to cut them with a slightly loose blade, I managed to bend the ring. I’m sadly waiting 6-8 weeks for a new ring.
Regarding size, I do remember seeing some with adjustable handles. Might help
If you are between sizes.

I lost mine too and took the blade off with a flat tip screwdriver.

Also, the peening jigs are pretty much useless in my experience.

I got burned on scythe supply after receiving a snath that didn't match my measurements, then they wanted to argue was my technique that was the problem.

If I was to do it again, I'd buy from https://scytheworks.ca/ so I could adjust the snath.

Alder Burns wrote:Another big opportunity I see in this situation is elevated water catchment, especially with the house at the top.  A tank even at ground level, or even a pond, will be able to feed water downslope by gravity alone.  Five or six feet elevation can run some kinds of drip irrigation!

Yeah that is definitely something I'm wanting to do now. I was thinking of adding roof gutters to feed into barrels eventually. I have to research what's economical and available since I've never even looked into irrigation until now.

Trees were removed, but not rotted enough and I ended up with a big mounds of shredded stumps anyway. So we went with the $0.50 solution this year due to the apocalypse and combined native American mounds with waddle from dug up roots and tiered it. On the bottom I buried some branches/roots and plan to cover the berm with compost/manure and topsoil.

The trees are young persimmons and peaches that a local home nursery dug up and gave us for free. In between is goji berry and black chokeberry along with strawberries that got too big in their pots.


Middle tier is celery, Jerusalem artichoke, tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce.

Top tier will soon have summer plantings of three sisters including sunflowers.

Does anyone have an example of hugels on a slope? I'm not sure if I should tier it or build mounds or ?