r ransom

Starting new threads on questions or expierences keeping cool is also great.  If you do, please drop a link here.  

I suspect this will be a useful resource for the future

And saving money on electricity in the summer
https://permies.com/t/4017/ways-reduce-summer-utility-bills

My favourite, cooling the person, not the space
https://permies.com/t/57366/Cool-person-space-methods

Summer is already gobbling up most of Europe and is about to start on north america with earnest this weekend.  

Let's gather up our favourite threads about staying cool in hot weather.  


And yes, i have ulterior motives of helping the daily-ish team gather up often overlooked threads.

This year, all 3 dozen mulberry are finally producing fruit.  We have no more than 3 from each source (the nursery all clame they are different types), except alba which we have six.  But even our alba which we grow for the leaves, have finally given fruiting a try (they needn't have bothered, the other trees are much better at it)

They do seem to like friends as our first was out of sight of the others and didn't start fruiting until we planted a friend near it.  

I didn't know there were sex specific mulberry.  I figured they were more like holly trees and some nut trees and didn't start producing female flowers until they get to a certain height and the soil conditions are right.  Learn something new every day.

Personally, I would get three if starting with what i know now, as they seem happy in clusters of 3 or 4.

I found my scythe journal thread that goes into more detail of why I upgraded away from the lee valley scythe.
https://permies.com/t/162096/scythes/terrible-scything#1269961

I found it best to order from scythworks in the late summer to fall.  Spring and harvest time he seems to be swamped.  

The guy there is awesome and if you can afford to wait, it's worth it!

I have 2.  We have a love hate relationship.

It's a decent enough scythe at $99 to 120 $10 used (the prices I paied way back when for snathe and blade, i think that was 2010ish).  It's a bit heavy and difficult to adjust to my height.  5foot8in, I'm a bit tall for it.  The handles slip and there is no way to tighten them enough.   The more we use it, the more we tighten it, the more the handles twist and it puts a lot of stress on my arms.  One day, i will drill a hole through the aluminum snathe for each handle.

After a few hours, maybe 10, it becomes obvious the blade needs peening as it won't keep the edge and the blade cracks more easily if it hits a rock.  It would be better to peen before using.

It cuts grass well, especially if there is morning dew.  It cuts long grass better.  Where it shines is nettles, thistles, green blackberry vines (not dry) and other stringy weeds.  Once we get the bite right for the plant, and remember our stance to use our weight,  not our arms for the cutting, it's very effective.   I used mine two days ago to clear a massive area of nettle/thistle that the gas powered tools couldn't handle.  It took no time at all with the scythe.   But the final swoop, I chipped the blade on a rock so now I have no choice but to do proper blade maintenance.



I recently invested in a traditional scythe from https://scytheworks.ca/contact/ and I wish I had done this years ago.  It's about half the weight.  I was able to go in person, so the height was adjusted for me, but it's easy to do at home.  Only downsides are the new sythe is specifically for grass and grain, and the snathe doesn't fit my lee valley blades, so i still use the old scythes for brambles and areas where there are hidden rocks.

I pressed buttons.  The merge is complete.

 I will attempt to merge accounts sometime soon

Let us know when you are ready.  In this thread is good in case I'm not online that day.  There are a handfull of us who can access the button and merge accounts as it's not something we do often.