THIS is a mower!
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Looks like too much work for me. Having owned a 60" Dixie Chopper a few years ago I can tell you that I could mow at 90 times her speed. But she is cute!
Where's my solar/electric/diesel backup generator tractor?!?!?!
We would have a lot less fat people for sure...
Originally Posted By: Barkleymut
But she is cute!
Shes 14 and jailbait in any state lol
But she is cute!
Shes 14 and jailbait in any state lol
Go look at the size of the wheat fields in Kansas and Nebraska and tell me that someone is going to cut that by hand. Three quarters of our population would starve, and the remaining quarter would be doomed to rapidly aging/wearing out bodies doing this kind of work.
Our forefathers that actually had to harvest wheat using these tools were delighted when mechanical harvesting became available. They certainly did not wax nostalgic for the days when they lived closer to nature and harvested by hand. The only people that could get exited about the prospect of hand harvesting are those who don't have to do it day in and day out to put food on the table.
Look at the main site that video is on. Looks like a bunch of ex-hippes and yuppies who do this for recreation. I guess it's fine for exercise, but if your life actually depended on harvesting with a hand scythe to eat I bet it would seem a lot less cool after the first season.
Our forefathers that actually had to harvest wheat using these tools were delighted when mechanical harvesting became available. They certainly did not wax nostalgic for the days when they lived closer to nature and harvested by hand. The only people that could get exited about the prospect of hand harvesting are those who don't have to do it day in and day out to put food on the table.
Look at the main site that video is on. Looks like a bunch of ex-hippes and yuppies who do this for recreation. I guess it's fine for exercise, but if your life actually depended on harvesting with a hand scythe to eat I bet it would seem a lot less cool after the first season.
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Originally Posted By: engineerscott
Go look at the size of the wheat fields in Kansas and Nebraska and tell me that someone is going to cut that by hand. Three quarters of our population would starve, and the remaining quarter would be doomed to rapidly aging/wearing out bodies doing this kind of work.
Our forefathers that actually had to harvest wheat using these tools were delighted when mechanical harvesting became available. They certainly did not wax nostalgic for the days when they lived closer to nature and harvested by hand. The only people that could get exited about the prospect of hand harvesting are those who don't have to do it day in and day out to put food on the table.
Look at the main site that video is on. Looks like a bunch of ex-hippes and yuppies who do this for recreation. I guess it's fine for exercise, but if your life actually depended on harvesting with a hand scythe to eat I bet it would seem a lot less cool after the first season.
Make that the first day. My father in law has about 1920 acres the could practice on if she wants. Unskilled labor gets around $8.00 /hr here. She could be done by 2013 or so....if she had started seeding the land without machinery back in 2008 or 2009.
Go look at the size of the wheat fields in Kansas and Nebraska and tell me that someone is going to cut that by hand. Three quarters of our population would starve, and the remaining quarter would be doomed to rapidly aging/wearing out bodies doing this kind of work.
Our forefathers that actually had to harvest wheat using these tools were delighted when mechanical harvesting became available. They certainly did not wax nostalgic for the days when they lived closer to nature and harvested by hand. The only people that could get exited about the prospect of hand harvesting are those who don't have to do it day in and day out to put food on the table.
Look at the main site that video is on. Looks like a bunch of ex-hippes and yuppies who do this for recreation. I guess it's fine for exercise, but if your life actually depended on harvesting with a hand scythe to eat I bet it would seem a lot less cool after the first season.
Make that the first day. My father in law has about 1920 acres the could practice on if she wants. Unskilled labor gets around $8.00 /hr here. She could be done by 2013 or so....if she had started seeding the land without machinery back in 2008 or 2009.
Originally Posted By: engineerscott
Go look at the size of the wheat fields in Kansas and Nebraska and tell me that someone is going to cut that by hand. Three quarters of our population would starve, and the remaining quarter would be doomed to rapidly aging/wearing out bodies doing this kind of work.
Our forefathers that actually had to harvest wheat using these tools were delighted when mechanical harvesting became available. They certainly did not wax nostalgic for the days when they lived closer to nature and harvested by hand. The only people that could get exited about the prospect of hand harvesting are those who don't have to do it day in and day out to put food on the table.
Look at the main site that video is on. Looks like a bunch of ex-hippes and yuppies who do this for recreation. I guess it's fine for exercise, but if your life actually depended on harvesting with a hand scythe to eat I bet it would seem a lot less cool after the first season.
I don't think you can say that folks farming back then didn't enjoy it, using hand tools and animal power. I'm sure not everyday was a treat but they didn't know anything else, and their work was directly connected to providing what they needed. It must've been pretty satisfying to cut enough hay by hand to keep your cattle well fed all winter, and also satisfying to know how to keep your scythe tuned up to make cutting go easy.
I play around with a scythe, to cut fresh grass for our bucks in the summer. I can make my brushsaw look pretty silly in tall grass for a while anyways. I haven't really got the sharpening figured out yet so I'm not going to cut for hours at once anytime soon but its fun and saves me buying hay over the summer.
In this era of more people losing any connection to the natural world or even products of their own labor, it wouldn't hurt for more people to get outside and do something without power equipment.
Go look at the size of the wheat fields in Kansas and Nebraska and tell me that someone is going to cut that by hand. Three quarters of our population would starve, and the remaining quarter would be doomed to rapidly aging/wearing out bodies doing this kind of work.
Our forefathers that actually had to harvest wheat using these tools were delighted when mechanical harvesting became available. They certainly did not wax nostalgic for the days when they lived closer to nature and harvested by hand. The only people that could get exited about the prospect of hand harvesting are those who don't have to do it day in and day out to put food on the table.
Look at the main site that video is on. Looks like a bunch of ex-hippes and yuppies who do this for recreation. I guess it's fine for exercise, but if your life actually depended on harvesting with a hand scythe to eat I bet it would seem a lot less cool after the first season.
I don't think you can say that folks farming back then didn't enjoy it, using hand tools and animal power. I'm sure not everyday was a treat but they didn't know anything else, and their work was directly connected to providing what they needed. It must've been pretty satisfying to cut enough hay by hand to keep your cattle well fed all winter, and also satisfying to know how to keep your scythe tuned up to make cutting go easy.
I play around with a scythe, to cut fresh grass for our bucks in the summer. I can make my brushsaw look pretty silly in tall grass for a while anyways. I haven't really got the sharpening figured out yet so I'm not going to cut for hours at once anytime soon but its fun and saves me buying hay over the summer.
In this era of more people losing any connection to the natural world or even products of their own labor, it wouldn't hurt for more people to get outside and do something without power equipment.
What a waste of productivity.
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
I don't think you can say that folks farming back then didn't enjoy it, using hand tools and animal power. I'm sure not everyday was a treat but they didn't know anything else, and their work was directly connected to providing what they needed. It must've been pretty satisfying to cut enough hay by hand to keep your cattle well fed all winter, and also satisfying to know how to keep your scythe tuned up to make cutting go easy.
I play around with a scythe, to cut fresh grass for our bucks in the summer. I can make my brushsaw look pretty silly in tall grass for a while anyways. I haven't really got the sharpening figured out yet so I'm not going to cut for hours at once anytime soon but its fun and saves me buying hay over the summer.
In this era of more people losing any connection to the natural world or even products of their own labor, it wouldn't hurt for more people to get outside and do something without power equipment.
Actually, I think I can say that. I and my family are from the Southeast US. My father was born in '39 and much of the area then was still highly rural and poor, to the point were subsistence farming with little mechanization was still practiced. As a young man he picked cotton and corn by hand, and of course all sorts of assorted fruits and vegetables (tomatoes, peas, beans, turnips, potatoes, etc.). They only got a tractor for plowing when he was about 15 years old (before that they used a mule drawn plow) and all harvesting was by hand until he left and joined the military. He can tell you that it was backbreaking labor (particularly picking cotton), in the blazing sun, and that military life in the Marines was a welcome relief to the hard life that he had been brought up with. Yes, there was joy and happiness, but it was in spite of, not because of the extreme physical labor that farm life of that era entailed. By his own account, nobody "enjoyed" farm labor, but it had to be done to keep food in their bellies. He lived the life that the people on that website extol and would never go back given a choice.
If you're an aging hippy or a yuppie looking to "get back to nature" on the weekends I'm sure this all sounds very romantic, but if you have to live this life 24/7 for years on end it is much less appealing. For people that lived this type of life for real, cutting hay for a few hours and then returning to an air conditioned home to sit in a recliner to watch a little TV simply wasn't an option.
I don't think you can say that folks farming back then didn't enjoy it, using hand tools and animal power. I'm sure not everyday was a treat but they didn't know anything else, and their work was directly connected to providing what they needed. It must've been pretty satisfying to cut enough hay by hand to keep your cattle well fed all winter, and also satisfying to know how to keep your scythe tuned up to make cutting go easy.
I play around with a scythe, to cut fresh grass for our bucks in the summer. I can make my brushsaw look pretty silly in tall grass for a while anyways. I haven't really got the sharpening figured out yet so I'm not going to cut for hours at once anytime soon but its fun and saves me buying hay over the summer.
In this era of more people losing any connection to the natural world or even products of their own labor, it wouldn't hurt for more people to get outside and do something without power equipment.
Actually, I think I can say that. I and my family are from the Southeast US. My father was born in '39 and much of the area then was still highly rural and poor, to the point were subsistence farming with little mechanization was still practiced. As a young man he picked cotton and corn by hand, and of course all sorts of assorted fruits and vegetables (tomatoes, peas, beans, turnips, potatoes, etc.). They only got a tractor for plowing when he was about 15 years old (before that they used a mule drawn plow) and all harvesting was by hand until he left and joined the military. He can tell you that it was backbreaking labor (particularly picking cotton), in the blazing sun, and that military life in the Marines was a welcome relief to the hard life that he had been brought up with. Yes, there was joy and happiness, but it was in spite of, not because of the extreme physical labor that farm life of that era entailed. By his own account, nobody "enjoyed" farm labor, but it had to be done to keep food in their bellies. He lived the life that the people on that website extol and would never go back given a choice.
If you're an aging hippy or a yuppie looking to "get back to nature" on the weekends I'm sure this all sounds very romantic, but if you have to live this life 24/7 for years on end it is much less appealing. For people that lived this type of life for real, cutting hay for a few hours and then returning to an air conditioned home to sit in a recliner to watch a little TV simply wasn't an option.
I totally get the simple pleasure of working with one's hands (indoors and outdoors). It's when you have to do it every day to survive that it becomes less of a simple pleasure and more simple drudgery.
I learned this working in construction and other outdoor jobs to pay for my schooling.
In any case, every one of my hobbies that aren't sport related involve creating things with my hands indoors or outdoors. I've always got a car related or other fabrication related project on the go, and it is very fulfilling and gratifying.
I learned this working in construction and other outdoor jobs to pay for my schooling.
In any case, every one of my hobbies that aren't sport related involve creating things with my hands indoors or outdoors. I've always got a car related or other fabrication related project on the go, and it is very fulfilling and gratifying.
Originally Posted By: Jim 5
I totally get the simple pleasure of working with one's hands (indoors and outdoors). It's when you have to do it every day to survive that it becomes less of a simple pleasure and more simple drudgery.
I learned this working in construction and other outdoor jobs to pay for my schooling.
In any case, every one of my hobbies that aren't sport related involve creating things with my hands indoors or outdoors. I've always got a car related or other fabrication related project on the go, and it is very fulfilling and gratifying.
Yeah, I agree entirely. Working with your hands, making things, being outdoors are all great things when you can do them by choice, i.e. as a hobby. When you have to do these things to live, that is another issue altogether. I like construction projects, building sheds, patios, etc. However I would not like to be a framer for a living. I knew guys that worked as framers and sheetrock hangers, and by their mid to late 30's these guys were just physically worn out. Arthritis, back problems, knee problems, scars, and sun baked skin. These guys looked like they were easily 10 to 20 years older than they really were. I've got a lot of respect for a man that can work a hard job like that full time, but I wouldn't want to do it myself for a living.
I totally get the simple pleasure of working with one's hands (indoors and outdoors). It's when you have to do it every day to survive that it becomes less of a simple pleasure and more simple drudgery.
I learned this working in construction and other outdoor jobs to pay for my schooling.
In any case, every one of my hobbies that aren't sport related involve creating things with my hands indoors or outdoors. I've always got a car related or other fabrication related project on the go, and it is very fulfilling and gratifying.
Yeah, I agree entirely. Working with your hands, making things, being outdoors are all great things when you can do them by choice, i.e. as a hobby. When you have to do these things to live, that is another issue altogether. I like construction projects, building sheds, patios, etc. However I would not like to be a framer for a living. I knew guys that worked as framers and sheetrock hangers, and by their mid to late 30's these guys were just physically worn out. Arthritis, back problems, knee problems, scars, and sun baked skin. These guys looked like they were easily 10 to 20 years older than they really were. I've got a lot of respect for a man that can work a hard job like that full time, but I wouldn't want to do it myself for a living.
LOL...it's easy to cut circles around a tractor that isn't moving.
Why would you do that when there is a tractor right there?
Why would you do that when there is a tractor right there?
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
LOL...it's easy to cut circles around a tractor that isn't moving.
Why would you do that when there is a tractor right there?
Because you're a 14 year old hipster, I guess. Why not waste a day to make some kind of [censored] statement? After all, you don't have to worry about all that "corporate" "mainstream" stuff like "work" and paying "bills" when you're a 14 year old hipster.
LOL...it's easy to cut circles around a tractor that isn't moving.
Why would you do that when there is a tractor right there?
Because you're a 14 year old hipster, I guess. Why not waste a day to make some kind of [censored] statement? After all, you don't have to worry about all that "corporate" "mainstream" stuff like "work" and paying "bills" when you're a 14 year old hipster.
Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
LOL...it's easy to cut circles around a tractor that isn't moving.
Why would you do that when there is a tractor right there?
Because you're a 14 year old hipster, I guess. Why not waste a day to make some kind of [censored] statement? After all, you don't have to worry about all that "corporate" "mainstream" stuff like "work" and paying "bills" when you're a 14 year old hipster.
Well why not when you're 14? There's plenty of time when you get older to worry about work and bills...
Also I don't really understand all the anger towards people doing and seeing things differently than yourselves.
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
LOL...it's easy to cut circles around a tractor that isn't moving.
Why would you do that when there is a tractor right there?
Because you're a 14 year old hipster, I guess. Why not waste a day to make some kind of [censored] statement? After all, you don't have to worry about all that "corporate" "mainstream" stuff like "work" and paying "bills" when you're a 14 year old hipster.
Well why not when you're 14? There's plenty of time when you get older to worry about work and bills...
Also I don't really understand all the anger towards people doing and seeing things differently than yourselves.
Hey, it keeps her out of trouble! How many 14 year olds girls would even consider this activity? Not many around my neck of the woods thats for sure! lol
Umm, NO!
I have 5 worn out vertebrae from exactly this. Plus a damaged shoulder from chopping wood. Your kidding yourself if you think this does not wear out your body.
The smart among us work smarter, not harder.
I have 5 worn out vertebrae from exactly this. Plus a damaged shoulder from chopping wood. Your kidding yourself if you think this does not wear out your body.
The smart among us work smarter, not harder.
Originally Posted By: Cujet
Umm, NO!
I have 5 worn out vertebrae from exactly this. Plus a damaged shoulder from chopping wood. Your kidding yourself if you think this does not wear out your body.
The smart among us work smarter, not harder.
Yep, the human body is not designed to make repetitive high stress motions for hours on end day in and day out, at least not without wearing out at what we would consider to be an early age (say 40 give or take 5 years). You run a scythe like that day in and day out and you'll definitely be paying for it by the time you're 35. Getting back to nature sounds real cool until you actually have to do it for an extended period of time. Then you find out that mother nature is a real [censored].
Umm, NO!
I have 5 worn out vertebrae from exactly this. Plus a damaged shoulder from chopping wood. Your kidding yourself if you think this does not wear out your body.
The smart among us work smarter, not harder.
Yep, the human body is not designed to make repetitive high stress motions for hours on end day in and day out, at least not without wearing out at what we would consider to be an early age (say 40 give or take 5 years). You run a scythe like that day in and day out and you'll definitely be paying for it by the time you're 35. Getting back to nature sounds real cool until you actually have to do it for an extended period of time. Then you find out that mother nature is a real [censored].
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