The Scything Handbook is one more on a string of beautiful, helpful (and once common) pearls that can help save us from a debilitating fate as mere "consumers," and restore us to our birthrights as participants in creation. Full disclosure here, I know the author Ian. We're teaching a class together in Oregon this August (info and registration here), and I also wrote the forward to his book, which is brief, clear, and as simple as a clean cut with a sharp blade -- an ideal starting place if you're interested in giving up your stinky, noisy mowing machine and replacing it with an old-world . . .