Meadow raking in Austria

I'm on holiday this week in Austria and, with spring well on the way over here, Christiane and I spent a few hours together raking the meadow she mows. This is public land by the apartments where Christiane lives and which she has been managing since 2008. At 3500m2 it's a decent piece of land to take care of with the scythe.

Raking is an important first job in the meadow to clear out rubbish, rocks and the dead grass which would otherwise form a tough thatch at the base of the sward.  We also have chance to look at the vegetation in the meadow and get an idea of the mowing to come. Lots of long dead grass show areas of faster growing plants which should be mown first so they don't get too long. New tussocky growth, patches of moss and the first signs of weeds all tell us something about the different areas.

As if the pleasure of being out in the sunshine doing enjoyable work with good company  wasn't enough, I found €20 dropped in the grass so ice creams all round to finish off the work!