Depending on the year a shifting period of four to six weeks between the end of June into August is the time for harvest. English freshwater bulrush (Scirpus lacustris, Shoeneplectus lacustris) is cut and gathered from beds growing on the side of the River Great Ouse in Bedfordshire, the Nene in Northamptonshire and the Ivel in Bedfordshire, much of this process is illustrated by the short film which heads this website.
A good day will see the team cut over a hundred bolts (bundles) in the day which are between 15 and 20 kilos each. The rush is pulled onto the punt bundled and stacked through the day’s work, each bolt is taken off the punt and walked up to be stacked on the trailer, pulled off the trailer at the farm and walked to its place on the hedge to dry out. To my knowledge, no-one who has cut with us over the years has felt the need to visit the gym during harvest!
The core of a team of four, each operating from a 17ft long punt includes my brother Davey, who ventures down from Scotland to get a tan, my partner Ivor, me and my dog Molly who enjoys barking at fishermen. A slim scythe shaped 2ft long blade on a 6ft handle cuts the rush at the river bed and the natural buoyancy caused through plant transpiration floats the rush on the surface. The skill of the harvester is to cut the rush in such a way that as much as possible falls in same direction, in a place that can still be reached from the boat and will not then be whisked away downstream by the current, before being hauled into the punt which has been anchored in such a way as to equalise the interaction between river current and possible breeze, all of which elements seek to frustrate a day’s work.
The rush is returned to the farm after each day’s work and leant up against a field hedge to dry. The bolts are turned round and inside out each day over three or four days depending on the weather and will reduce in weight by four fifths, drying to a point that they can be stored in the barn. The variation in weather during this process naturally produces extraordinary and beautiful shades of colour. Prolonged sun gently bleaches to a warm honey colour and overcast skies allow more of the vivid green/blue hue to be retained from its harvest colour on the river. There are no chemicals used in any part of the process. It is entirely natural.
The harvest of 2022 saw us cut 2339 bolts. More required this year.
