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Jun. 18, 2006
Harvesting Wheat - the old fashioned way
Friday we had an interesting experience. My dh is working to renovate one of our smaller pastures, and the first step last fall was to disk in the old sod, and plant winter wheat. His main purpose for this wheat was to cut it as hay (while it was still green and before the grain had formed much) as feed for our cattle. But we also thought it would be fun/interesting/educational to keep a small part of it standing and let it mature.
So, Friday was the day to finally bring it in. Dh used a sickle to cut it, and the dc and I gathered it up in bundles and tossed it in the back of the pickup. I shouldn't fail to mention that it was at least 90 degrees, with a suitable amount of humidity to boot! But we did have a nice breeze, so it was tolerable. Once we got the pickup loaded, we drove back to the house and unloaded it onto a plastic sheet layed in the garage. Then went back for the second (and thankfully last) load.
Next we had the task of trying to figure out how to get the grain out of the heads, and the hulls off the grain. We tried a variety of fixtures, rubbing the heads between 2 boards, beating them with bats, etc. But found the most effective (if also the most time-consuming) way, was to simply rub it between our palms. This proved to be a little tough on the hands, so dh ran to town and got us all new gloves (our work gloves were too filthy to be considered for something we will eventually eat).
My MIL came down to help, and we spent the rest of the day hulling wheat. As it got close to stopping for the night, we decided to separate the chaff from what we'd already collected. We had a perfect breeze, so used the simple method of pouring the grain and chaff from one bucket to another, letting the wind blow the chaff away. It really worked!
We managed to get through about half our pile, and ended up with about 15-20 pounds of wheat berries to show for it. I will need to borrow a friend's grinder before it can be made into bread, but we are all anxious to try it.
We found it interesting how many Bible stories took on new meaning for us as we were working. We all thought of Ruth, as we were stooping and bending, picking up the stalks of wheat, and then noticing what was left, that the gleaners would have had available to them. And what a hard job it would have been to get what was left. And also what a favor Boaz had done by instructing his workers to leave extra behind for her.
Another that came to mind was when Jesus and his disciples were walking through the grain fields pulling off the heads of grain and eating them. (Interestingly enough, that was our Gospel reading in church today). We had all popped a few berries into our mouths to try them, and realized that this was what they were eating that long ago Sabbath.
As much work as this has been, I'm not sure it will be something we will repeat, but it sure has been fun/interesting/educational to do it once.
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