Ploughing, sowing, weeding, calving and lambing, the hay harvest, sheep shearing, the grain harvest, fruit harvests, then back again to the start.
Millet
The humble vegetable that enabled Europe’s population boom in the 19th century. When diseased by blight, it resulted in more than a million deaths.
Mow the grass, scatter it about, gather it in windrows, cock it, scatter then windrow it again, until it’s dry and ready to stack. How to make hay the hard way.
They drew carts and ploughs, in preference to horses where power rather than speed was needed. Also for milk, beef and their hides processed into leather.
Sheep were the best mobile source of dung, and used to fertilise the soil used to raise crops such as staple cereals, wheat and rye. They also provided fleeces to generate the wool trade.
Threshing cut cereal using flails, horses towing a roller, oxen trampling the corn, a sledge, a hand-cranked machine, and a large threshing machine. With Monet’s grainstacks.
Gleaning has Biblical origins, to let the poor get their own free supply of grain. Was it confined to the poorest, and did it remain a right, later in Europe?
Was ripe wheat cut using a sickle, hook, or scythe? Paintings from 1565 to 1890 show a preference for scythes when men were available.
Stone-picking to improve the soil. A series of paintings of the Sower, broadcasting seed by hand. Weeding the fields to help the crop grow.
An introduction to a new series tracing the history of the countryside in fine paintings. Explains why some English country lanes have so many twisting bends.
The Eclectic Light Company 