A Year On The Field
Project Blog

Flax to linen at the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation

Background The Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation (CPP) is a living history museum interpreting the lives of English colonists living in...

Grain Harvesting Technology at The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan, USA

Museum collections contain material culture documenting grain harvesting tools and equipment. The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, USA,...

Wheat Harvest and Reaper Technology at Firestone Farm in Greenfield Village at The Henry Ford (USA)

Lazy days of summer start for some farmers only after they finish the most stressful time of their year – grain harvest. Wheat ripeness...

The harvest by painters

Benjamin Ulmann. Entering sheep in the mobile pen for manuring the land. Photo: Georges Carantino The harvest, a moment of strong...

Looking back - a wheat cultivation cycle at Sterling College (Wendell Berry Farming Program, USA)

As our wheat crop ripens through to the flint stage, it is time to sharpen our sickles and prepare for the harvest. Most (nearly all) of...

Beehive Art in Slovenia - an unexpected insight in 19th century agricultural practice

To conclude our coverage of wheat sowing, we would like to present a very special exhibit from the Slovene Ethnographic Museum (SEM) that...

Equipment in focus: the Bickford & Huffman Grain Drill (ca. 1890), The Henry Ford (USA)

As an official grower with the “A Year on the Field” project, staff at the Firestone Farm in Greenfield Village (The Henry Ford, Dearborn...

Wheat sowing at Barrington Plantation State Historic Site (Texas, USA)

On a cloudy Oct 10th 2021, the staff at Barrington Plantation State Historic Site (focusing on the American South in the 1840-50s; see...

Wheat sowing at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky (USA)

Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, is a landmark destination that shares 3,000 acres (1214 hectares) of discovery...

Wheat breeding - a contested practice

Growing grain and breeding grain were for a long time inseparable activities. Until the end of the 19th century, grain producers were...

Soil preparation at the Wendell Berry Farming Program, Kentucky (USA)

In Henry County, Kentucky, the Wendell Berry Farming Program of Sterling College offers a farming curriculum focused on ecological...

WHEAT: A Miscellany of Memories

I am writing from the Highlands of Scotland, where, unlike oats and barley, owing to the environment, climate, and local farming...

Thoughts from the field: A Snowy Reprieve for Winter Wheat

A welcome, winter blast gave us historical farmers in New Jersey, USA, a bit of help this past Saturday, by covering our field of winter...

Soil Preparation at Barrington Plantation State Historic Site (Texas, USA)

Focusing on mid 19th century Texas (USA), Barrington Plantation is a living history farm complete with period costumed interpreters using...

The diversity of common wheat within 19th century grain cultivation

The collection of the Lauresham Open-Air laboratory includes a "Handbuch des Getreideanbaus" published by Friedrich Körnicke and Hugo...