Agriculture

Medieval Farmers worked by hand. Farming was really hard work. To make their job easier they tried to invent new tools to use.

One of those tools was the ard plough. This plow was used to cut trenches in the soil. An ox or horse or even a farmer's wife was used to pull the plow. Over time wheels were added to the ploughs. The one or two large wheels at the front made the plows easier to steer and for the animals to pull. We still use plows today but we don't do it by hand. Tractors pull our plows today which is easier than pulling it.

To help horses and protect their hooves the people invented nailed horseshoes. They protected their hooves from injury. Today we use the exact same things to protect our horses feet, horseshoes.

Seeds were sprinkled by hand. They had a basket full of seeds called a hopper and they tossed the seed onto the soil. Today seeds are scattered by machines, not by hand.

The seeds then needed to be covered by soil. They used a method called harrowing. The harrow was a bundle of branches that was dragged over the land by horses. It spread the soil over the seeds. We still use harrows today but they are pulled by engineered tractors, not by horses.

Fertilizers that Medieval Farmers had were animal manure. (Animal Poop!) Farmers collected the manure (poo!) and spread it on the fields. We still use animal poop today to fertilize our crops. I just smelt some the other day when we were driving past a farm on our way home from our trip.

Medieval Times Farmers began using a system called the three-crop rotation. They divided their land into three fields. They planted two fields in the spring and fall and left one empty. The field that was not planted allowed the field to replenish it's nutrients. Farmers still use crop rotation today to help their plants to grow.

To weed their farms Medieval Farmers would use a small sickle and a stick with a y-fork at the end. The stick was used to hold the weed while the sickle was used to cut it off at the ground level. Today farmers use rotary tillers and chemicals to kill weeds.

For harvesting scythes were used to cut hay close to the ground. A sickle was used to cut wheat. The crops were cut and bundled by hand. Harvester machines no cut hay and wheat which is then gathered by harvester and combines.

Grain was threshed by hand using a grain flail to beat the grain. Straw and debris were removed with a winnowing sheet. Groups of people would shake the sheet to get the hay out of it because the grain is heavier than they hay. Today combines are used to harvest crops. The same combine will cut, gather, thresh, separate and clean the grain. Hay is cut and baled by hay balers pulled by tractors.