Harvesting Volunteer Wheat
A Learning Experience
We bought wheat straw for our garden that is resting this year and covered it with a thick layer. It was supposed to be "seedless", but of course a bunch of sprouts came up anyway. At first, we were going to weed it all out, but decided to let it grow up. I'm glad we did! Each one of those sprouts was wheat and given enough time, grew seed heads full of wheat berries!
We've never harvested wheat before, so this was a fun experience.
We snipped off the heads and pulled the stalks. The stalks we left on the ground for more garden mulch and collected the wheat heads on a tray.
We got a pretty good stash of wheat heads from this unplanted crop!
Each head contains about a dozen wheat berries, so if properly processed, we can make flour!
Threshing
I took about half of the wheat heads and put them in a plastic bag and crushed them up in the bag. I could feel the dry wheat crunching up and the seeds falling out. I put the wheat chaff and the berries all together in a bowl and continued crushing them with my hands.
This process is called "threshing" and in ancient times the wheat was layed out on the ground and oxen were used to "tred" over it, crushing the wheat heads so the "threshing floor" would become full of wheat berries.
It's still done this way in some parts of the world.
The Apostle Paul writes that people working the harvest should be allowed to share in the food of the harvest.
it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Isn’t He actually speaking on our behalf? Indeed, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they should also expect to share in the harvest. 1 Cor 9:9-10
Wheat and Chaff
I found a single wheat berry at the bottom of the bowl and got to see what we're looking to collect.
So how do we get all the good wheat berries out for flour and the chaff to be thrown away?
Throw it up in the air and let the wind blow it all away!
Blessed is the man... whose delight is in the law of the LORD and he meditates on it day and night... he shall be like a tree bearing fruit in each season... everything he does shall prosper... But not so the wicked, they are like the chaff that the wind blows away
Winnowing
In ancient times, harvesters would lift the chaff up into the air with a winnowing fork and allow the wind to carry the dust and small particles away in the wind. What landed on the ground was the heavier wheat berry.
"His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Luke
I don't have enough wheat to really winnow like this, so I grab a small battery powered fan and blow away all the chaff from the bowl. I had my daughter video the chaff blowing away.
Watching the berries appear at the bottom of the bowl was very exciting as all the chaff was blown away. It was like burried treasure, waiting to be found!
Gathering Wheat into the Barn
After removing all the chaff, we were left with a small bowl of wheat berries. This is about half of our harvest.
It wasn't much as it only filled the bottom of a mason jar.
Not a huge harvest, but a nice collection of valuable wheat berries that we never planted. All we needed was to be patient and follow the ancient instructions on how to retrieve the treasure hidden inside.
Have You Harvested Wheat Before?
I'd like to hear your stories about wheat harvesting. When you harvest, how you process it, things like that. I look forward to hearing from you!
@lturner. Father of six wonderful children. The guy behind the camera. Blockchain enthusiast.
Bless the Most High!
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