Basket, Winnowing

Description

Winnowing basket with an oak semi-circular rim and stretcher holding its shape. Bottom woven with hickory splint. The interior is covered in leather secured by iron tacks. Two "ear" handles of steam-bent hickory, which are secured with hand-forged nails clinched on the inside.

Notes

Winnower 1820-40 Before the invention of the fanning mill, separating grain from the chaff was a tedious job. It was made somewhat easier by the use of a winnowing basket. Harvested grain was dried and placed on a large floor, where it was beaten with flails to separate the grain heads from the stalks and the outer husks (the chaff) from the kernel of grain. The stalks were raked off the floor, and the remaining grain was placed in a winnowing basket and thrown up in the air, where a modest wind would blow away the chaff, leaving, after a number of throws in the air, only the kernels in the basket.