History Food for the winter
Grass stops growing in winter, so farmers cut it in summer, left it to dry in the sun, and stored it as hay. Without enough hay, animals went hungry, so haymaking was one of the busiest times of the farming year. Whole villages worked together with scythes, rakes and pitchforks.
Meadows where the best hay grew were valuable, and they were often shared out in strips like the fields.
History The labors of the months
Many medieval prayer books and church carvings show a calendar of the "labors of the months": plowing, sowing, haymaking, harvesting and feasting at Christmas. Haymaking usually belongs to June or July.
Art In this artwork
The illustration shows a wooden cart with a big golden load of hay tied with rope, pulled by an ox.
Look closer
- Find the rope that holds the hay on.
- How high is the hay piled?
Think about it
- Why did farmers need to store food for their animals?
- What would happen if it rained all through haymaking?
- What jobs in your area depend on the seasons?
Key words
- Hay
- Grass that is cut and dried to feed animals.
- Scythe
- A tool with a long curved blade for cutting grass.
- Meadow
- A field of grass, often cut for hay.
Sources
The history on this page is a short summary based on these sources:
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Open-field system" and "Three-field system"
- British Library, "The Luttrell Psalter" (about 1325 to 1340)
