Threshing

Mama takes Malli and Valli to the fields. Bundles of harvested wheat stalks lie there, and some are spread out in the sun to dry. Malli and Valli each pick up a stalk: it has many grains attached to it.

A group of farmers is beating the stalks on a large wooden log. Why? To shake the grains loose. Separating grains from the stalks is called threshing. The farmers work hard, but they enjoy it and sometimes sing folk songs while they thresh.

Threshing frees the grains from the stalks, but now the grains are mixed with piles of husk (the dry outer covering). So the job is not finished: the husk still has to be separated from the grains.

Today there are machines called threshers (threshing machines). A thresher separates the grains from the stalks and from the husk. It does threshing and winnowing at the same time.