I will be using a miniature threshing stone in my decor on Sunday. I
thought I would give you a brief introduction to this object.
[Also, remember that one of the reasons for the migration was to seek a
more peaceful place to live.]
Threshing Stones
Threshing Stones, used by the Mennonites of Russia and in few cases in the
prairie states and provinces, became the emblem of Bethel College and also of
agriculture. The threshing stone is a seven-ribbed shaped stone wheel with a
round hole through the horizontal axis. It was about thirty inches long and two
feet in diameter. Each six-inch rib is tapered from six inches at the base to
two and one-half inches at the outer edge. In Kansas such threshing stones were
cut according to a wooden model from a stone quarry near Florence, KS; the
model having been prepared by the early Mennonite settlers.
The cut grain was spread in two concentric circles on the threshing floor with
the heads of the grain facing each other. The threshing stone was pulled by two
horses; the ribbed stone rolling over the heads of the grain knocked the grain
and chaff from the straw, after which the grain was fanned. Some of these
stones are found in the Kauffman Museum in North Newton, Kansas, and on Kansas
Mennonite farmyards.
Attachment:
threashingStone.jpg
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