(Catching up from blog blocking - China)
Got loads of dried goods to thresh? A massive crop of dried broad beans? And a handy road? A road is a good hard threshing ground right? So take your produce and spread it right across the road. So what happens when the cars come? Well, that’s easy, let the car do the threshing! Just lay the dried broad bean stalks with pods on the road and wait. Move the stalks around a little so the whole lot gets squashed or should I say threshed and sweep up the loosened beans.
Dried broad beans are pretty tough so it works. The beans don’t get squashed at all, just released from their pods and the stalks get broken up into a chaff. I wonder if the chaff gets used too? And how? Dug in? Composted? Given to the pigs?
In mid May this method of broad bean threshing was going on all over Dali’s outskirts. I like it! Perhaps I should see what would happen if I did this in suburban Marrickville!
