I Dig Sheffield | Digging around Sheffield and the Peaks

Food & Farming

It was hard work getting food before there were supermarkets

Farming is like shopping. It is a way of getting food. However, farming takes much longer. The farmer's first job is to plough the fields. This ploughshare was used for this in the Iron Age. It breaks up the soil before the seed is planted. The seed grows into grain which is harvested.

Grain is the raw material for flour. However, the grain must be ground to make flour. This is done with a quernstones like this. Querns were essential pieces of kitchen equipment for thousands of years. Without them there was no bread, which was the staple diet for most people.

Today we think of fishing as a sport or leisure activity. In the past it was another way of putting food on the table. Fish was an important source of protein for the poor. It was often easier to get hold of than animal meat. Most people lived near a river.

A knife like this was the main tool used in the kitchen. It was used to chop and prepare food for the table. It was also used for eating food. Fingers were good for that too. The fork was not used until about 1700 AD. Most people carried a knife around with them. It had a host of other uses in everyday life.

Farmers also kept animals for meat. Cattle, sheep and pigs were the main sources of meat. However, animals were kept for more than meat. Sheep were kept for their wool. This was made into clothes and blankets. Cows were kept for their milk. This was made into butter and cheese.

Wool was important. It was spun into yarn using spindles. These had weights like these called spindle whorls on them. The yarn was then woven to make cloth. In prehistoric times people produced their own yarn and cloth. More recently spinning and weaving became separate jobs.

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