A morning hike to the farm area at George Washington's Mount Vernon introduced us to some of the innovative and thoughtful farming techniques that the father of our nation initiated. There was something of a scientist in this man who had very little formal education. This little demonstration farm is not original to the plantation, but the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association wanted a location patrons could visit on the property where they could see an important part of Washington's life.
Here, we can interact with heritage animals - pigs, sheep, chickens, and cattle. Here, view a reproduction of a slave house. Here, we find a rebuilt 16-sided barn, built to George Washington's expectations.
The barn is unique and industrious, built for a specific purpose - the threshing of wheat. Piles of raw wheat sit in the shed nearby, ready to be spread in the upper story of the nearly-round barn. Horses are then introduced to the upper room, where they thresh the grain by running around in a circle. The important, usable parts of the grain drop through the exactly-calculated cracks in the floor, while the rest remains. Some of the pictures below show the barn before the process begins.
Here, we can interact with heritage animals - pigs, sheep, chickens, and cattle. Here, view a reproduction of a slave house. Here, we find a rebuilt 16-sided barn, built to George Washington's expectations.
The barn is unique and industrious, built for a specific purpose - the threshing of wheat. Piles of raw wheat sit in the shed nearby, ready to be spread in the upper story of the nearly-round barn. Horses are then introduced to the upper room, where they thresh the grain by running around in a circle. The important, usable parts of the grain drop through the exactly-calculated cracks in the floor, while the rest remains. Some of the pictures below show the barn before the process begins.
Washington had a number of farms on his 8,000 acres, so these processes may have been spread around to many areas.
