Sowing and Harvesting

The Loimaa region was settled in the 14th and 15th centuries, as the growing population cleared new farmland. The crop rotation used was a two-field system, in which half the field was left fallow every other year. Slash-and-burn agriculture continued in Loimaa until the 18th century. Another method of cultivation was “kytö”, in which swampland was burned along with its root systems.

Initially, the dominant grain was barley. The rye variety of the time was prone to mold, as the snow cover insulated the ground and kept it wet well into spring. In the late Middle Ages, a more moisture-resistant rye variety became widespread, and by the late 16th century, it had replaced barley as the most important cereal crop in Loimaa.

Caption: “A farmwife sowing seeds in Loimaa.”
Photo: Finnish Heritage Agency, Ethnographic Collection.
Photographer: Pekka Kyytinen, 1953.