I've seen winnowing done before, but never a detailed instructional video on it. Now I shouldn't ever have to watch another one, because this one was so good. Camera angle and audio volume were perfect, as were your thoughtful explanations. Have enjoyed this leek series, wish I'd found it in 2017. You've got a great collection of baskets!

I ran across this a few weeks ago.. great video.. I ordered some baskets from Baskets of Africa and this works great. Thanks so much for teaching this.

This is the first time Ive seen such a detailed explanation, thanks much! Its funny to think about how critical these techniques were to human survival and now the majority of us have zero clue about it

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

Too true. This is just basic stuff though. What's tragic is the loss of specific environmental knowledge gained over long periods of time by native inhabitants. That stuff gets lost really fast if it's not being used.

@blackguard5883

6 жыл бұрын

"Global homogenization of culture". It's insidious, results in permanent loss, and is accelerated by the internet, sad as that is. You however are counteracting that, or perhaps trying to put a beneficial spin on it. Thanks again for sharing all your accumulated experience.

You know, I thought about making this same video, 3 years ago, but decided against it, because I figgured that winnowing is a skill that can't be taught by video... You nailed it brother!

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

I'm not sure it can be taught in person even, or you can only show people how it's done, but the knack of it is usually really awkward to get. Especially the inclined sifting, because the stuff has to be tossed up the basket just enough to stay in one place on an inclined plane. It part tossing upward and part circular motion, but it's so subtle it's hard to even see it. Laying down a sheet is a good idea, I should've said that ;)

Place a cupful of the seeds and husks into a large bowl of water...the seeds sink, the husks float. Skim off the floaters and dry out the seeds on paper / in a WARM oven / in a paper envelope on a radiator... Great action with the winnowing by the way...just like Shona people do it....great vids Stephen...keep em coming...loved the leek series on culling plants....

@SkillCult

4 жыл бұрын

Never did anything like that. Makes sense though.

love your vids man

More great info you share. Thanks Again Strven! DaveyJO

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

You're welcome

Late to the party, but if anyone is planning to do this in smaller quantities or is concerned about UV exposure when drying them (insomuch as it might affect viability) you can use any piece of soda glass, whether using a spare pane or just sunning them on a sunny windowsill. Soda Glass is opaque in the UV spectrum, especially to UVc and UVb, and supposedly only lets 60-70% UVa through. That said, I doubt short exposure has much of an effect on viability, especially allium seeds that have a husk

Anxious to order some seeds! I know you'll keep us posted as to their availability.

just like panning for gold - very cool

I have had enough gold pans in my hand to understand exactly what your doing with the baskets. Very cool method, I have never seen this, thank you for the video.

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

You're welcome

In my experience this is very satisfying. I cleaned a bunch of heads from an intensely perfumey basil using the "inclined cardboard" method I learned in my youth cleaning seeds out of pot.

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

When pot had seeds lol.

@LolitasGarden

6 жыл бұрын

SkillCult Weird. That was the deleted end of my comment.

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

great minds think alike. After they recover from frying their developing brains on low grade pot.

@demagmusic

6 жыл бұрын

It only counts as "authentic" if you did it on a cardboard LP jacket. Bonus points if it's a Cheech and Chong record ;)

Cool. Kinda like reverse gold panning.

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

Often there is both lighter and heavier stuff than the seeds to deal with. In the most ideal cases, there is just lighter stuff than the seeds, but often not.

Most enjoyable, love the time lapse but there was something missing

Excuse me skillcult, has your book on tanning hide with tree bark come out yet.

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

No, that project is sidelined unfortunately.

The process seems very similar to gold panning. You feel like you're going to lose all the seed but you have to trust that simple physics will do the work.

@SkillCult

7 ай бұрын

With seeds you have to accept some losses, but it should be minimal. Depends on the seed to chaf weight ratio too. The closer they are in mass, the more challenging it is.

It's like flipping something in a frying pan but in reverse, a circular snap down instead of up..

About how long does it take for bulgarian giant leek from seed to harvest of the finished leeks? Would be cool to try and grow a packet.

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

The best way to grow them is start in winter indoors, plant out in early spring on a relatively close spacing and start thinning and eating as soon as they are big enough, leaving a larger spacing for them to keep growing larger. I eat them all the way into the next spring.

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

But, they won't be hardy everywhere. I see some damage here and it's not very cold. A guy told me that Gigante D'Inverno is a good hardy tall leek, but haven't tried it.

@Theorimlig

6 жыл бұрын

Helpful as always. I figured sowing inside and planting them out would be the way, that seems to be the best, sometimes only, way for a lot of alliums (excepting garlic, which is supposed to overwinter well. Got 40 cloves in the ground already for next year). Especially in more northerly climes... I suspect that the Bulgarian Giant might not be very well suited to my climate here, as Sweden is pretty far from either Bulgaria or Northern California. It would be interesting to try, though. If I could plant them out in early may or even march, and let them grow until the end of September or even October (depending on how cold it gets when) that's about 6 months. Surely the leeks don't take longer than that to reach their full size? Overwintering in the ground isn't likely, but we can't really do that here much anyway so I wouldn't mind growing fewer and harvesting them all in the autumn.

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

My leeks don't reach full size until right before they flower. They do most of their growing during the winter and following spring. But, they don't like our long hot summers. You have a cooler summer with longer days, so they will probably grow like crazy. I'm also not a very attentive gardener. If I gave them what they want consistently and maybe a light shade cloth, frequent water etc, they would probably do better. Look into that other leek if you can find it. It sounds great. You can also overwinter leeks in storage if you have a cellar or something like that.

So, why is cleaning the seed so much necessary? Would you get lower germination rates, or would the seed store for less time?

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

Right, for me getting rid of the undeveloped seeds and just so there isn't a bunch of trash in the seeds I give away or sell. A lot of home gardeners don't clean their seeds very well.

@EddyPrice

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks! I discovered your channel recently and love it!

Where do you get winnowing baskets like that?

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

Those are all from thrift stores and flea markets. The big one is probably designed for winnowing. For small quantity stuff like this the form isn't all that important as long as it's really tightly woven. New, who knows. Most new import stuff available in the states is pretty much junk. I edited out a section talking about basket quality. Those plaited flat bamboo baskets were really popular at some point in the 80's I think, so they still show up in thrift stores all the time. Some are well made. I have stacks of them for drying food and such, but collected over almost 30 years.

@shawnfreeborn

6 жыл бұрын

SkillCult Thanks for the reply! I'm gonna have to keep my eyes peeled at thrift stores. Thanks for the awesome content, btw!

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

I've thought that I should do a video on baskets and what to keep an eye out for as part of a sort of homestead tool series. It's about 98% junk out there.

@demagmusic

6 жыл бұрын

I was 90% certain you were going to say "I weave my own baskets, of course!" ;) The winnowing basket technique looks very Zen. Much like doing almost anything the "old way"

@SkillCult

6 жыл бұрын

I do some basketry, or have. I'd like to do more, but I'd like to do a lot of things more :)