Farming

Common flax was an important crop plant from times immemorial. Its stem was processed for threads used to produce linen, while its seeds were pressed for linseed oil, used as an addition to food and as a medicine. Even the waste from the processing found its use – linseed cakes that remained after pressing were fed to livestock, while hards and tow, the remains of the processing of the stem and the threads, were used for thermal insulation. Regrettably, politics and money affect everything, and even as traditional crop as flax used to be has disappeared from out landscape. We have described the issues connected with the cultivation and processing of flax in a publication named “The Story of Flax”. The book documents the procedures our ancestors used such as hackling, breaking, spinning and weaving of flax linen on a loom.