Tales from the Green Valley - March

Five experts - historians and archaeologists - try to run a Welsh hill farm for twelve months as it would have been in the reign of James I, the year 1620. They are halfway through the project, with March being their seventh month on the farm. They get busy turning wheat into bread flour, threshing it energetically with some period flails and then winnowing it - throwing it up in the air to separate the grain from the chaff - using a replica basket. Then it's off to a water mill to take the labour out of the 'daily grind'. They have a go at making some March beer, play some period games, and yoke up some piglets to root up a field for spring sowing. It's also time to overhaul the vegetable garden, and try out some contemporary dishes for Lent - salt cod and egg and pear pies.