Its mid August and our family is still collecting seed crops from our gardens. Some plants are just starting to make seeds while others have been done for months. Still others are just now starting to flower!

We are harvesting and processing seeds as we go. Flower seeds and veggie seeds. Tree seeds and herb seeds. Beans and corn. Peonies and poppies. Sage and sorrel. Its all just so much fun!

This article is all about winnowing which is one of the tools in our seed processing tool kit.

In the last article we covered screening seeds. Screen is winnow’s best friend because they both help us clean our seeds. Between screening and winnowing we can pretty much process any dry seeded crop.

What does it mean to Winnow?

To winnow is to separate heavier seeds from lighter chaff using wind.

The word winnow comes from the same root as wind. And wind is our friend. Wind is our friend.

When we are finished threshing our dry seeds we usually end up with a lot of chaff mixed up with the seeds. We then screen much of the chaff from our seeds. After screening we are often still left with some lesser amount of chaff that passes through the screen with the seeds.

While screening separates things based on size, winnowing separates things based on mass.

With wind at our back we pour our seeds into the wind. Thanks to gravity the heavier seeds fall down faster. Thanks to the wind the lighter chaff blows away faster.

We can repeatedly pour our seeds into the wind. Each time the wind will blow more and more chaff away from our seeds until we are left with clean seeds.

That is the gist of winnowing!

Winnowing in the Days of Yore

In the old days when community based horticulture and small scale agriculture were the norm, grains like wheat, barley, rice and rye were winnowed by tossing the grain and chaff into the air repeatedly. The wind blows the grains hulls, dust and bits of stems away.

Or sometimes grain would be poured from a height, sometimes as high as a barn’s loft, allowing wind to carry the chaff away. The greater the height the grain is dropped from, the more opportunity the chaff has to blow away from the grain.

Its not just grains that were winnowed by our ancestors. Most seeds that people ate (and there were often many!) needed to be winnowed in some way to be palatable. I mean who wants to eat a bunch of woody stems with their quinoa, chia, lambsquarters or amaranth seeds, right??

Some cultures hand weave winnow fans or winnow baskets from natural materials that allow them to throw seeds in the air and then catch them again. When the seeds are thrown in the air, the wind has a chance to blow off some chaff.

Sometimes winnow fans would have a slightly loose weave so that they could also be used as screens! Now that is some incredible technology!

Actually these ways of winnowing with the wind and handmade baskets are not just relics of the past. That was my conception when I was younger, as it was presented to me in school, but it would be unfair to say this is the whole truth.

Its true, much of our western culture has moved away from such environmentally appropriate technologies in favor of large scale farming and giant fossil fueled machinery. But there are still cultures employing these technologies, mostly in the global south.

Our modern western culture still relegates less “developed” cultures as primitive, backward, behind or archaic in favor of efficiency, convenience and profit. Unfortunately we miss seeing the beauty and connection inherent with a lifestyle more closely connected with nature.

Luckily some small scale seed farmers in our “developed” nations that want more connection with natural rhythms through horticulture are choosing to re-learn the old ways. Some are even re-learning traditional practices of winnowing.

I am also grateful that not all traditional cultures are lost. Some wisdom keepers consciously resist complete modernization and choose to hold onto their ways of living (and winnowing) that were passed down for many generations.

Winnowing Today

Today small scale seed growers often still winnow their seed using these same tried and true principles. The primary difference being that electric fans are used in place of natural wind.

Electric fans allow for a consistent, reliable stream of wind regardless of the weather or local wind patterns. Winnowing with fans is especially helpful in climates that don’t enjoy a regular steady wind.

A box fan is typically used but just about any decently strong fan, ideally with a variable speed, can be used for winnowing.

When we are winnowing we want to make sure we have a container at the ready to catch our seeds as we pour them into the wind. It could be a bucket or bin. Something large enough to pour into and offering wiggle room for seeds that the fan will be blowing forward.

Its OK for the chaff to blow away into the dirt, grass or plants (or onto the garage or barn floor if we are in a sheltered space perhaps) but we want our seeds to stay off of the ground unless we are winnowing relatively large seeds over a floor that is very clean. If you ever have the misfortune of trying to clean dirt and stones from your seeds, you’ll understand why!

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Getting Started With Winnowing

First time winnowers are likely to blow good seeds away.

The fan won’t just blow away chaff, it will blow seeds away too if we aren’t careful. The lighter the seed and the stronger the wind, the farther our chaff and seeds will blow. But don’t worry we’ll get it with a little practice!

I recommend starting your first few tries with some seeds you don’t care too much about. Don’t start winnowing with those rare or precious seeds that you only have a few of left for planting!

If you are already growing a lot of plants in your garden you could collect seed from some of the plants that you have the most of in your garden. Seeds who you wouldn’t mind losing. Better yet, you can winnow in your garden and any “lost” seeds will have a chance to grow right there!

Or maybe you have a friend with an established garden or farm who wouldn’t mind you gleaning seeds from their plants at the end of the season.

Another thing to consider when you are starting is that the heavier the seed, the easier it will be to winnow. Beans are a really great place to start!

Here’s another idea. Let’s say you haven’t decided what seed crops to grow yet but you’d like to build up some winnowing skills to see if its something you’d like to do more next season.

Why not harvest some weed seeds that are growing wild in the margins of your garden, in a vacant lot, on the outskirts of town, a roadside or some other derelict/wild spot? Partnering with the kind of weeds that are abundant (often they are, I mean they’re weeds!) you’ll be able to collect quite a lot of seed in no time.

Just make sure you wouldn’t mind inviting said weed into your garden. Avoid weed seeds that will make a problem for you or your neighbors later. (i.e. steer clear of invasive weed seeds)

Do you think this idea of collecting weed seeds is silly? Ann and I actually did this our first few years of cleaning seeds! We still wildcraft and wild tend some weed seeds to this day!

It wasn’t just for practice. I actually have a love affair with many weeds. Weeds are often extremely nutritious and/or medicinal. And it turns out other people enjoy growing weeds too because we sold a lot of those weed seeds in our online shop.

By the end of our first season we had easily collected over a dozen type of weed seeds from weeds who we valued and wanted to deepen our relationship with. Weeds we loved and wanted to share with other gardeners—so they could share in our joy of knowing these beautiful wild plants.

While we were still establishing our gardens and devising our plans for growing seeds Ann and I started honing our seed cleaning and winnowing skills with weed seeds that we collected for free. The best part was that we had more seeds than we needed so we didn’t care if we lost some seeds during each step of the cleaning process.

Yes, it was amazing! What a great way to learn!

Winnowing with Specialized Machines

Chances are if you are still reading this you are considering picking up some new homesteading skills by cleaning seeds. Maybe you want to process seeds so that you can sell them. Or maybe you want to be able to clean big batches of seeds so that your family can grow your own staple foods.

Perhaps you already know you want to get into growing, stewarding and processing seeds in a big way as income or as sustenance for your family or community.

You may eventually come to the point where you grow so much seed that you want to make the whole process as efficient as possible. Using a machine built for winnowing can help make winnowing seed in bulk more efficient.

If that sounds like you, I highly recommend checking out our friend Mark Luterra’s open source plans for building your own Winnow Wizard. Mark was so gracious and generous to gift these plans to the world for free. Or if you have the funds and desire, you can buy a pre-built Winnow Wizard directly from Mark.

Small Scale Seed Farmers Winnow With Fans Too

That being said, winnowing with an electric fan can scale up quite well. Winnowing with a fan can scale up from the backyard garden, to the sufficient homestead, all the way up to the small seed farms.

I know this because our seed farmer friends and mentors use electric fans for winnowing some, if not all of their crops. Sometimes its an economy of scale thing depending on crop size. Besides that, winnowing by hand with an electric fan just works really well!

Using a fan to winnow may seem simple and cheap. Well, yes it is! But an electric fan can also get one quite far down the road of winnowing seeds.

Even I do decide to use a Winnow Wizard or another seed cleaning machine for my seed crops, its good to know how to winnowing by hand so that I embody the fundamentals. I carry that knowledge in my body.

Its also good for any seed grower who relies on specialized winnowing machinery to have the skill of winnowing by hand in our back pocket as a backup or alternative option.

Our family is homesteading and we are growing a diverse amount of seeds at a garden scale to sell. This work is a seasonal part time basis for us. The amount of seeds we save and process may seem like a lot to many gardeners, but they are relatively small amounts compared to how much seeds full time seed farmers grow. We continue to choose to simply use an electric fan.

Winnowing really is a basic skill available to any and every gardener that wants to process their seeds in bulk. Winnowing is for the people! Its part of our food security!

Up until relatively recently (going back past a few centuries) most people alive knew how to winnow seeds. And lucky for us moderns, it only takes some practice and patience to learn this valuable skill.

Let’s Winnow Some Seeds!

I hope this introduction to winnowing has inspired you to give it a try. Its a lot of fun!

There’s nothing like allying with the wind while we get to know our garden’s seeds more intimately. I really enjoy getting to know our seeds on different levels. As we winnow we get a real feeling for a seeds’ mass. By winnowing, watching and interacting with the seeds we can really feel how aerodynamic they are!

I love to feel seeds with all my senses. There’s nothing like hearing beans, peas or grains fall into a container as I winnow them. I love seeing seeds patterns and textures.

I love to feel a pile of seeds with my hands. Have you ever plunged your hands into a sack of rice or beans? It turns out its really fun!! My young son naturally and instantly knows this pleasure whether its with seeds or the sand on a beach.

It took me growing and winnowing seed before I rediscovered those sensory joys. Now I try to remember to invite my inner child to the winnowing station when I am cleaning seed. After all, it really is a lot of fun!

Winnowing is a creative expression and a practice. I improve every season as I learn and grow with the plants and seeds. As with any other creative practice, winnowing can become less mental and more of a feeling and sensing practice. It can be meditative.

Winnowing With Gratitude

I thank my son and the magic of growing alongside plants and living with seeds for reminding me of abundant sensory joys each season.

Thanks to my son—Thanks to my family, friends and mentors—Thanks to the air and wind all around us, thanks to the mysterious gravity that grounds us into our Mother Earth as she pulls us closer, while also showing us how to help steward her beautiful seeds—Thanks to the garden who gifted me the joy of knowing lifelong friendships with green beings—Thanks to the seeds that support so much life on earth—Thanks for these blessings.

I am learning to winnow off some seriousness and tension, some fears and doubts, from my inner joy. I sometimes feel weighed down by fears, doubts and anger. But when I can winnow some of them off of my shoulders, it turns out that my inner joy is what truly has the most gravitas. My inner joy, my inner curiously delighted boy, no matter how shrouded he may be, is who is always patiently waiting to express himself—despite life’s challenges.

I wish you that same joy and beauty in your garden. I wish you abundant joy as you discover the magic of seeds that your garden plants create.

Want to learn how to process bulk seed at a homestead garden scale? Create more resilience and become empowered to clean the seeds that you grow to stock your pantry, share with your community, or sell to other gardeners.

See our course Seed Processing for Abundance for details!

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Living Abundantly With Seeds — 27 ways seeds offer connection, empowerment and resilience for your family. A free, inspirational guide.