Collecting grain was always a major issue. From a farmer's point of view, you painstakingly sowed the seeds, weeded and fertilized the wheat, and watched as the stalks shot up, the heads of grain appeared, and the fields gradually ripened to a plump, golden yellow.
Finally, after all that hard work, you would harvest the crop and separate the grain from the stalk.
This also meant the grain was about to be separated from the one who grew it. The lord of the land, the farmer's creditors, and their lackeys would come crawling out of their mansions and castles to take the lion's share. All that was left for the farmer's family was a pitiful amount of grain and the gnawing feeling of a half-empty stomach.
