Growing hemp
The native land of hemp is Central Asia. He reached Europe through mass migration. The Hungarians got to know it even before the Hungarian conquest, growing it for its yarn and oilseeds. In the Carpathian Basin it is distributed mainly in the central, southern and eastern areas. For centuries, hemp was the most important household industry crop on Hungarian peasant farms. It was usually grown in the border area near the settlement, in an area specially designated for this purpose. Their memory is still preserved by numerous geographical names.
A high-quality, usually deep-lying area was chosen as hemp land. Hemp was sown by hand, in the same way as cereals. It was either sprinkled and harrowed on fresh ploughing, or sown on flattened ploughing and hoeed in. When the color of the plant changed from green to yellow, it was plucked out. They tore it up by hand and laid it out in small handfuls and dried it.
After drying, in autumn, soaking and processing took place. For the most part, hemp was grown on a small area, as much as a family could process during the winter after autumn work. Subsistence peasant hemp production was suppressed by the expanding manufacturing industry from the second half of the last century.
