Granary & grain stores
ekechara
Between harvests the surplus lived in granaries, clay jars and sealed baskets — food security measured in stored grain.
The maize harvest in the photograph — taken in Nyanza Province in the colonial era — shows the crop that filled every granary. Between one harvest and the next, a family lived on what it had stored.
Grain was kept in raised granaries on stilts (safe from damp and rodents), in large clay jars, and in smeared, sealed baskets. A full granary was the difference between a household that ate and one that begged.
Cultural context
Storage shaped the calendar: threshing parties, the careful drying of grain, the sealing of jars, and the discipline of rationing through the hungry months before the next harvest. Store-keeping knowledge was household survival knowledge.
