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David Libby, left, and son Randy Libby pitch straw onto a wagon for bailing during last weekend’s third annual Threshing Bee held at the Patrick Ranch. The bee, a fund-raiser for the Chico Museum, gives city folks a chance to see wheatgrinding, blacksmithing and, of course, wheat threshing. It also gives us a chance to ask David Libby, a retired Cal Water employee, exactly what he was pitching and what it was used for. He said, “Straw is the byproduct of wheat. The thresher separates the wheat from the straw and is used for mulch and bedding for animals.”