-- Marie

I just remembered another experience I had with a non-electric mill. Some years ago I volunteered to help with a sort of vacation bible school program being sponsored by a diverse group of organizations in our community. It included at least Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant participants. It was called Marketplace 29 A.D. and the idea was to have a non-proselytizng history-based event for the kids to enjoy. Different groups had booths representing merchants you would find in a Middle Eastern marketplace in the year 29 A.D. I was asked to be a wheat grower/flour miller. I was given a wonderful stone grinder that some local man had made. It had a vertical axis and I had to sit on a stool and spin the foot plate with my feet. The whole wheat would be dropped into an indentation on the top, and it fell through the narrow space between the spinning grinding stone and the stone that formed the top frame. I had a zip-lock bag at the bottom chute, so the kids could see the flour come out. I had my samples of wheat plants in pots, some whole wheat, and several bags of different types of flour. (Okay, I cheated. I used store-bought flour in the bags.) Kids were given rocks painted silver and gold in cloth draw string bags, and they were told to buy what they needed for their family for a month. Adults led them around and helped if they had questions. It was such a good lesson in life's necessities. I worked my B--- off grinding flour on that stone, and in a hour only came up with about 1/4 cup. It might be a replacement for all of those seldom-used treadmills and exercise bikes we have now!! I'll try to see if I still have the photos or the drawings of the stone grinder. I should mention, too, that anthropologists say that eating products of stone-ground flour causes the teeth to wear down a certain way, because of the tiny bits of stone in the product. That is how they identify stone-age skulls. Dentists reccommended against doing this on a long-term regular basis.

Boy have I rambled. Sorry. -- Marie

Mich�le

In response to Delina's hesitance to buy a "micro" technology mill, I just want to say that I THOROUGHLY researched buying a grain mill, and chose such a mill, the Whisper Mill. It has an unconditional lifetime warrantee, has been around for a good while now, and has a very dedicated following (myself included). All mills are loud, as I understand it. The "Whisper" Mill is hardly a whisper, but is quite bearable. It sounds like a vacuum cleaner to my ear. I think I paid $159 for it last year, which was the lowest price online. I use it constantly. The best thing about it is how FAST and FINE the flour grinds. We're talking about the softest powder, created in SECONDS. It does this in one single pass through the mill, unlike most mills which require several passes to make a fine flour. Plus, the whole thing is contained, so your kitchen doesn't get covered in flour dust.

A new mill, which came out in August, 2001, is the Ultra Mill. So far I've heard nothing bad about this mill. It uses the same technology, and has a LIMITED Lifetime warrantee. Compact storage, comes with optional colors (cost extra). I've seen it online for as low as $149. Claims to be even quieter than the Whisper mill.

I know you already made a purchase, Delina, but I can't resist throwing in my $.02! :)

Marie, that's an awesome story! I'd love to see the plans or a pic of that foot-powered mill! Sounds interesting!

Modjadje, did you get your mill okay and how do you like it?

All of you that are grinding wheat, can you tell me what is the whitest wheat? We have several Amish and Mennonite communities near us and I have bought several wheat and flours from them, but they all have their own name for them. Some call it "naturally" white wheat...is that whole wheat, or just unbleached? Last week I bought 3 lbs of "hard spring white wheat" to grind, and it does seem to be whiter than a lot of wheats.

I also have a Vita-Mix, but I like the Champion mill better. If you buy one, be sure you take it off after every use & clean it. There is a lot of flour that stays in the mill. I poke a skewer up it to get it all out. I usually grind a large amount at 1 time & freeze it.

Allenwrench, maybe you haven't tightened the knob enough. My flour comes out very fine.

George
Tahlequah, OK