Milling

I don't really know why, but I have a particular obsession with milling and mills.

When I was in Greece, I spent an entire semester of school riding around finding windmills that were once used to mill grain, and I took photos of them. I was sad that they were being allowed to turn to dust after such an amazing tradition of milling grain with donkeys and the power of the wind had taken place for thousands of years. In many cases, the windmills were just a pile of rubble. One of them was in really wonderful condition, but it wasn't in current use. No one wanted to take over the milling industry.

And how crazy those people are for not wanting to continue such an amazing food tradition.

Now that I am back at home and back in reality, I have decided to act as my own miller. I got a grain mill the other day, and I have used it, and I love it.

It is only a stone mill. The bottom is stone and the top is stone, and there is a crank that you use to grind the grain. It takes a while to get used to, but I made a half pound of flour the other day that I in turn made into pasta. It was really amazing.

I love being a part of the milling tradition, especially the stone milling tradition.