Musings on the Family Grain Mill

Lets start with a link
See the Jupiter grain Mill here

Anyway I was looking at making the purchase of a grain mill... so I did some digging around and found this really neat little item... it fits the primary requirement of having a hand-crank and motor if I so chose... and it has other add-ons that expand it functionality

• Versatile Multi-Grain milling: The grind is infinitely adjustable, from fine for bread flour, to medium for "Cream Of Wheat" style cereals, or coarse for steel cut or cracked grain (if you want to, you can adjust it to such a coarse setting that grains aren't even cracked.) The milling head grinds wheat, oats, corn, soybeans, rye, barley, rice, spelt, flax, buckwheat, millet, coffee, kamut, quinoa, and sesame (doesn't grind popcorn.) It will also mill some chopped, dry, non-oily herbs and spices. The Family Grain Mill grinds cool to preserve nutrients. Large 5 cup hopper capacity.

Just what I was looking for... but wait... it gets better...

• Additional Functions: Available options for the Family Grain Mill are listed in the table below. They include the Food Processor which slices and shreds vegetables, nuts, fruits and cheese with 3 included stainless steel drums. The Flaker Mill head flakes soft grains and is popular for fresh homemade oatmeal, making a hearty flake from oat groats (oats with the hulls removed) that's thicker and chewier than store-bought flaked oats. See an interior picture and more details on the Oat Flaker Mill attachment here. The Food & Meat Grinder is available with a variety of disk sizes.

the site itself is a little convoluted... meaning they aim you at what they want you to buy first... but if you do a little digging you quickly find that the base grinder with hand-crank can be had for as little as $139.95 then for around $80 you can buy those other little extras at a later date...

Of course if I want to part with $491.80 I can have everything in one package????

I do wonder... some of these do all machines may do all... but do no one thing well... guess I'll have to buy one to find out...

well anyway this is not a product endorsement by any-means... just my musings as I look for those cool things I want, provided the fit into my budget... Hopefully this gave you a few useful ideas too..,.or at least insight into my thought process...

I just bought a grain mill on E-bay for $80. Its smaller but does the job. Take a look on there and see if you can find anything cheaper.

reply to post by camaro68ss


I will
and thanks for the idea...

BTW... Wheat berries keep longer than does flour....so you only grind up as much as you need at the time... something about the process of making flour makes it oxidize faster...??? or so I'm told...
round these parts... come winter... we let some of those wheat berries sprout... a tasty treat for our hens who are still laying but not getting all the extra greens they like at that time of year

If youre looking into it for this SHTF scenario, plastic ones that need parts eventually wont do the job Go back to the ancestors. Big rock and a pestle. Harder work.. and no parts needed. I have tried it to try it.. and its a PAIN.. but better than no flour in the event its a skill thats needed! We went out on a hike and looked for the right rock! LOL! You can grow Quinoa darned near everywhere. If you havent tried.. try it! I am making a whole section on the side yard for quinoa for next season.

like this:
us.123rf.com...

Daddy, the mill you posted looks fantastic as its versatile.. multi-use. We have an older one .. its wooden with a crank and was my grandmothers. I can see yours is much MUCH less work intensive! LOL!

reply to post by Advantage


Ya know survival comes in all shapes and forms...
living out in the country that can simply mean having to live without power for a couple of days after a bad storm...
that's why I want the hand-crank option...
but I'm also and older feller who's not the hard core any more...
What I want is something easy to use with or without power that requires not a lot of blood sweat and tears...

BTW back home what your talking about... we call a Mano and Metate click the link to see pictures of

Originally posted by DaddyBare
reply to post by camaro68ss

 

I will
and thanks for the idea...

BTW... Wheat berries keep longer than does flour....so you only grind up as much as you need at the time... something about the process of making flour makes it oxidize faster...??? or so I'm told...
round these parts... come winter... we let some of those wheat berries sprout... a tasty treat for our hens who are still laying but not getting all the extra greens they like at that time of year

Im just learning the cycle of wheat. so when you harvest it do you save half for the next season and eat the other. how do you plant them?

reply to post by camaro68ss


well there the thing... I don't harvest... I trade...

I live in a small farming community... but I don't have enough land for wheat... but I do have chickens, ducks and guinea fowl... not to mention my old horse trader sense... So no I don't know... Hell you probably know more about wheat cycles a lot better than I do... but that's the beauty of it... you know your skills I know mine... together we can make a killer chicken pot pie...

Originally posted by DaddyBare
reply to post by Advantage

 

Ya know survival comes in all shapes and forms...

living out in the country that can simply mean having to live without power for a couple of days after a bad storm...
that's why I want the hand-crank option...
but I'm also and older feller who's not the hard core any more...
What I want is something easy to use with or without power that requires not a lot of blood sweat and tears...

BTW back home what your talking about... we call a Mano and Metate click the link to see pictures of

edit on 28-7-2011 by DaddyBare because: (no reason given)

Hey now, Im darned near as old as you.. and when we tried this for flour is was hellaciously hard work. You know what DOMS is? Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness?? Yeah, for a week.. neck arms, back.. LOL!! Hence me hanging on to the grandmothers wooden one like it was made of gold! Good thing I have a few kids.. they can run the stone with their young arms and bodies if its ever needed.

My family is siksika.. I have no idea what they call it ( because we dont typically go around talking about ancient mills in the language as far as I ever heard) but its a taller stone with a flat top and a smaller long stone.. very dissimilar to yours and more like the one I posted. Im one generation off the rez and Ive NEVER seen one used.. not even as a kid.. bagged flour is too easy now. Gotta love commods Efficiency is great with new things, but old skills can never be replaced... just in case.

reply to post by Advantage


Ya know...
Back when I was younger...and still living on the Rez
ladies bought flour in sacks... cloth sacks... to make panties out of..
and just for fun here is a poem I found on the subject

DEPRESSION FLOUR-SACK UNDERWEAR
When I was just a maiden fair,
Mama made our underwear;
With many kids and Dad's poor pay,
We had no fancy lingerie.
Monograms and fancy stitches
Did not adorn our Sunday britches;
Pantywaists that stood the test
Had "Gold Medal" on my breast.
No lace or ruffles to enhance,
Just "Pride of Bloomington" on my pants.
One pair of panties beat them all,
For it had a scene I still recall-
Harvesters were gleaning wheat
Right across my little seat.
Rougher than a grizzly bear
Was my flour-sack underwear,
Plain, not fancy and two feet wide
And tougher than a hippo's hide.
All through Depression each Jill and Jack
Wore the sturdy garb of sack.
Waste not, want not, we soon learned
That a penny saved is a penny earned.
There were curtains and tea towels, too,
And that is just to name a few,
But the best beyond compare
Was my flour-sack underwear.

Hence my praying every day that we never get thrown back to those times.. economically or socially. WHen the "good old days" involve scratchy rough flour sack panties.. I dont want any part of it.

**runs out to buy dozens of packs of panties to add to the prep supply room**

Jokes aside, yet another great thread Daddy.. keep them up. Always a pleasure to read and learn from! I tried to find a post of yours concerning freeze drying with dry ice.. but couldnt find it in search.. for another poster. Always good things from you. Please keep it up!

reply to post by Advantage


Oh I remember that...
it was for one the ATS shows if I remember...

the tip was poor mans freeze drying... nothing to it... just fill a big pickle jar almost to full drop in some dry ice... wait a few minutes then screw the lid down tight.... CO2 displaces the O2... no air no spoilage... but you gotta have a really good airtight seal...

I have an electric mill which I use and love. I was concerned about whether or not we could grind without power if we were off the grid for some reason. I recently bought a hand crank one that is made out of cast iron. It grains the wheat into fine flour. The problem with cheaper mills is the flour is not ground fine enough. After reading all the reviews I decided to purchase this one.

www.amazon.com...=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1311879686&sr=8-14

I also bought a couple good books on baking bread that really makes it easy after watching a couple videos at this site.




Wheat berries do not spoil if they are stored properly. You can survive on bread easier than anything else. You just have to know how to bake it in bad times. I've looked up how to make adobe ovens and want to be versatile in the event of a disaster happening.

reply to post by hardamber


I grew up using an adobe oven...
they melt when you get heavy rains so your always doing little repairs...

however I bake in a dutch oven all the time... rain snow or shine

BTW as for a Powered Mill I do have the mill attachment for our mixer and it's does an awesome job... when the powers on... Kitchenaid Mixer

reply to post by DaddyBare


I haven't used an adobe oven yet. We are going to make one when we build our patio. I hope to make mine out of materials that wont melt. How did you like the results of the adobe oven when you were younger? What was the most popular thing to bake in it?

I use my dutch oven for a lot of baking too. I have a wood cookstove in my kitchen which also heats the house all winter.

Originally posted by hardamber
reply to post by DaddyBare

 

I haven't used an adobe oven yet. We are going to make one when we build our patio. I hope to make mine out of materials that wont melt. How did you like the results of the adobe oven when you were younger? What was the most popular thing to bake in it?

I use my dutch oven for a lot of baking too. I have a wood cookstove in my kitchen which also heats the house all winter.

Apache Bread
2 pk Dry yeast 1 T Sugar
2 T Melted fat 2 c Water
6 1/4 c Flour 1/2 ts Salt

Combine yeast with 2 1/4 c. flour in bowl. Heat water, shortening, sugar
and salt. Add to flour. Beat until mixed. Add remaining flour and knead
until smooth and elastic. Place in a large greased bowl. Cover and let
rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk. Divide in half. Bake at 350
degrees for 45-50 minutes.


We use a lot of cornmeal if our traditional recipes corn being the three sisters...

Thanks for the recipes! My granny was Cherokee and used a lot of cornmeal back in the day. She died when I was 18 years old and I didn't get to spend as much time with her as I wanted to. I've been pumping my dad for stories lately. He is getting up there now and I want to know more about the family and the way they did things. I admire how hard they worked and how efficient they were.

Originally posted by hardamber
Thanks for the recipes! My granny was Cherokee and used a lot of cornmeal back in the day. She died when I was 18 years old and I didn't get to spend as much time with her as I wanted to. I've been pumping my dad for stories lately. He is getting up there now and I want to know more about the family and the way they did things. I admire how hard they worked and how efficient they were.

Now I feel bad... I changed the recipe to an easier... bake one ....but give me a few... when I have time I'll put the other ones back up..

reply to post by DaddyBare

Easy is ok with me. Don't worry about it. I tweek recipes all the time.