Sunday, February 7, 2021

Man, it's February already, and only three weeks left! Spring is so close I can almost see the trees budding. They better hold off though, there's a hard freeze coming this week.

Yesterday Farmer Sam and I headed to a local monthly trade days close to our town. It was cool, lots of unwitting agorists doing free market things. I told Melissa I was looking for cedar fence slats, chicken wire, and cattle panels, but I found something else I'd been looking for for a good long while.

Our new-to-us Corona grain mill!

Ever since I started seeds for my painted mountain corn, about fifty weeks ago, I wanted a grain mill. When I saw the cost of modern electrical units, I was quite turned off from the idea of growing my own grains. One that attaches to our KitchenAid was around $300, and even the hand crank mills were around a hundred bucks! When I saw a hand crank meat grinder at the trade days, it renewed my interest in getting a grain mill. Little did I know, grain mils are far harder to come by than meat grinders.

The project and the processor

So when I found the only grain mill in the entire place, and it was in working order and almost complete (only missing the hopper), and it was $40, I told the vendor to shut up and take my money. It had a tiny bit of surface rust on the feed screw and inside the feed body, bit other than that it was pristine. Definitely used as witnessed by the wear on the grind plates, but 100% serviceable. My homestead now has a grain mill, and I was excited to try it out on a bit of last year's corn crop.

In the act

On the coarse first grinds I was surprised at how easy it was. I oiled any wear points with coconut oil and cleaned them well before use. I may use canola oil in the future since it's a high heat industrial seed oil that we can't use for cooking. On the finer grinds though, it definitely took some effort. I'm glad we got the old, hefty cast iron one, and not one of the newer cheapo cast aluminum ones.

First grind, basically cracked corn, which the chickens loved

Of course, I had to share a treat with the chookies. They loved our homegrown non GMO cracked corn. The combined facts that we now have a mill and an animal system that'll benefit immensely from grain production has made me reverse my decision not to grow corn this year. I'm also looking for a source of sorghum seeds to grow as well. We've still got plenty to share with the baby chicks, but I wanted some good fine flour so Melissa can start making a starter for homegrown non GMO sourdough cornbread. How good does that sound? It's a thing, and it definitely needs to happen.

Ten ounces of flour, and the machine broken down for cleaning

I didn't grind all the corn into flour; it loses nutrition faster when it's ground, so I want to keep as much whole as possible. Ten ounces took just a few minutes to process, so at homestead quantities hand cranking is a viable processing option. Later this year we'll see how it does for a larger bulk amount. They also mention grinding beans into flour, so we'll play with that later too. I might just grind some random pintos to see how I like it.

Melissa's pork roast

While I was grinding with farmer Sam, Melissa and Sophie were making supper. In the south, we call a big formal lunch "supper." Sometimes it's interchangeable with "dinner," the evening meal. Pork roast in the cast iron Dutch oven. Is it just me, or is everything better out of cast iron? Three things that make a place home (other than family): cast iron, Mason jars, and chickens. They just make everything better.

Sunday afternoon hike after an awesome family supper

After supper, we went across town for a hike. I wanted to hunt mushrooms, and the fam wanted to soak up some of the last sun we'll have for a while. There's a big cold front coming in with snow and high daily temps below freezing. Fitting for the season, and just as unbearable as the Texas heat. I'll be headed to Oklahoma in the mix of it all next weekend for a community seed starting event. I told the guys that if it was a work function, I would cancel, but some things matter more than others. Farmer Sam and I will be going together to learn about seed starting; something I'm sorely bad at.

An excellent Sunday. I'm excited to have another one.

Love from Texas

Nate