Grinding Grain at a Grist Mill

On Saturday I drove to local Millwood to visit the Burwell-Morgan Grist Mill. I've been wanting to visit here for a while and to get some of their flour which I've heard wonderful things about that is ground on site. Built in 1785 it's one of the oldest working grist mills in the country, grinding corn and wheat on Saturdays. Lt. Col. Nathaniel Burwell built the mill which flourished from the outset and Thomas Jefferson regarded him as one of Virginia's outstanding businessmen. He brought in a partner, Daniel Morgan, to oversee the mill when he wasn't there. Production continued in the mill through to 1953 when it was owned by Ernest Alger. After it closed structural deterioration set in and it was given to Clarke County Historical Association who started restoring the building and finishing in 1971. The waterwheel and gears were restored in the 1990's.

 It's a beautiful stone building surrounded by grass, a few old cottages, and large shady trees with a creek running alongside that I'm sure I saw some watercress growing in. The water leading into the mill was cool and quiet with large koi carp flicking back and forth.
Inside the mill I was pleased to see that it wasn't busy and immediately a young lad approached me and asked if I'd like a tour.

 We started with this small hand mill. He showed how it worked and let me have a go grinding some wheat which didn't seem that hard to do until he explained that this was usually the job of the oldest daughter in the house. She would have to get up early in the morning and grind enough flour for breakfast pancakes and the rest of the day. If it was a large family the chore could take 2-3 hours!

 Looking down on the water wheel. Because this wheel is inside the mill, the mill could run 24/7 and was run by 4 shifts of black slaves.

 There are two of these grindstones on the main level, one for grinding corn and the other for wheat. The ground flour runs down a pipe underneath to a shaker attached to the waterwheel, and removes the chaff. The waterwheel also powers the two grindstones.

The waterwheel and cogs are all greased with lard and the red hue on the wood is because it is red oak. A video of the waterwheel working is here. I was standing right next to the waterwheel when the water was allowed in and it started turning. I had to move fast to avoid a soaking! My young guide was very informative, showing me all 4 levels of the mill, one of which is rented out for functions, including wedding receptions. He explained a lot of the machinery that was standing around the mill, a tool for shucking corn and another for sharpening knives, another for turning the flour on the floor so it would cool as it was hot after being between 2 grindstones. When my tour was finished I wandered around looking more closely at artifacts placed on tables, window ledges and the floor.

 I would never have guessed what this was in a million years. It's a tool for folding and pressing cardboard blanks into 12-egg cartons! From around 1954.

One of the millers packaging the freshly ground rye flour into 2lb bags which apparently is hard work because the flour is so fine and light. It had the consistency of confectioners sugar.

The beautiful hewn marks on the original floorboards.

A hand painted stone done for the mill by a local.
Today the mill is operated by volunteer millers who maintain the machinery and grind the corn and wheat on Saturdays from May through November. The flour is for sale, with no preservatives added,  so I bought some buck wheat, great for pancakes, and some cornflour so I can make cornbread. They told me to keep it in the freezer where it will keep indefinitely.
I was feeling hungry and strolled over to the Locke Store, where a hoard of folks were lining up buying lunch, local produce and local wines.

The quiches looked superb so I got a slice of the tomato ricotta and a piece of cornbread made from the mill flour.

 I took my lunch back over to the mill where a pretty grassy pasture had picnic benches under the large trees. I sat and munched contentedly enjoying the beautiful views. My food was absolutely superb. I have to say that the combination of cheese, tomato and fresh basil is one of the best flavors in the world.

 A lovely collection of money trees at one of the cottages by the mill.

 This building next to the mill intrigued me. The front porch was completely filled with old furniture, mainly chairs. It wasn't a store, there were no lights inside and the entrance was completely blocked. There seemed to be no sign of life. Strange, but interesting.

 The pretty church and community garden in Millwood. There's only about 200 residents living here yet it's a thriving little village that only takes about 10 minutes to walk around. There's also a blacksmiths shop here but that was closed so I'll return another day to see that.

My bags of flour. I see pancakes for breakfast in the very near future.

Pretty Pets and Carnival Lights

I left work on Wednesday to join the Blandy camera club at the Clarke County Fair. I've never been to this show and was looking forward to it. It was a perfect day, warm but not hot with a brisk breeze blowing through. I always feel sorry for the animals in their pens and cages at these shows as usually they're so hot and uncomfortable but today, and actually most of their week, was going to be ideal weather for them.
I met with the group and we headed towards the tent where kids and their animals were dressed as a team for the main ring.

This beautiful bull was on his way by and although his owner was willing to stop, he acted like the proverbial bull in a china shop and kept pushing her to keep moving. I had to be quick to take this shot!

The guy who carves wooden animals, usually black bears, with his chainsaw was at this show and I spotted this pig, which must be a new member of his wooden family. I wasn't quite sure about whether I liked it or whether I found it a little scary....

The kids and their animals were angelic, so many wonderful unions. There were different age groups but the toddlers stole the show. Everyone wanted photos of them. The Subhay cow was a superb idea. His 'blanket' said '$5 hooflong subs'. I bet Subway would love to see this and Janice mentioned this to the owner. Most of the kids were paired with calves but one little cherub had her pet rabbit in a basket. I was very impressed that it made no effort to jump out. Some of the kid/cow pairs had me scratching my head as I couldn't work out what they were supposed to be, but after I while I gave up trying to guess and just enjoyed looking at them.

Couldn't resist taking this shot, almost as though they were in a pen themselves.

What a cute grin from this little lamb. He also enjoyed an ear rub immensely. All the animals here were very tame and most were happy to put up with attention from their human admirers. I scratched, stroked, rubbed, petted and patted many a furry friend.

This pig was enjoying a well earned snooze.

There was a section in the poultry shed where some incubators stood. some had fluffy little chicks in but one had a few dozen eggs under the lamps so folks could watch the chicks hatching. This little chick was a couple of minutes old.
When I got to the end of the animal barns I realized I'd lost the others but as I was looking around I heard that the truck pull was about to start so walked over there and sat on the bleachers. I was joined by a guy called Alan who started chatting and was also an avid photographer. He was a mine of information and proceeded to give me a list of places that he knew I would love to photograph, a safari with exotic animals, an old water mill (that sounded abandoned), an abandoned old school house, an abandoned factory, and a hidden waterfall. I guess I'll have to check all of these out at some point.

As we were chatting and watching the races, very annoyed that Ford were outdoing Chevy trucks, I spotted some of the camera club gang arrive. Janice and Chet started shooting immediately and then Bill arrived too. I said goodbye to Alan, thanking him for my future treasure hunts and jumped down from the bleachers to join my friends.

I noticed a lot of the trucks were throwing out a lot of black smoke. Another fact that Alan helped with, the owners put alcohol into the gas to create this. After watching another couple of Chevys fail to get halfway down the track we decided to leave the noise and fumes. Dusk was falling and it was time to walk over to the carnival rides.
I grabbed a quick ham sandwich while the other got ice creams, they'd eaten their dinner earlier.

Chet and Bill posing like a couple of kids, and Janice struggled to contain a huge ice cream balanced precariously on a tiny cone! But she didn't like her photo so I took it down. Have to respect a friend's wishes. I was looking forward to photographing the rides but found that my tripod had broken. It's had to do some heavy work over the past few years so I couldn't complain, it was only a travel tripod, therefore I had to make do. It will need replacing though. It's been a long time since I've photographed carnival rides and I wanted to be a bit more 'arty' than usual. I soon got engrossed and the next time I looked around I realized I'd lost the group again. But I carried on taking photos, there was so much to see. This is a pretty big fair compared to recent ones I'd visited and I was impressed with the amount of moving colored lights.

 It wasn't until I'd nearly come full circle that I looked up and checked the time. I couldn't believe that it was nearly 9:30pm. I was going to have a late night and I winced at thinking how tired I would be at work the next day. Not fun to be tired when you have to be creative in your work. I packed up my gear, let the others know I was leaving and trudged towards the car.

The drive home was beautiful. I cut across country using narrow rustic lanes, loving the sight of the huge orange super moon hanging in the sky surrounded by a soft glow. It seemed the stars were doing their best to keep up in terms of brilliance as they twinkled brightly above me. The tree frogs croaked from the trees as I drove by with my windows down, a lovely cool breeze smelling of grass and fields wafting in. Even thought I was exhausted it had been a superb evening.

Scrumptious Ciders at Millstone Cellars

On Saturday a small group of us went for a visit to Monkton, MD to check out Millstone Cellars, a company that makes their own cider. I'm not a huge lover of ciders, I usually end up with a headache but after looking at their website and being very intrigued with the names I was looking forward to it.

The building sat alone and had once been a grist mill. The water wheel has long gone but the building itself has been lovingly restored and is the perfect home now for plenty of barrels, kegs and bottles brimming with ciders, meads and experimental concoctions.

We were taken on a tour and I was impressed with the care taken over the cider preparation. Everything was spotlessly clean and all containers well labeled. Some of the ciders on the website weren't available today but we could see that there would be more in the future. I particularly liked the look of the Bonfire cider. Wouldn't mind getting a bottle of that in DC on my next visit. They don't ship their products but there are stores in DC and Maryland that sell them, but none in Virginia unfortunately.

Lots of little experiments were evident about the floors, some of which were calling my name, especially the lemon grass, second from the left.

We were shown the bar area where hand carved tables filled an open floor, and a deck held another table in the process of being made. It was very welcoming and I was licking my lips in anticipation of our tasting. Elizabeth and Richard above pretending that they could lift this cast iron piano part. I think Richard actually did try...

And then we went downstairs to begin business. Our hostess was very friendly and especially accommodating when she told us that because we were a 'special group' she was going to let us taste all the ciders, apparently not the treatment that everyone gets. We were most pleased and pulled our stools up close to the bar, hanging on to her every word. We tasted Farmgate, a very applely cider, Hopvine, which had an IPA kind of taste and Rhuberry, a combination of strawberries and rhubarb with apples which was a sweeter cider. Then the Gingeroot, a firm favorite with me, and Spruced, aged on spruce boughs, with an interesting flavor. Springhouse, which according to Elizabeth, tasted of fancy bath soap, but I loved its flowery flavor with a hint of lavender. And then lastly we tried Thistle, a mead fermented with belgian ale yeast. I was sure I'd love this one but although nice it wasn't at the top of my list. Some of us knew right away which bottles we'd want to take home but others wanted to think about it, so it was a perfect excuse to go back up to the bar and have a glass or two while we sat and pondered on what our purchases would be.

My glass of Farmgate, looking very enticing bathed in sunlight.

We had a grand ole time as we sat at one of the tables but when we needed a refill nobody heard the bell we rang so we poured ourselves another glass. Another couple came upstairs so Richard kindly poured them a glass each too. After a while hunger was getting the better of us so we decided to go into the village to a place we'd spotted on the way here. Millstone doesn't offer food but does have some tasty snacks for sale and they are more than happy for folks to bring in their own picnic to eat while drinking their ciders.

Elizabeth wrote some words for Richard on the blackboard in the corner.

We went downstairs and paid for our additional drinks and settled up bills for our bottles. Between us we spent over $500! I loved the different colored waxes used to seal in the precious liquids. Millstone also offers refunds on their bottles.

 After loading up the cars we drove down the road to the Monkton Grille, a small cafe which seemed popular. And the reason became obvious. I had the best grilled cheese sandwich ever with apple slices, melted brie and bacon smoked by the cafe themselves. It was delectably tasty.

The cafe has also just opened an ice cream so we felt obliged to try that also. I had a superb concoction of chocolate and peanut butter ice creams with hot fudge sauce topped with nutter butters. I had no idea what these were, I just liked the name but there were a lovely added crunch to my desert.
At Millstone Cellars I had originally intended to buy some Stilton cheese and French bread on the way home to munch on the patio with a bottle of my cider. Alone, with no guests invited that I would have to share with. But after our huge lunch I realized that wasn't going to happen so I had to regretfully stash my bottles up on the shelf when I got home and wait for another day. It will come soon, I know it!