RESOURCES: Processing The word processed is synonymous today with poor quality massproduced foods with suspicious ingredients, and yet, the idea of simple processing of food to make it more digestible, tasty, or more easily used in cooking is very old. Here we have been trying out the ideas of human scale processing using pedal power - which is a much more entertaining way of going about it than simply pressing a switch! The Mill Bike was designed by Fergus Walker, the Smoothie Bike by Uula Jero.
The Mill Bike Written by Fergus Walker
The mill bike is the essence of the traditional wind or watermill, but powered by bicycle – this is technology at its most small and beautiful. While pedalling your own flour or oatmeal, and looking inside to see the inner workings, you can ponder three important things: how to keep fit and save our planet by joining the Food Gym, how to reap the health benefits of the freshest flour and homemade bread instead of eating dubious factory ware, and how to build resilience and boost the local economy with small-scale artisan production.
The Food Gym
Why do we have the situation where we spend all day at our desks in the office, then have to go the gym to get fit, using up electricity to power the gym equipment? Why couldn’t we do something meaningful with all that energy – such as being able to see the fruits of our efforts manifested as tasty, healthy food? Will the entrepreneurs and designers please come forward?
Fresh flour = tasty and good for you
In Austria, many people have small electric grain mills in their kitchens, and hospitals mill fresh flour daily to bake bread for patients – as the nutritional benefits of fresh flour are greatly valued. Research has shown that as soon as the wheat grain is cracked and exposed to the air, the most vital nutrients start to break down – some within hours of milling.
Human scale technology
In France, within a generation, several
wheat farmers have gone from being mere suppliers of grain to large buyers, to being entrepreneurial paysan boulangers, or farmerbakers. These farmer bakers grow heritage varieties of wheat, mill the grain into flour, and bake loaves that they sell at farmers markets. There is now a farmer miller in East Lothian – Wheatrig Flour, and a miller-baker at Blair Atholl Watermill. So we are just one step away from having farmer-bakers too!
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I can’t myself raise the winds that might blow us or this ship into a better world. But I can at least put up the sail so that when the winds comes, I can catch it - E.F. Schumacher
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Buy your bread from an artisan baker and join the Real Bread Campaign. Factory made bread (as in bagged sliced bread) is not really food, and if you buy from small independent businesses you can support the local economy. Bake your own bread and source your flour from an independent mill. If you source organic, stoneground flour, you can be certain that nothing good has been removed, and nothing weird has been added(See links below for where to go). Your school (or your child’s school) could also take part in the Bake your Lawn Challenge. Why not club together with some friends and start your own community milling operation? You can get an Austrian made electric mill quite readily (see links below) – and you could buy wheat from a local farmer for a very reasonable price. If you are super keen, and are handy with a hacksaw, why not try going off to your garden shed and building your own bicycle machine? In fact, while you’re at it, why not start your own food gym? Or you could start up a small commercial milling and baking venture (we already have some Fife Diet members who have started bakeries, such as Bread in Fife and the Doorstep bakery)
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BREAD AND FLOUR: If you are in the Fife Diet, use our map to find artisan bread. For UK bread and flour sources use the Real Bread Finder. We recommend Gilchester’s Organics in Northumberland, the Blair Atholl Watermill, Golspie Mill and Wheatrig Flour (East Lothian) MILLS: Fancy being a Dusty Miller yourself? Try UK Juicers or if you are more ambitious, or Getreidemuehlen (Austria) REAL BREAD Real Bread Campaign SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY The Brockwell Bake Association – a really fun project in London who have made bread from scratch with school groups – from growing wheat, harvesting, threshing, winnowing, grinding, baking and feasting! More about the Mill Bike at www. ferguswalker.com
There is really not much difference in technology between the Mill Bike and the 400 year old Blair Atholl Mill. A proven technology.
Find out more about the Seed Truck: www.fifediet.co.uk/seedtruck
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