Saybian Morgan wrote:But that's really the issue, are you self honest enough to know your threshold when the juice of doing it yourself wear's off and you realize this is just hard bloody work and I your either still into it or you start to find loopholes to retire things to the backshelf and eventually to the dark alley's of craigslist. There's so much work involved that has nothing to do with your willingness to crank a handle, by the time you actualy have to crank the handle your at an 8 hour day. I've worked 16 hour days most of my life, and I can tell you i'm threw by the time the sausage is stuffed that I can't bother to twist it till the next morning.
I'm working on a blog post about exactly this - trying to come to grips with modern appliances while moving along the path to a more sustainable life. A friend of mine grilled me the other day about using a food processor and dishwasher at times: "I thought you were supposed to be so homesteady and sustainable?"
Where I am right now, and this may change, is we have to do the best we can manage. For me, if using the food processor means more veggies find their way into our meals because I don't have to spend a half hour chopping and prepping, then I'm on board! The same holds true for a grain mill. If having to hand-crank it will keep you from using it, be realistic and get a powered version.
I love the idea of having a mill be able to be hand-cranked, but also to have a motor hooked up to it. That way, we don't have a useless hunk of plastic if the power ever goes out, but still have the convenience of using power when we want to.
