Gristmill

Gristmill. . Traditionally farmers used stone wheels turned by water, wind, animals, or man power to mill "grist" (dry, cleaned grain) into flour. In the South, corn was the basic source of daily bread, grits, and animal feed. Here, the milling machine is powered by a belt drive from the tractor., Dent corn , Flint and dent corn are typically ground. Flint, or Indian corn has a hard outer shell, said to be hard as flint. Dent corn, so-called for the divot on the end of the kernel, is the corn of choice for milling., Flint Corn , Native Americans ground Flint corn long before Europeans arrived. Early American cookbooks referred to cornmeal as "Indian meal." Colors can be bright and varied., A canvas belt connects the modified tractor gear to the grinding mechanism., Cornmeal is used to make many forms of corn "bread" like skillet cornbread, Johnny cakes, corn pone, and hoe cake. Grits, a traditional creamy porridge, are made from boiled ground corn., The buhr pattern on both wheels cuts the grain-like scissors and pushes it to the edges to be graded and bagged., Dried corn is shelled off the cob prior to grinding scales like these were used to weigh both whole and ground corn., Dried corn stored well over the winter. Farmers used it for basic food, high energy feed for livestock, like laying hens, milk cows, and working mules as well as trade.