With the extra load from the working elevator, we’re noticing we need more power, and therefore, more water. The amount of water is governed by the sliding gates in the weir at the dam, added to any overflow (which diminishes as the water below it is consumed during the day); the height of the sluice gate and the opening in the wooden launder directly over the water-wheel. All these were arrived at by pure guesswork, and we’re only now noticing limitations.

I can easily make more slides in the weir. Only two of the five sections have slides built in. I can easily add an extension to the height of the sluice. On the Sunday of the second Open Gardens weekends, we ran as close to the sluice overflowing as we ever have.

There was an order from Zest Catering for 18kg of meal for each of the forthcoming Open Gardens Weekends, so I decided to do both batches together. I have been looking for an opportunity to put bigger volumes of grain through the elevator.

But first, there was a surprise! The rotary sieve bought at least a year ago from Joos Solms in Champagne Valley, Natal had arrived! We heard about the availability of the machine through Joos’ involvement in the Reichenau Mill project.

With Open Gardens weekends at the end of the month, I wanted to make sure the Elevator was working properly for the occasion. While I thought before that we’d only use the elevator on special occasions, it’s working so well that I think we’ll use it all the time! One of the concerns was that rodents might be a problem, but natural controls seem to have cured that problem completely. There are often grains lying on the floor from week to week from the experiments with the elevator, and nothing seems to be touched!

So I brought a long list of chores and materials which I tackled before even thinking of starting up the Mill. There was a cover to make for the inspection hole in the descending chute at the top, a hand-rail to get ready to put up over the water wheel and I had made up a shallow tray for sliding in under the elevator base for catching grains if it does have to be cleaned out.

Looking at the date, I notice we’re now exactly four years into the restoration of the Mill! 

During the week following the visit to Kleinplasie, I asked around for perforated plate to use in the upper and lower levels of the grain cleaner. We didn’t have measuring equipment with us whenn we examined the S Howes machine there and we didn’t think at the time to make a ‘rubbing’ on a piece of paper to pick up the size and the pitch of the holes to measure later. For the lower screen it doesn’t really matter, so long as the holes are smaller than the grains, yet big enough to let small stones and any dust through. I was given an offcut sheet which looked promising, yet when I tested some of the Organic grain from Wensleydale Farms, a lot of the grains went straight through and some stuck in the holes.

Friday 24^th September was Heritage Day. What better way of celebrating it than milling with a 200-year-old Water Mill?

 The next day, I had arranged with Tinkie Conradie, a friend and fellow Tractor & Engine Club member to visit Kleinplasie Open Air Museum in Worcester, particularly to have a good look at the Roller Mill there. Tinkie was involved in dismantling it in Sakrivier, midway between Calvinia and Brandvlei in the Northern Cape, and installing it where it is. Unfortunately it is positioned in an area seldom open to the public, so despite a huge effort and expense to move it and with SASKO’s help to restore its internals, it was from the beginning, a bit of a white elephant.

We were all holding thumbs for the weather for Saturday, 28^th August; a large group of Press and special customers had been invited for the launch of a new wine blend, aptly named ‘Vitruvian’. 

The date on the farm gate says 1695. It’s believed the Mill was built in 1721, but James Walton reported in 1974 that the water wheel and machinery had recently been brought from the farm Matjies Rivier in Ceres by Dr & Mrs Anton Rupert. 

My first surprise in arriving at the Mill was that the flap covering the hole for the meal-spout was hanging open. Had it been opened by rats?

It’s been a long time since I dressed the stones; chores at home and an expedition to dismantle Phoenix Roller Mills in Grahamstown, in such a way that it can be reassembled, have got in the way. Eventually, Womens’ Day offered an opportunity to get back.

I had popped in to lower the runner loosely into place in the meantime, because I needed the chain-blocks in Grahamstown. I found the farm staff had kindly done a wonderful job of cleaning up all the fine stone dust which covered absolutely everything!