The Country Living Grain Mill
 Letters from Country Living Customers 

  Country Living Products
14727 56th Ave. NW
Stanwood, WA 98292
360-652-0671
or contact us via Email
 

Maureen Ash June 26th, 2007

Dear Mr. Jenkins, 

We purchased the mill quite a long time ago, late 80s or early 90s, and I have used it on and off since then, but never so much as I have in the past couple of years...

To see photos and read the rest click here



June 11, 2003

Dear Mr. Jenkins,

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the little plastic bag with the sample of flour ground in my Country Living Mill before your factory shipped it out to me. The flour was so incredibly FINE....just like commercially ground flour! I love to bake and it thrills me that now I can even grind cake flour as well as bread flours because I have a Country Living Mill.

Indeed, I had purchased a grain mill, advertised as their best, from another website which described their mill as "...adjusts from powder-fine to coarse with a turn of a knob....". Not true. Gritty sand is what you get. The cast iron burrs grind 20% less fine than stone burrs- and I had the cast iron burrs.

I ran Montana red wheat through the mill two...EVEN THREE TIMES, and it STAYED GRITTY. I was pooped and all I had to show was one and three-quarter cups of wheat flour plus one cup of cornmeal, also very gritty. So I packed the mill up and returned it via UPS at Mailbox Etcetera the very next morning.

I baked Yankee Cornbread from The Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book using what I had. It tasted delicious even though it was very crunchy. I was sold on fresh ground grains, but unhappy about the coarse texture I thought any hand grinder produced... even with the burrs set as tight. What can you believe when you have been mislead by false claims and don’t know any better?  

I went back on the web and saw the Grinder Comparison Chart at Waltonfeed.com. They compared Country Living Mill, Silver Nugget, Little Ark Grinder, Back to Basics, Family Grain Mill, Corona or Victoria and the Diamant.

Country Living Mill and Diamant were rated easiest to handle but the Diamant is way overpriced. And further research on the web told me Diamant is not as well made as CLM. Forget the rest, they are junk as you will learn if you read the chart- except for Family Grain Mill but FGM is constructed of plastic and plywood, so although it performed well it was not highly rated.

I checked out the Country Living Mill website and ordered my mill from Dee An at Pleasant Hill. I sure am glad I didn’t give up. Country Living Mill works like a charm.

I am 74 years old but with the handle extension, I can grind grain comfortably. Not fast, but I am not strained as I was with the other hand mill which was so highly praised but left me with my scalp damp and my legs wobbly after grinding less than half as much as I ground on my Country Living Mill..

I ground 4 cups of wheat and 2 cups of corn flour on my Country Living Mill and it all was fine as silk THE FIRST TIME AROUND. No sweat. My mill is set up permanently as I intend to grind all my flours now. The taste is wonderful, sweet and fresh... store bought cannot begin to compare.

Thank you Mr. Jenkins for the quality and beauty and outstanding performance of your grain mill. It is never too late to learn better ways of doing things, but you must have the best equipment and Country Living Mill IS THE BEST.

Warmest personal regards,

Mary N.
DesPlaines, Illinois
via email

8/28/96

Dear Folks at Country Living,

We love our mill!! and use it almost daily. Your mill is so much nicer than the Corona. So much easier to use.

Thank you much,

Sincerely,

Tess Wagner

 
May 14, 2004

Joel:

WOW!  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

The mill was received right before our school May Faire, then opened a couple days later (May Faire is very, very busy).  The teachers were shocked at how lovely the mill is, and the children-- well the first day the mill was unveiled the children ground every piece of grain available on the premises!  The children (including my daughter, a fussy 5 year old) love the mill.  We will be taking pictures and sending you copies of these!

Cheers,

Leann

Eugene Waldorf School
Rose Kindergarten Parent Coordinator
via email

 

British Columbia, Canada
May 7, 2003

Your mill has saved me from purgatory!  I have a wheat allergy and the Country Living mill allows me to grind wheat alternatives, which aren't readily available in flour form.  

Thank you,

Tracy Williams

 
Dear Jack, Mr. Jenkins, or Country Living:

We read about a lot of grain mills and I kept coming back to yours. I know it cost a little more but, we feel that you put a lot of tender loving care into your grain mill. We also like the fact that it was made in the U.S.A., it is very difficult to find American Made Products and we find that a very sad commentary. Thanks again for making it possible to support this country's people.

Sincerely,

Dorothy Goda

Mount Joy, PA

Dear Jack, 

We are delighted with how easy the mill is to operate and how great it produces. We are using it and we love it. With a twist of the knob it is set from fine to medium to etc, coarse or ground. It does not lose the setting or need continual re-adjustment. A GREAT MACHINE!

Florence

Dear Country Living:

I recently attended a consumer show where I tested half a dozen other hand grain mills. The Country Living grain mill was easier to turn and had the most consistent grind of all the other mills. Some of the other mills were so hard to turn, you would have to be desperate to use them! Thank you for a quality product.

Sincerely,
Mindy Gordon

Camp Wood, TX
Dec 26, 1995

Gentlemen:

It is indeed a pleasure to receive a piece of equipment which is so well designed and built that it will last for years! Now days that does not seem to be the aim, as it was in earlier years of our country.

Thank you so much,
Respectfully
Ernie R. Mills

 

Sept. 20, 2005

 

Dear Mr. Jenkins,

I would like you to know that I am completely satsified with my Country Living Grain Mill.  I have used it at least once a week for nearly ten years now, and it shows only the slightest bit of wear (some paint has chipped off where my ceramic flour bin has rubbed against the mill).  

I use it mostly grind wheat and rye, and occasionally oats and barley.  It works as well as the day I purchased it.  There are few items I own of which I can make such a claim!

Thank you for providing such a great product.

 

Very truly yours, 
Aaron Falbel

 
April 21, 2004

Dear Mr. Jenkins:

I first want to thank you for the use of your grain mills.  They have been a wonderful addition to our educational display.  Both adults and children have enjoyed using them and are fascinated by how they work.

Again, thank you so much for your generosity.

Sincerely,

Jan Knight
National Coordinator
Canadian Grain Commission
Education in Agriculture
via email

 
April 28, 2004

Dear Mr. Jenkins:

Well, after a year or two of owning the Country Living Mill we can say that we love it and the flour it produces.  Our motorized adapter (illustrated on your motorized page) is still working fine.  We are making the freshest best-tasting breads and moistest cornbreads we have ever eaten.  What a wonderful, old world quality machine to own.

Robert Dee & Nancy Merritt
via email

 

 
Dear Sir:

     ...I'd like to take this opportunity to comment on the Country Living Grain Mill. One rarely sees a product of such superior quality in all respects.

     I have found the mill to be of the highest quality construction, design, ease of use, and, in addition, is aesthetically very pleasing. I know there are other mills on the market and even some knock-off products, but I feel anyone purchasing a mill that plans to rely on it for any reason should not hesitate to select the Country Living Grain Mill. Your grain mill is like a radial tire. You may have to pay a little more for it up front but you won't have to replace it or have any aggravation for a long, long, long time.

    I rarely see craftsmanship like your mill in other products I buy today.

Dr. James Wirth
Redding, CA

 


March 2, 2005

I bought a Family Grain Mill first, because I liked the name, the "easy-turning" and it was cheap.  It turns very easily, yes, but the flour is very coarse.  It makes good bread, but you cannot make cookies or pie crust out of it.  The brownies I made fell all apart, and pie crust was impossible.  I had to send it back, and paid $30 shipping both ways to find out the hard way that "fine flour" is the coarsest kind of flour, just like "large" is the smallest size of clothes dryer sold.  If you want a large dryer, you have to buy a "super-capacity", and if you want fine flour, you have to search the description for modifiers like "powder-fine flour".  If I ran the flour through twice or three times, it would start to turn into what I would describe as fine flour, but meanwhile you've spent half an hour to produce two cups.  Not good.  So that went back. 

Then Lehmans had their Christmas sale with the Our Best mill and burrs together for less than the price the mill usually is, so I bought one.  Drawbacks I noticed right away-- the design of the clamp is so deep that you need at least a 2" lip on your counter or it won't fit.  And the grain hopper is a huge plastic thing that just rests in its receptacle-- one bump of an elbow and you've got five cups of wheat all over the floor!  Then I cranked the handle.  Around two times and I knew I had another mistake on my hands.  It's nothing a Clydesdale couldn't handle!  It's like, *heave*, up one side, *grunt* down the other, *hurg* up this side again, *haul* down the other.  

I did some experimentation, and discovered that with the stone burrs and the right setting, I could produce what it was fair to say was "fine flour", with only as much effort as the average aerobic workout or shoveling of snow.  I'd be in a sweat after five minutes, and take five minutes to rest; go again another five, and just think about what fine arm muscles I was building, and upper-body strength's a thing most women need more of, isn't it?   After only forty-five minutes, I'd have five or six cups of flour for bread-- if the kids hadn't distracted me before that time.  Forty-five minutes is rather long for Mother to be off the scene, and there's no way any of the kids could do the cranking, like they could with the Family Grain Mill.  

They tried, because they like the machine and want to crank it, but they just couldn't do it.  I have three year old twin boys, and if one of them tried to crank, he could hang his entire weight on that handle and it would go down slowly, but he certainly couldn't get it back up the other side.  So I had to watch their disappointment as well as my own!  Another thing-- the stone burrs were still shedding little rocks even after I'd put multiple batches of flour through the machine.  My husband had just had a broken tooth, so he wasn't in the mood for little rocks in his bread, and he insisted I use the iron burrs or not use that flour.  But with iron burrs, you've got way more effort for way rougher flour.  Ack!  So there it sits on the counter, another expensive mistake, making me feel stupid and wasteful.  I thought of trying to live with it, but in my heart I knew it was completely useless in any practical sense, and I hated the sight of it! 

I read every review of the Country Living Mill that I found on the internet and heard nothing but good things, so I ordered one.  It's a bit much money for me, especially after I'd wasted $60 on the two-way shipping of the previous two mistakes!  But I want a hand mill, I've wanted one for a long time.  I told my long-suffering husband that I promised to be happy with this one, and it would definitely be the last mill and I would keep it.  When it arrived I was almost afraid to set it up.  It took me five minutes to hate each of the others.  But happy day, halloo, hallay, I set it up and it was perfect!  

With the plates as tight as they arrived, the flour was as soft and fine as baby powder.  I couldn't believe it.  I loosened them a partial turn, and still the flour was extremely fine and soft, much softer than Lehman's stone burrs, and with the power bar on, it was extremely easy to turn.  One of the three-year-olds climbed up on a chair and started cranking, and he was able to do it.  And for me, it was EXTREMELY easy.  That handle is so BIG and easy to grab!  Easy to get two hands on if you want to, though it's not needed.  You don't have to grip the handle hard, which is easier on my wrists.  I can push it around by holding the handle very lightly.  It isn't really effort, only motion. 

To test the speeds I'd be reading about on the net, I started cranking in a comfortable but steady fashion with one eye on the clock, and got three cups in six minutes, beautiful fine flour too.  This means to make six cups for my usual bread recipe, I'll have to stand there for twelve minutes.  That is SO doable. 

My daughter stood there flipping through a catalog with one hand, cranking with the other, and pretty soon we made cookies out of the flour.  When we came in from outdoors and I paused to clean up the shoes-taking-off area, I said, "Go crank some flour!" and by the time I came to the kitchen, there was enough for the waffles.  This is COOL.  I made bread and muffins, then needed more flour for putting in the casserole so I hopped over there and turned for 1.5 minutes-- fresh flour. 

There are two unexpected surprises with having this mill clamped to my counter.  #1, that hopper on top is raised from the counter and steady, so I've started setting my spiral book with my recipes and shopping list on top of it, which keeps that up at a handy level for reading and writing, and out of the way of the stuff on the counter.  The spiral book's found a home there and is safe from being spilled on or mislaid, and that doesn't interfere with grinding at all.  This mill is SO steady and does not wiggle and vibrate like the previous one.  #2, that mill is like a visitor-magnet.  People who wander into the kitchen usually end up leaning against the counter being in the way and useless.  But they can't resist the lure and uniqueness of the hand mill, and end up cranking the handle instead, making admiring exclamations and making flour for me.  So I get a lot of flour I didn't crank, and the idle hands are doing something useful and staying out of the cookie dough. 

So I am happy.  I LIKE this thing.  It's a beautiful mill, country-looking and old-fashioned, yet sturdy and streamlined at the same time.  Fine flour.  Easy to turn.  Gets the job done quick.  I'd say it's worth the money I spent for it AND the money I spent on the shipping of the other two purchasing disasters-- because in the end, I have a really superior product that is perfect in every way I can think of, that I'm completely satisfied with! 

 -Janel
Washington State

 

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