Only the timeless endures – My Salzburg Grain Mill

Friday, 27.8.2021 Morning

I’m about to grind buckwheat and she stops, first time in 40 years!

I am stunned, actually find the reserve fuse, but it immediately stops again. Suddenly I realize how naturally I have used it every day and how much I need it and how long it has been doing its job unconditionally.

I unscrew it, lovingly clean it, and wonder if this company even exists anymore……

In this short time span, these 40 years together are passing as if in fast motion:

I got the grain mill as a young student in Innsbruck from my mother and would have been much happier about another gift at the time. I actually didn’t really know why I would bake bread or use whole wheat flour. She lived in a cupboard, because the kitchen was too small to give her a permanent place. At all holy times it was brought out only to be forgotten again.

Then my kids grew up with her.

Memories of my little daughter insisting on lapping up a freshly ground spoonful of flour every day and standing on an armchair always pouring the cereal are unforgettable.

This mill has experienced many ups and downs with me, many relocations, even faraway countries, often packed in boxes it had to wait months to be fed with grains again.

The older I got, the more appreciation I had for it and it always held a special place in the kitchen, ready to go at any time and used almost daily.

When my daughter starts her own household, I know exactly what gift I’m going to get her for her housewarming………..

Although I now have to do without my grain mill for a while, the joy prevails and that should be expressed here at the end:

YES, this company still exists and YES, even after 40 years a repair is carried out, although it would actually belong as an oldtimer in the company museum as a showpiece magnificent specimen.

A very touching telephone conversation with the management and sister of the company founder, who has unfortunately died in the meantime, revealed that this mill must have been one of the first that my mother bought in Hallein in the early 1980s.

With heartfelt thanks and best regards from southern Styria

Martina Emig