Mesquite Bean Milling Event

Saturday, October 31st, 9AM – 4 PM

Bring your buckets of beans for grinding to flour!

*NOTE LOCATION*: ROADRUNNER PARK

3502 E Cactus Road, Phoenix, AZ 85073

Cash or Check only please! $5/5 gallon bucket

It’s Milling Time!

Our Annual Milling Event is coming up this week on Halloween (Saturday, October 31^st, 2009) at RoadRunner Park.  While you’re there, be sure to check out the Slow Food Phoenix booth as they celebrate this year’s harvest with us again!

*ATTENTION!* Those of you who have large amount of beans (four 5-gallon buckets or more) – in millings past we have had to limit the amount of beans milled per person due to the popularity of this event.  We are bringing in the mill on the 30^th (Friday) prior to the main milling event to give you a chance to get those big orders out of the way.  Please see details at the bottom of this page for more details ~ Thanks!

What to Expect on Milling Day

The beans will be milled in the order received, please be prepared to wait awhile and plan to shop the market (open until 11am).  There are park facilities for children to play while your beans are milled, but do provide supervision.

When you bring the beans for milling:

1. All beans milled are for home use.

2. We will do a snap test. The bean needs to snap in half with a crack rather than bend. Any beans that bend cannot be milled as they can jam the mill and that slows everything down.

3. We may limit people to three 5-gallon pails of beans, mainly if the turnout for the milling is so great that we might have a hard time getting everyone through. We will do this as a starting point to make sure that everyone gets a chance to mill. Then toward the end of the day or in the case of gaps in the line we will allow others to mill their extra beans. Typically carob beans are milled at the end of the day.

4. You are encouraged to bring at least one 5-gallon pail as it will grind down to about 1 gallon of flour (approx. 2 lbs).

5. To support this process (the cost of renting the mill is about $400) there will be a minimum $5 charge (donate more if you like) per 5 gallon bucket of beans.

Milling Yield and other specifics

A 5 gallon bucket of beans = 1 gallon flour = about 2 lbs. In the store, one pound of mesquite flour sells for $7 – $15. There will be a charge of $5 per 5 gallons of beans for milling. This goes to pay for the mill and mill operators plus hauling the mill from Tucson. Flour should be frozen to preserve until use. Carob milling also will be possible at end of day.

For those Extra Large Orders of Beans…

We will be trying something new this year, bringing up the mill for an extra day, Friday before the main event.  If you have four or more 5 gallon buckets, please take advantage of this special offer so that we can make sure all the beans are ground!  Don’t forget to bring a storage container for the flour once ground.

Friday, October 30th, Noon – 4 PM

Please call 602-361-4578 to make arrangements to drop off the beans ahead of time if you cannot make it in person to the event.

*NOTE LOCATION*: PRIVATE RESIDENCE

6735 N 11^th Street, Phoenix AZ 85014

Cash or Check only please! $5/5 gallon bucket

Volunteers Needed

We will need volunteers to help run the Mill Oct 30th and 31st.  You will receive special training in how the Hammermill operates on location.  For more information, please contact mothernature@phoenixpermaculture.net