Desert Harvesters: Appreciating the Native Foods of the Southwest

• Put all loose items from trailer into back of truck, making sure they are all secure.

• Use hand dolly hitch to move trailer closer to hitch if needed

• Make sure hitch lock is open, then lift trailer onto a 2-inch ball hitch. Lock the hitch lock onto the ball hitch, and secure it in place with cotter pin.

• Hook up trailer tail lights to tail light jack on truck.

• Hook trailer chains to truck, making sure the chains cross each other under the hitch (this way the trailer won’t be lost if the hitch fails).

• Walk around trailer to inspect if all is road worthy.

- All stabilizing jacks are up and locked securely in place with cotter pins all the way in.

- All ammo box lids are securely locked in place

- Trailer hitch is securely attached to truck’s 2-inch ball hitch

• At milling site, place the mill so the garbage can collecting flour and the flour dust bag are downwind of the mill. The garbage can collecting the flour is usually set upon the wheel well and the small ammo box on the fan side of the mill.

• Place them 10 feet from the mill to keep the public away from the mill when in operation

• Set up the black steel support bar on the fan side of the mill, then place “triangle” black steel support bars atop it. Tighten bolts to secure all in place. The ductwork will hang on this.

• Set up ductwork so exhaust duct and flour bag will be on the downwind side of mill so the motor and mill won’t be covered in mesquite dust. Usually they are directed to the fan-side of the mill. See image

• Do not put cloth bag on the end of the blower vat yet

• Turn motor’s electric switch OFF, turn fuel valve lever OFF, and put throttle lever in OFF position, then open mill and inspect to insure all is clean and free of debris – vacuum if needed

• Insert screen into milling chamber (beneath blades)

• Close milling chamber and tighten lid with wing nut

• Make sure the area around the mill, motor, and belts is clear

• Move gas throttle lever to half of full throttle

• Pullstart the motor – be careful you don’t hit duct work when pull starting motor

• Move gas lever to yellow spot (ideal 3800 rpm for operating the mill), no further

• Listen to the motor, all should sound smooth and even (belts should not be hitting the belt guard, if they are shut the motor off and adjust the belts). There is a bolt on the grey base plate below the motor, facing the hitch side of the trailer. This bolt can be loosened or tightened to adjust belt tension.

• Let fan blow out any missed debris from the mill and ductwork

• When all is good, shut the motor off, and turn throttle lever off

• After testing the motor, tightly attach the narrow end of the cloth funnel “bag” to the bottom of the blower vat.

• Place the Brute garbage can below the funnel bag. Then put one flap of the bag’s skirt on the inside of the can, and put the other flap of the skirt on the outside of the garbage can. Bungee the outer skirt tightly against the can. The garbage can will collect the flour.

• Put on safety glasses and ear protection – must be worn by anyone working the mill and feeding pods into the mill

• The choke may need to be open full, half open, or closed depending on how warm the engine is. If cold the choke will likely be needed.

• Only run the pods of one person through the mill at a time, then empty the ground flour from the cloth bag before running the next person’s pods through the mill. This ensures everyone fairly reaps the product of their harvest.

• Inspect pods to be ground – place inspected pods in Desert Harvesters’ buckets.

• Reject any pods that are not dry enough that they snap in two when you try to bend them. Folks can lay moist pods out on a tarp or hood of a car in the full sun to dry out.

• Reject any pods that come with dirt, rocks, or any other debris, which could contaminate flour or damage the mill or its screen.

• Reject any pods with black mold.

• Collect milling donation if a Desert Harvesters event. If we are milling for a host organization ask if they want milling donations collected and, if so, how much. For Desert Harvesters events the fee is $2/gallon of pods, with a minimum charge of $5.

• Slowly feed whole mesquite pods into the mill. ONLY DESERT HARVESTERS STAFF MAY FEED PODS INTO THE MILL – PROTECTIVE EYE- AND EARWEAR MUST BE WORN.

• Listen to the motor, when it sounds as though it is straining you must stop feeding pods into the mill until the mill can grind what is in the mill box, or stop the motor/mill and clean out the chaff from the milling chamber.

• Look to the exhaust duct. If a lot of mesquite dust is coming out – there are still pieces of pods in the milling chamber being ground into flour. If there is little to no dust coming out, the mill has ground the pods and chaff is all that should remain in the milling chamber

• Typically, 5 gallons of whole pods are milled before having to shut off the mill and vacuum out the chaff.

• Turn electric switch on motor to OFF, turn fuel lever to OFF, and turn throttle level OFF

• Loosen the wing nuts on the milling chamber lid and open the lid

• Make sure no chaff falls into the chamber beneath the screen or this will blow into the flour bag. Fill the gap between screen and mill box with towel.

• If cleaning out chaff by hand, wedge a folded towel into the opening between the screen and mill box, then scoop out the chaff by hand into a bag or bucket. THE ELECTRIC SWITCH ON THE MOTOR MUST BE OFF, THE FUEL VALVE LEVER MUST BE OFF, AND THE THROTTLE LEVER MUST BE OFF OR YOU COULD LOOSE YOUR HAND!

• If cleaning out chaff with the wet/dry vacuum just suck up the chaff with the vacuum, making sure you don’t allow chaff to fall into the chamber beneath the screen. THE SWITCH ON THE MOTOR MUST BE OFF, AND THE THROTTLE LEVER MUST BE OFF OR YOU COULD LOOSE YOUR HAND!

• Once the milling chamber is relatively clear of chaff, close the chamber lid and tighten down the wing nut. You are then ready to fire up the motor again and run more pods through.

• NOTE: mesquite chaff can be used to make mesquite beer, non-alcoholic drinks, boiled down with water to make mesquite syrup, or used as livestock fodder.

• The motor’s electric switch must be OFF, the fuel valve lever must be OFF, and the throttle lever must be OFF

• Take the bungee cord off the garbage can. Put all of the funnel bag skirt into the garbage can and shake the remain flour into the garbage can

• Then empty the garbage can into a clean bucket or two

• Participants can then empty the bucket’s contents into containers they have brought

• Reattach the bag to the vat with the bungee cord, and you are ready to go again once the chaff has been vacuumed out of the mill.

• When all milling is done make sure the motor’s electric switch is OFF, the fuel valve lever is OFF, and the throttle lever is OFF

• Take the mill ductwork apart.

• Knock accumulated flour out of ducts into a bucket – this will be very fine pastry flour – prime stuff to be saved. There is also pastry flour in the largest cloth bag at the end of the ductwork assembly. This pastry flour is the property of those who operated the hammermill.

• If an air compressor and high pressure air blower is at hand – blow out the ducts and mill, otherwise vacuum them out.

• Remove the screen from the milling chamber and clean out the chamber. And make sure to clean the screen tracks once screen is removed.

• Fully empty out the cloth bags, and vacuum or blow them clean

• When all vacuuming is done, empty the vacuum of all chaff

• Disconnect mill from truck.

• Move mill into dry storage place with hand dolly hitch and secure with stabilizing jack at hitch side of trailer.

• Put all mill items from truck into back of trailer

• Cover trailer with canvas tarp to ensure nothing gets wet

• Get milling/sales/donation money to Brad or Megan.

• Wipe down all parts with warm water (NO SOAP) to remove accumulated mesquite flour and residue. Set cleaned parts out to dry immediately so nothing rusts

• Cloth filter bag and cloth funnel bag should both be banged out then washed in washing machine with COLD water and a mild no scent detergent, such as Oasis laundry detergent. Hot water would shrink the bags.

• Make sure bag is completely dry before putting away from storage. Otherwise mold could result.

LIST OF ITEMS TO BE WITH HAMMERMILL SET UP AT ALL TIMES

• minimum three pairs of protective ear- and eyewear, plus dust masks