Art Imitating Life?

Here's where I spent a chilly Thursday afternoon recently, interviewing the resident miller for an upcoming article for edibleBOSTON. The issue comes out in early December.

There is real milling going on here, despite the theme-park atmosphere (a veritable "New England World") and the miller is a treasure-trove of historical information, not to mention a regular jokster. During my 2-hour-long interview with him, he verbally pounced on an unsuspecting duo of tourists, one from Brazil, the other from Israel, with whom he teased and joked and then tested their flour-milling knowledge; but all in good fun. And they were extremely good-natured about it and went away feeling they had had a unique travel experience, having encountered an eccentric old miller in an 18th century drafty, mill.

Anyway, you can actually purchase whole wheat flour and corn meal that the miller has just ground. Bags are for sale in the mill itself and also in the Wayside Inn's gift "shoppe." The Wayside Inn is the 300-yr. old non-profit organization that keeps the mill in operation. It's down the road a bit from the mill and is worth a visit, especially on a beautiful (real) New England fall day. And you can make some darn-good corn muffins with the stuff, too. Here's the recipe--if you click on the photo it'll get big enough to read. Enjoy!