Before using mechanical grinding and electric grinding, the grain in the north must be ground into flour with a stone mill (except wheat, soybeans, corn, etc.). This process of grinding grain into flour is very laborious. Animals are used for grinding, and those without animals have to be pushed by people. Therefore, the process of grinding noodles is also called "push grinding".

Pushing the mill was an indispensable thing in rural life in the past, but it is no longer visible now. At that time, we called "pushing the mill to catch the trap". In the past rural life, every family had a most basic property, namely "grinding".

This is the most unforgettable thing in my memory. I know I grew up eating pancakes. Speaking of pancakes, most people know that there are many kinds of pancakes bought on the street, including vegetable pancakes, noodle pancakes, sorghum pancakes and wheat pancakes. Anyone can name one, two or three.

But when I say pancakes, I mean pancakes are "ground" and spread out.

Mills can only be seen in rural farmhouses, but most of them are not preserved because of their age. You can only find it occasionally when it is inconspicuous in the farmhouse.

The structure of the mill is very simple, that is, two round big stone wheels, fine on the top and thick on the bottom, with a column center in the middle. The upper wheel is male, the center of the column is round, the whole circle protrudes about 1cm, the lower wheel is female, and the Honggou depression is about 1cm. The mutual back-and-forth pressure between the upper red ditch and the lower red ditch has formed a joint force to help each other, thus forming what we call a mill.

In the forties and fifties of last century, almost all the flour eaten by hometown people was milled.

The grinding machine consists of a grinding disc and a grinding fan. The grinding disc is a supported circular working platform composed of two semicircular stone slabs, with a diameter of 5 to 6 feet, a thickness of 2 to 4 inches and a height of more than 2 feet. It is usually made of bluestone (limestone) or red sandstone (shale).

The grinding fan is divided into an upper fan and a lower fan: the working face of the lower fan is upward, and a short shaft is embedded in the center of its working face, commonly known as "grinding navel"; The working face of the upper fan is downward, and there is a shaft hole in the center, which cooperates with the grinding navel of the lower fan to form a bearing to support the stable operation of the mill.

The upper fan takes the center point as the symmetrical center and has two grinding holes with an interval of 180 degrees. This is the passage of the lower grain. According to the need, the two grinding holes can be opened or closed at the same time to adjust the speed of grain leakage.