We are still on our OAT "Day in the Life" day. This was a visit to a water mill. This place used to be a farm, but they didn't make it. It was tough times for farmers here back in the 1960's and 1970's, and many lost their farms and moved down to the valley. But now some of these pioneers are making a comeback in the "agri-tourism" business. Agri-tourism makes most of its money from tourists rather than from the farming and crops.

This visit was to a water mill that has been refurbished for their agri-tourism business. They mostly mill buckwheat which they grow here locally. The building also contains a second mill used for milling barley and chestnuts, also grown locally. We got to see both mills working.

I was unfamiliar with buckwheat. I might have paid more attention to the buckwheat than the milling process. Below is a buckwheat field, in late season, and also I'm holding onto a buckwheat seed pod.

Inside the mill was somewhat confined space. It wasn't easy with our group to get good photos of the milling process. Below you can see Vicky near a seed bin of buckwheat and also a photo of some milling equipment.

The good news for the mills is that the Alps are rich with water, so powering the mills is not a problem.