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A 30-minute video on the Saint Vincent Gristmill is now available. Entitled "More Than Just Our Daily Bread," the video takes the viewer from the fields to the kitchen as it traces the story of the Gristmill from the grains grown at Saint Vincent through the grinding process at the Gristmill and then through the baking of Saint Vincent Bread.
Produced by Video Communication Productions, Inc., the video is narrated by Jay Kuntz and Father Paul Taylor, O.S.B. Benedictines from Saint Vincent no longer farm, instead allowing Lone Maple Farms of New Alexandria to continue to plow and plant the grounds around the Archabbey. Fred Slezak, Lone Maple's general manager, discusses modern-day farming methods and what it means to him to be able to continue a tradition started by Saint Vincent founder Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, who established the Gristmill in 1854. The Gristmill was part of Wimmer's plan to make his growing monastery, seminary and college self-sustaining. The monks grew their own fruits, vegetables and grains, including wheat, corn, barley, oats and buckwheat. The Gristmill's machinery was even fueled by coal mined on the property. The monks baked their own bread and even made their own beer, a tradition which stopped at the onset of Prohibition. The antique milling equipment and freshwater quartz buhrstones from the Wimmer era are still in use today.
Father Paul, who at one time served as the miller, but now heads the monastic committee operating the Gristmill, describes how the grains are cut, not crushed, by the burhstones, which are now electrically powered. A former miller, Dominic Shipsky, is shown operating the equipment and packaging flour. Father Cuthbert Jack, O.S.B., concludes the production by showing how he makes Saint Vincent Bread.