__________________

The Oshawa Times DurhamRegion’sDailyNewspaper

__________________________________

JimandJaneHugheswantedchangesotheyboughtthiscentury-oldmill

The quiet rustic life grinds on at Brooklin’s historic old mill

By Michael Barris Times Staff

BROOKLIN – Jim Hughes clambers up the worn wooden stairs, the grain dust spilling off his work boots in the frigid indoor cold of the century-old feed mill. “It’s useful work,” Hughes, co-owner of Brooklin Flour Mills, says of his occupation. “I worked for the government and was not productive. It was

basically a boring job. You get the feeling you’re actually doing something here.” The former planner for the Scarborough Board of Education inspects an ancient wheel turning a belt from the fourth floor of the mill to the basement. “I don’t have any problems with the machinery,” the toqued owner says. “Just in the wintertime. It gets very cold and the oil and bearings get stiff. You have to run it for five minutes in the morning to warm it up. I keep a lot of belt dressing on the belt to keep it loose. Other than that, I fix it myself.” Pub in mind Hughes, 40, and his wife, Jane, 38, have been running the 130-year-old mill for seven years. Jane says their purchase of the facility – one of Durham Region’s oldest mills – was the “inevitable” result of search southern Ontario for a rustic business to take over – although, in the beginning, the Hugheses really had a pub in mind. “We had the idea that it would be great to own an old pub, like the kind they have in Britain,” Jane, a general co-owner, recalled. “Then we came to Brooklin for a wedding and saw this place was for sale. Jim went in and asked about it, then came back and said: ‘You want to own a mill?’ I said: ‘Why not?’” They put their two-storey house overlooking Lake Ontario up for sale and took over the mill’s operation. “I didn’t know an oat from a corn, a horse from a cow,” Jane, a former Grade 7 and 8 teacher in Scarborough, recalled. “But we didn’t want to do the same thing our whole lives. This just seemed more exciting. More interesting.” The former owners, the Wilson family who ran the place for 60 years, trained the new managers in feed production and bookkeeping. “Like anything, it’s good and it’s bad,” Jane philosophizes. She gestures at the snowy scene outside the office window. “What is nice is when you’ve got the windows open, you hear the stream bubbling. That’s a nice ambience.” The customers trudge in and out of the rustic office, stocked with fresh eggs, tubs of honey and antique cans. The smell of brewing coffee and fresh grain permeates the room. The steady ticking of an old clock is loud. “Hi, Dave,” Jim sings to an elderly man who wears a battered cap with the fur ears turned down. The man presents a bound package. Jim scrawls out a bill, then jerks open the cash register drawer which resounds with a ring-ding.

Ahandfulofseeds,grain

“I’m not having as good luck as I did five years ago with those gol-darn sows,” the puzzled man says, referring to the pigs’ inability to produce as many offspring as in the past. Jim suggests the problem might be a mineral deficiency in the feed, but backs off from making any definite comment. “I know nothing about pigs,” he explains. Later, he informs his guest: “I’m not from a farm background. My knowledge is extremely limited and I don’t pass an opinion. I have salesmen to do that. “With animals, you’ve got to be extremely careful. They could be sick. They could have a problem in their background. You’ve got to be qualified (to discuss animals intelligently). “Most of (the customers) know what they want anyhow. Most of them have been in it long enough so they have their own ideas.” The elderly man departs, and Jim heads out to help load a customer’s truck. He passes the cast-iron milling machine, which converts raw wheat into fine flour, a machine built in 1910. “It is a museum in here,” he admits, walking to the bags of feed waiting to be picked up. Electricity in 1918 “Basically, the milling process hasn’t changed.” The biggest change in the mill’s century-long history was the replacement of the water-driven system with electricity in 1918. The ancient system, in fact, is economical because most of the equipment is driven by one electric-powered belt, Hughes says. “It makes money. It doesn’t make a fortune, but it makes money,” he states. “It’s recession-proof. Animals have to eat and so do people. We don’t seem to suffer when times get tough. If we were in an agricultural area, we’d be in rough shape. This area’s unique because there are a lot of 10-acre (hobby)

farmers,” so the company picks up business from pet owners, bird enthusiasts and horse breeders. “It’s hard work and fairly time-consuming. I could be doing this five years from now – maybe not. You never know.” Jane, who handles the bookkeeping, finds the interpersonal relationships with customers interesting. Why? No special reason. “It’s because most of them are nice people, that’s all,” she says.

Themillcarrieseverythingfromdogfoodtopigfeed

(Image of original print version follows)