  This story is from Erik Andrus, owner of Good Companion
Bakery, and submitted as part of our Wisdom From Our Elders
collection of self-sufficient tales from yesteryear.  The idea
for the Savonius rotor began with our cheapness. We did not want
to pay for the electricity it to run our Austrian flour mill for
the long stretches required to mill flour for our bakery. We
were not interested in the large cost of a wind turbine. I was
surprised to find out that although milling is one of the oldest
and most proven applications for wind power (along with pumping
water), nobody does this anymore, at least not outside of
farming museums.  Savonius rotor in actionWhy not? Small scale
decentralized grain growing and milling are making a comeback,
why shouldn't the same be true for wind-powered mills?  One of
the few examples of a wind-powered grain mill I was able to find
was the Savonius rotor built by Job Ebenezer. It was part of the
University of New Mexico’s project Technology for the Poor in
1978, at the height o