How do you use the Mill and why?

[nicodeux]

Following a poll I made some time ago about the usage of oil maker for making corn/sunflower oil, I have a similar question regading the mill.

How do you use the mill and for what purpose?

I like very much the idea of the mill, but find it too much expensive to be accessible early, due to the 4 clothes that require at least a deluxe barn or coop. When I upgrade a coop/barn to the deluxe stage, I usually have enough income to buy easily rice, flour and sugar at Pierre's.

So why a mill? For its aesthetics? For increasing profit of some crops? How do you evaluate the trade-off of its perpetual footprint on the farm versus the fact that it can process dozen of items in a single night?

On my saves, I often have a mill on the farm, but usually as a RP decoration in the middle of crop fields, barely using it for milling wheat/rice/beets.
Maybe I have missed an interesting or profitable use for the mill? I'd be happy to read your opinion!

 

[imnvs]

Honestly, you're missing a vote option. Personally the only thing that goes in my mill is wheat, and that's because I grow a lot of it summer/fall... but just right at the end of each season. With agriculturalist and DSG it only takes TWO days to grow. When I have empty tilled locations under sprinkler/junimo hut at the end of those seasons, wheat goes down. Then, I mill all the wheat to make flour that I use for making bread when Qi's Cuisine comes around.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

If I’m going to be brutally honest I don’t have a mill, it’s not that it’s too expensive, it’s just useless to me?

It requires cloth and going to robin to make a building, it looks ok but doesn’t fit the same vibe as anything else in the game and it’s not like I’m ever going to use it either.

Sure I can get cheap flour and sugar but I never use them besides for the cooking achievement and I can just plant a more profitable crop and buy it instead.

 

[MissDandy]

For specific playthroughs, you usually build one to save yourself from having to buy wheat from Pierre. I personally don't us a Mill often, but many of my farms have one for convenience.

I do think it's a nice aesthetic additive to the farm, especially with the little windmill on top. I am a simple creature, though.

 

[nicodeux]

Honestly, you're missing a vote option. Personally the only thing that goes in my mill is wheat, and that's because I grow a lot of it summer/fall... but just right at the end of each season. With agriculturalist and DSG it only takes TWO days to grow. When I have empty tilled locations under sprinkler/junimo hut at the end of those seasons, wheat goes down. Then, I mill all the wheat to make flour that I use for making bread when Qi's Cuisine comes around.

I have to admit that this is a clever combination of different game features: fertilizers decay prevention on season change ; optimised tilled surface usage ; stock management for fueling a rewarding quest!

Thus, I have added two more vote options: the one you suggested and the one matching @FilthyGorilla suggestion.

 

[VampireCake]

I like very much the idea of the mill, but find it too much expensive to be accessible early, due to the 4 clothes that require at least a deluxe barn or coop.

You can sometimes get cloth by feeding soggy newspaper into a recycling machine, which you can make pretty early (fishing level 4). It's a 10% chance but there's quite a lot of chances to acquire trash. I usually get some early cloth this way.

However my mill is mostly for decoration.

 

[Veracious]

Honestly, you're missing a vote option. Personally the only thing that goes in my mill is wheat, and that's because I grow a lot of it summer/fall... but just right at the end of each season. With agriculturalist and DSG it only takes TWO days to grow. When I have empty tilled locations under sprinkler/junimo hut at the end of those seasons, wheat goes down. Then, I mill all the wheat to make flour that I use for making bread when Qi's Cuisine comes around.

This.
Also to feed animals over winter without having to buy.
Nothing gets sold as a base item.

 

[Rhiannon]

I've only had two real save games. In both, my long-term goal is to have a self sufficient farm meaning I don't need to buy anything from anyone to run my farm. So to me and my play style, the mill was necessary for many reasons. In my longer save, I popped it in next to the shipping bin many in-game years ago. Since then, it's not been used much and then a couple of trees grew in front of it. So it's there but in my mind, kind of like an old out building on a farm that doesn't get used anymore.

 

[Uzzlegorf]

I just get it so I can have all the building types in my farm. I'm a completionist.

 

[PoppyForPenny]

I only built a mill once, and I didn't find it all that useful, profitable, or fun. I think if I do a very cooking heavy playthrough sometime, the mill could be a neat addition for that. But I don't usually cook all that much.

 

[Lew Zealand]

I only built a mill once, and I didn't find it all that useful, profitable, or fun. I think if I do a very cooking heavy playthrough sometime, the mill could be a neat addition for that. But I don't usually cook all that much.

Exactly this for me but maybe it's even more. I might be able to use the Mill for creating some cooking ingredients but I simply can't keep that much planning in my head to plant this at this time and then Mill it a few/many days later as I'm off doing something else by then. But it's even worse than that.

You can't wear a Mill.

I tried a whole bunch and it doesn't seem to be pickaxeable to get it in to your inventory and then into a clothing slot. Plus, based on its shape I get the impression it'll make my butt look big. So it must be a game bug or something as I mean it would just be silly for something in the game to use that much Cloth and just not make Clothing. The word's right there in the name!

So if you really are looking for A-line clothing and you just can't get that Mill into your Inventory, I suggest Tailoring the following:

Radish
Honey or Tree Fruit (except Orange or Peach)
Pizza or Miner's Treat

Then run the first 2 thru the Sewing Machine again 2 or 3x with a piece of Wood. It's worth it for that outbuilding look for next year's Spirit's Eve Festival.

 

[iceman42dave]

Other than wheat for flour on rare occasions, mine is purely decorative. I like the way it looks.

 

[Odin]

I just get it so I can have all the building types in my farm. I'm a completionist.

This is pretty much the only reason I have one.