Remember the poor donut guy in the old commercial, half asleep, but it was time to make the donuts. I've been think of him lately, because it's winnowing season here. We are waking up to a lot of buckwheat hull winnowing lately. During the busy season, we try to keep between 20 to 25 barrels of our processed stuffing ready and waiting to fill draft stopper orders.

Without educating everyone to our secret methods, it's done outside and involves a lot of spinning and pressurized air aimed a certain way. We must always keep up with demand. The weather in Maine the last week or so has been perfect for winnowing, with temperatures in the 50's and 60's, it has been a pleasure really. I have hearing protection headphones this year that are Bluetooth enabled! I like to listen to audio books while winnowing. While I am kind of obsessed with Mark Tufo's Zombie Fallout series right now, I also like biographies, history, and historical fiction. Okay, some mystery books too. 

Over the years, when we were facing buckwheat shortages, winnowing has been performed in driving rain and snowstorms. We have winnowed at 95 degrees, and at minus 5. That's why the past week has been a pleasure!

Maine Sales takes pride in using what we believe to be the most efficient draft stopper filling, and we have looked and experimented for over 22 years now. Buckwheat hulls makes our stoppers pliable to seal out drafts, and has a nice weight to it. It's cracked, unlike tri-hull buckwheat, which is lighter for pillows, our hulls are a denser and heavier filling when measuring the same volume. Because we winnow, it's nice and clean. It doesn't attract rodents or bugs.

It's all natural, grown in the good old USA with no pesticides.

Well, back to the spinning, and the audio book, thanks for checking out our website! Got to get back to making the filling.