The age-old craft of harnessing wind power to drain lowlands, saw lumber, or grind grain is enjoying a renaissance in the Netherlands.
The nation is famous for the windmills dotting its landscape, and this year there has been a record crop of 110 newly qualified millers. It takes two to three years to complete training to work in a windmill, most of it hands-on experience, followed by an exam. Most graduates become volunteers at windmills, which need to keep turning to prevent them falling into disrepair.
“It’s very important to keep the 1,200 mills we still have, and a mill is like a car; it needs to run, it needs to move,” said Nicole Bakker, director of De Hollandsche Molen, a group set up in 1923 to represent the interests of windmills and millers.
“The miller’s craft is on the list of UNESCO intangible cultural heritage, " she added. “So we want to preserve the craft of the miller, and to preserve the craft we need to preserve the mill.”
This low-lying nation relied for centuries on the power of windmills to drain water away from its swampy land and grind grain into flour. Windmills also sawed wood used in sail ships that plied the world’s oceans and ground spices they carried from Dutch colonies.
Despite more modern technology such as electric pumping stations, many of the windmills are still in use and lend a helping hand shifting water at times of extreme rainfall.
Traditionally, the miller’s craft was transmitted from master to apprentice but since the establishment of the Guild of Volunteer Millers in 1972, almost 2000 volunteers have obtained a miller’s qualification; anyone interested in the craft can apply for training. The Guild offers millers support in keeping their knowledge up-to-date, for example through excursions to mills, evening theory classes, conferences and meetings.
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