MOTnews 15 (23/03/2001)

The new MOT season

From Saturday, March 31, you will once again be able to visit the three departments of the Museum of Old Techniques, Guldendal, Liermolen and Tommenmolen, every weekend (from 2.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m.). However, the Aquafin works have not yet been completed, so the public may have some difficulty in gaining access to the ommenmolen. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused.

New in the mill! The new season opens straight away with a number of new eye-catching items in the Liermolen. Of course, you have been able to experience a milling demonstration in the mill for some time, but now you can follow the milling process close-up on television as well, as we have installed a camera directed towards the millstones. From a safe distance, visitors can now follow on a television screen exactly what is happening when the watermill is in operation.

To make your visit to the Liermolen even more interesting, you can now see a lifelike model of a person redressing the millstones. Every so often the millstones needed to be sharpened with a special hamer. This was an important job in the past, because to be able to supply good flour, the millstones had to be sharp enough.

These innovations certainly make it worthwhile to book a milling demonstration. You can do this via the Grimbergen Tourist Department, tel.: 00 32 2 260 12 99.

The MOT on the radio To start the new season off well, this weekend you can hear us on the radio. Listen to KLARA on Sunday, 25 March between 9.00 a.m. and 10.00 a.m. and you will hear a report on the MOT, including an amusing publicity campaign. If you call the MOT number given during the programme, you will have the chance of winning a free guided tour of the museum that very afternoon. So make sure you tune in!

SAY WHAT? In this MOT-NEWS item we try to explain proverbs and sayings that have their roots in our technical history. Similar proverbs are found in different languages, but each language has it's own typical sayings. Therefore we do not translate this item in English.

TRUE or FALSE

Sheep provide us with wool, and to do this they are shorn, in the past by hand, now electrically. But in the past wool was also plucked from the sheep, without it being shorn. You will find the answer in the next issue of MOT-NEWS.

ANSWER TRUE or FALSE in MOT NEWS 14 (16/03/2001)

Of course, we know that horses and oxen were used to pull ploughs. Often the plough was attached to a yoke around the neck of the draught animals with ribbons.

But is it true that sometimes the plough was simply attached to the tail of a horse?

TRUE

This system was sometimes used along the poor west coast of Ireland, although even in those days people were outraged by this treatment of draught animals.

KID NEWS: something to do with your children this evening Natural dyes Easter is coming and the shops are selling eggs of all shapes and sizes, and in all sorts of colours. Easter eggs are often painted with chemical dyes, but here we will give you a few tips on how to prepare a beautiful coloured egg for Easter using exclusively natural means.

Colour your eggs with onion

- prepare a layer (2 - 3 cm ) of brown skin from red or brown onions, or a mixture of the two in a cooking pot

- dip the eggs in oil and place them on this layer (make sure they don't touch one another)

- pour over cold water untill the eggs are covered

- add a little oil

- and place a plate (weighted down slightly) on top of the eggs so that the remain covered (do not press)

- leave the mixture to boil for 20 minutes

Tip You can use the dye again, in which case the colour becomes darker and darker. The first time you can add a little chicory to the mixture for a darker colour.

Tip You can also use other natural dyes in order to get different colours. You place the eggs in boiling water to which you have added the dye

• red : juice of red beets or skin of onions
• brown : liquorice juice, nutshels
• yellow : saffron, bark from appletree, yellow ochre
• green : spinach juice
• purple : dried petals of violets