Well that was a dud deal. Turns out it had more hours than what was advertised. He had paperwork saying a brand new engine was installed at the 1960 mark and is why i was told 40hrs. The meter had nearly 2000 hrs on it. In anycase i didnt buy it dealer said not to. So back to the drawing board.. Oops sorry I just seen this. Sorry it did not work out, but I knew something was wrong, as a good used one should be more like $15,000 to $18,000

Glenda, I haven't used a Foley's Food Mill in years so I don't know that I can compare the performance of the two. And, come to think of it, I wonder what happened to my food mill? I had it when we moved here. Anyway.... I chose this particular tomato strainer because it was highly recommended over and over and over again by quite a few of the hard-core food processors at the Harvest Forum. I especially wanted it because of the set of extra screens, which if my memory is correct are for salsa (I've used that one and it is great), pumpkin/winter squash and berries. I used the salsa screen to make two different batches of salsa and both turned out perfectly. I then used the sauce screen to make plain tomato sauce which I then used to make pasta sauce for dinner. The sauce screen gives you perfect sauce with not one little piece of peel or seed or core. The sauce was just gorgeous to look at. I haven't tried the other two screens yet. Turning the hand crank was easy, the machine didn't leak, the suction cup adhered to the counnter, etc. When I get old and frail, LOL, I can buy the optional engine and use it instead of the handcrank. Or, if I should develop carpal tunnel syndrome or arthritis or something that makes manual operation difficult, it is nice to know there is a little motor available to turn the handle for you. I do have a Kitchen Aid mixer and it is only about 5 years old and probably will last forever. So, for me, it is likely that the best grain mill option would be to get the Grain Mill accessory for the Kitchen Aid. As for the Food Saver, I remain undecided about that, but I really do want one and bet I go ahead and get one before next spring. We buy a lot of meat in bulk at Sam's and CostCo and repackage it, and I keep 3 freezers pretty full of home-grown veggies and fruits, so having the food saver to vacuum seal bags and cannisters would be quite useful. All the kitchen gear does add up to a lot of money over time, but I think I'll use them enough to make it worthwhile. For years I wanted these 'harvest helpers' and couldn't/wouldn't spend the money for them because we were putting our son through college. In a good year when it rains, I can put up enough veggies from the garden and fruit from the fruit trees to make a huge dent in a grocery bill. In a drought year, though, the harvest is not as heavy and I don't put up as much stuff. So, in a good year, I need all the equipment in order to put up as much of the harvest as possible as quickly as possible. I've gotten a lot more serious about raising more and more of our food supply the last few years. Homegrown is just so much tastier, and it is better for the environment because the food we're raising isn't having to travel to our home from grocery stores that get it from South America or even from California. Since reading "Animal Vegetable Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver, I've tried to become more serious about eating locally-raised food--and not just locally raised, but home-grown as much as possible. I'd like to think that if I am serious and work a little harder on getting great yields, I could raise most of our food in future years and all those 'harvest helper' type kitchen gadgets will get a good workout. Dawn

Wow! So cool! I have so many questions but think I'll answer them myself and go check out the site. I'm hoping they're small and not too $$$. Thanks for the share.

Yay Jackie! This should suit your creative design style perfectly.:~) I am so jealous - now you can embroider while you piece. Great gift ~ Enjoy ~ Merry Christmas