flutter millIt probably took all of five or 10 minutes to put together, but it clearly made a powerful impact on my grandmother as a child for her to keep it forever.

Grandma calls it a flutter mill, and to this day it hangs on a red string in her basement among reminders of days gone by. Her father made it like he did most everything his children ever played with during the Great Depression.

The flutter mill sits on sticks in a creek and simply turns with the water. In a time without television, trips to town or much else to keep kids occupied other than working on the farm, it was a playful distraction from hard times.

Grandma told me they knew the Great Depression was happening, but didn’t notice as a kid too much difference from being as poor as they already were. She remembers fondly the corn husk dolls her father would make them when she was a little girl. She tells me most everything they ever had came from the land on their rural farm in Tennessee.

Over the years, Grandma collected all kinds of things. She collected Depression glass, little glass shoes, costumed jewelry, purses from the 1920s, hat pins, and all kinds of antiques. They were treasures from better years, but tucked away in the middle of all these riches hangs this flutter mill you see pictured.

We’ve gotten away from a time when such a simple gift can have so much meaning, when something hand made could have as much if not more value to a person as an antique, even to a child.

We can have those days again if we want them. We can communicate and commemorate our connection with each other with gifts handcrafted with love.