My family originates from Portugal, and I had the opportunity to travel there on a number of occasions while growing up. As I matured I began to better understand the history in Portugal, which caused me to respect its practical traditions more. I always tend to appreciate simple technology, which does not require unnatural complex machinery, and this windmill is a great example.

In most cases Portuguese wind mills use wind power to directly grind grain into flour. To harness that power thick canvas sails are unfurled, just as on ships throughout Portugal's rich ocean-fairing history. Portugal also has a long tradition of producing ceramics, and this is not forgotten here either. There are figure-8 shaped vases of various sizes tied to the ropes around the windmill's sails. Depending on the force of the wind different sized vases play specific audible notes, much like the tubes of a Pan flute. The sounds notify the operator inside how fast or slow the wind might force the sails of the windmill to spin and whether they should be slowed down with the use of a hand-brake. Atop the center of the windmill is a wind vain as well, which tells the mill operator inside the direction of the wind. The operator can then hand-crank the entire top of the windmill to rotate in that direction.