Planting and Marriage (?)

Finished planting the sweet sorghum today. Working on keeping the acre of peanuts hoed.

 

My zucchini plants are big and beautiful-but no flowers. Can't figure that one out. The ground is rich, but no livestock has been on it for a year.

 

Good to have the boys home from college for the summer even if we don't see them much because of their jobs. We joke that they seem like they lost some smarts in the past year-but in reality I am impressed by their confidence and knowledge. (Thanks Wyoming Catholic & College of St. Mary Magdalen - NH).

 

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Recently I finished reading (again) Dietrich Von Hildebrand's book on marriage (Marriage - the mystery of Faithful Love [Sophia Institute Press]). One of the theses: the primary end of marriage is procreation, but the primary meaning of is love.

 

Some consequences to this; one of which, interestingly enough, (this book originally published in 1929 in Germany) gives a concise but powerful reason for one to understand why homosexual marriage is impossible. Here's some excerpts from this section (Note, it is not all about sex and biology, but more about the spirit):

 

The special character of conjugal love is, furthermore, marked by the fact that this love can only come into being, between men and women and not between persons of the same sex, as is the case with friendship, parental love, or filial love.

 

It would be quite wrong, however, to reduce this characteristic to the sexual sphere and to say that conjugal love is just friendship plus sexual relations, presupposing a difference of sex. It would be incredibly superficial to consider as a mere biological difference the distinction between man and woman, which really shows us two complementary types of the spiritual person of the human species.

 

Certainly, man and woman have ultimately but one task, "to be reborn in Christ," and to glorify God by their sanctity. Yet man and woman represent two different types of mankind, both having their respective significance according to the divine plan, and their special value quite apart from their procreative function. .......

 

... At any rate, for the human species this difference represents two manifestations of. the person, analogous - if this comparison be admissible - to the various religious orders, which although they are identical in their aim, represent different ways in the imitation of Christ. These two types, man and woman, have a unique capacity for complementing each other. Their meaning for one another is something quite unique. They are made one for the other in a special way, and they can, purely as spiritual persons, form a unity in which they reciprocally complement one another. Marital love - involving the gift of one's own person, whose decisive character is that the partners form a couple, an I-thou communion, in which the whole personality of the beloved is grasped mysteriously as a unity in spite of all outer obstacles - can exist only between two types of the spiritual person, the male and the female, as only between them can this complementary character be found.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

I turned 50 this year and we had a small family party back in April. I had been teasing Lori a bit these past few months as she had surprised me with parties on my 30th and my 40th birthday, but I knew she wasn't in the position to do anything for my 50th. Little did I know she was planning again.

 

Last Saturday I was greeted by many family and friends who had found their way to Bethune-some for the first time. I was overwhelmed.

 

I have much to be thankful for. But more importantly I still have time in my life to work on being a better husband, father, brother, uncle, and friend.

 

Oremus pro invicem! 

They don't make them like they used to ....

This light was installed in my parents house when the house was built in 1963. It has the original light bulb (for years we have wondered how we would change the bulb as it is in the entrance-way in a split ranch. We have speculated we would either have to go into the attic or rent scaffolding. In any event, after 51 years (albeit it is no longer used everyday anymore) the same bulb still works after 51 years!

This is hard to explain, to say the least.

Oremus pro invicem!

Haven't had rain in days, but .... 100% chance predicted for Thursday.

My two boys are home from college. They both are taking a week off before going to work, so I figure they want to spend a week working around here. This morning the peanut acres (or 2) plowing was finished. (I did take my hand at the plow last week, but too many bodies now.) We need to harrow the field before planting, but I hope the peanuts will be in the ground within a week.

The boys have been moving manure the past few weeks. We saved a bunch for the sweet sorghum plot. I think we only have one more truckload (pick-up) to move. We will plant the sorghum the first week in June.

Brocolli and green peas and radishes are finished. Romaine is still in. Planting okra today or tomorrow.

Got some chicks this weekend. They are about 2 weeks old. Instead of building a brooder (it has been a while since we needed one) we are just keeping them inside at night for a couple weeks. Plan to finish (refurbish) the chicken coop tomorrow.

Good to have the boys back.

I keep trying to pray the prayer I heard a talk about during Lent: Dear Lord, I pray only for what You want to give me-namely Yourself. (But there are so many other things I want-and as I realize this, I realize once again that I am a poor sinner!)

Oremus pro invicem!

Reid Buckley, RIP

Reid Buckley died earlier this week. I suppose you can read tributes to him on the National Review blog and other places. He lived in Camden, SC which is 20+ miles down the road from us.

I had 3 encounters with Mr. Buckley. A great friend had given me his book "An American Family". After reading it, I was compelled to write Reid Buckley a short note. He wrote back, very graciously.

Some months later (probably recounted in this blogs archives) at our feed store in Bethune I met Reid Buckley. It could only be him. I stepped out of character (being naturally shy) and asked. (It was.) I introduced myself and my daughter and noted I had read his book. He immediately remembered my letter and we talked for just a few minutes.

It must have been a year or may be two later that I again encountered Reid Buckley at the same feed store. I greeted him and he responded "Have you done anything good today?" We chatted a bit. He clearly remembered me.

In looking at my archives here, I find a piece I quoted from him, close to my heart, which I reproduce below. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace! Amen.

When last did you hear a conservative spokesman deplore yet another six-lane highway, yet another fast-food alley, yet another graceless subdivision, yet another Super Wal-Mart or Lowe’s that sucks the life out of small village businesses, yet one more onslaught against neighborhood and nature that is masked under the name of progress? Unless it is a bridge in Alaska from nowhere to nowhere, you will not hear the deepest red-dyed congressman denounce the progressive uglification of our natural inheritance, as though beauty is of no concern. Have you flown recently from Newport News to Boston at 25,000 feet on a clear day and gazed down upon the horror of American civilization? What man hath wrought! What we have done to this beautiful land? Dear God, forgive us! But when last did you hear a conservative oppose a new mall because it is ugly, an affront to the eye, accustoming thousands of human beings to dehumanizing blows against the aesthetic sense until it is benumbed? The good, the true, and the beautiful are inseparably joined. One cannot damage one without doing harm to the others. Those who fail to comprehend this are morally in error on the dialectical front, though they may be personally virtuous.

.... Where are our Friedrich Hayeks of The Road to Serfdom, our Eric Voegelins of The New Science of Politics, our Russell Kirks of The Conservative Mind? Where is our philosopher? Meantime, on the practical front, what can conservatives do? The very first thing is to dissociate from the Republican Party, which has become an albatross around the neck of integrity.

2 years ago I planted corn in early February. Last year it was March 15th. This year we put our first corn in on April 3rd. We plan to plant some more this week.

Just got back from a trip to the College of St. Mary Magdalen in NH. Son number 2 was in a Shakespeare production: Much Ado About Nothing. They did a great job.

In my travels I was able to finish Evangelii Gaudium. Here is a great passage from the end of the Apostolic Exhortation:

286. Mary was able to turn a stable into a home for Jesus, with poor swaddling clothes and an abundance of love. She is the handmaid of the Father who sings his praises. She is the friend who is ever concerned that wine not be lacking in our lives. She is the woman whose heart was pierced by a sword and who understands all our pain. As mother of all, she is a sign of hope for peoples suffering the birth pangs of justice. She is the missionary who draws near to us and accompanies us throughout life, opening our hearts to faith by her maternal love. As a true mother, she walks at our side, she shares our struggles and she constantly surrounds us with God’s love. Through her many titles, often linked to her shrines, Mary shares the history of each people which has received the Gospel and she becomes a part of their historic identity.

/

Finally, an article on our sorghum effort last year will be appearing in the May/June issue of BackHome Magazine. Look for it!

Oremus pro invicem!

Learned from listening ...

When we ask of God, we need to tell him only our problem ... not our proposed solution.

Oremus pro invicem!

March is here. Lent is here. And winter persists. Two years ago my corn had been in the ground for over a month. Last year my corn was just planted at this time. But this year, I haven't even finished putting in broccoli, peas, and lettuce. I can't even think about corn. I thought I had two years worth of wood stored up, with the woodstove season starting in October and still going strong, we barely have enough left for this year. And I have to get cutting and splitting or I will be doing it over the heat of the summer!So this year in the evenings of Lent we will be finishing "The Family That Overtook Christ", about St. Bernard of Clairveaux and his family. We had started it a couple years ago and got through at least 1/2 the family. (Bernard's family) Time to finish it up.  I will also be (finally) reading Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation "The Joy of Evangelization".We finally put down our boar of 7 years this past weekend. He was a good boar; gave us a lot of great litters. Now he will live on in sausage! Our new boar fathered his first litter a couple weeks ago, and it was a good one. Good for him, too bad for Tarzan.Okay, time to read and pray. Oremus pro invicem!

A day in the life

Up and start fire in wood stove.


Coffee with Mrs. Curley and morning chores.


Breakfast and readings of the day.


Client work until noon with an occasional Math problem for one of the kids thrown in.


Noon - Angelus and lunch.


Coffee with Mrs. Curley.


Rosary (we are currently using St. Josemaria Escriva's book on the Rosary to help meditation)


Till garden area for the first time this spring.


Children finish school and they start trimming muscadine vines. I notice our surplus chickens are gathering in the newly tilled garden. We catch and process 4 chickens.


Shower, eat, teach Faith Formation at parish.


Get home, talk on phone with great friend in Chile.
Intercessions and Night Prayer.


Check on Sow ready to farrow and watch the process. 14 piglets!


Bed after midnight-tired, but satisfying day.

Oremus pro invicem!

All I'm goin' say is (and I am not explaining it): We were here first!

Oremus pro invicem!

update on snow

So as the snow finished at 5:00PM, we had about 6 inches.


This morning? It is snowing again; 2-3 inches expected before turning to wintry mix and eventually ice.


In our 18+ years in SC (plus my 4 in college a decade earlier) I have never seen it snow on top of snow.

Oremus pro invicem!

Our third snow this winter! I remember 2 years ago my corn was already in the ground by this time (but truly that was an exception to the rule.) We already have 4-5 inches on the ground here in Bethune.

I have a sow due to farrow this weekend. With a ice predicted and continuing horrible conditions, no doubt she will pick sometime in the next two days to have piglets.

But we are warm. The predictions of power outages won't bother us. We are stacked high with wood and candles are at the ready.(I have been trying to put a picture up, but blogger won't cooperate. )

Oremus pro invicem!

Animals

Here's something interesting to read at Public Discourse: Our Obligations to Animals. The quote which caught my eye?

Now farms are, in origin at least, an extension of the home. That means that the so-called family farm, even if quite large, should express and body forth the character of the household. But as I have noted: we do not like to live in filth, ugliness, stink, or decay; to which we should add, in light of undercover videos of pig factories, casual brutality and violence. Our farms should express who we are, and that ought to mean that they express goodness.

 

That, I believe, is entirely compatible with killing and eating the non-human animals on a farm and making those animals available to others to eat. I have participated in the killing and eating of pigs on a friend’s farm. That farm is the embodiment of my friend’s and his family’s very Christian life: the pigs are well treated; their slaughter is preceded by a prayer; and the entire family works together to make sure that the pig’s life and death is for the sake of the family’s common good.

 

I am always interested in pigs raised on a family homestead, and Dr. Tollefsen's writings are always worth reading.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Melkite Divine Liturgy

Wow! Sunday for the first time I attended a Melkite Divine Liturgy. I have to say I have never experienced the Divine Liturgy like this. I am still struggling to put into words what and how it was different as it is the same sacrifice with some very similar prayers. The Liturgy seemed to flow easily and more logically than I have experienced with either the Novus Ordo or the Extraordinary form.

Now I am certainly not ready to apply to change rites, but I am yearning to attend another Melkite Divine Liturgy like nothing before. Not kneeling and not genuflecting was hard. Doing a little research into the rite over the past days has made me understand the rite is not just the Liturgy and there are many things which culturally I would have to figure out-after all I have been Roman for 49 years.

I am not sure if after one experience I can communicate what I found at Our Lady of the Cedars which I haven’t found anywhere else. Perhaps the presence of God was more profound or visible. Perhaps the community of worshipers (including the priest and deacon) seemed to be both more casual (no, casual is not the right word- perhaps humble) and intense at the same time.

For the Melkites, this was not the first Sunday of Advent. The Gospel was about the blind man trying to reach Jesus over the objections of the crowd. One part of the homily struck me: the deacon told us that in contrast to the crowd which tried to prevent the blind man from reaching Jesus, the Church’s mission (and thus ours) is to help “the blind” reach Jesus. It seemed to me that the Melkite Divine Liturgy was trying to help this blind man (me) reach Jesus this past Sunday.

Oremus pro invicem!

Where I expound upon my economic persuasion and suggest an alternative to the current injustice: here.

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A couple weeks ago we had a boys weekend on the homestead for young men in grades 5-8. The boys learned something about caring for livestock, milking cows, planting, tilling, etc. We also did some praying and played some games, had a campfire. I think it was a successful weekend and enjoyable.

 

I received a note from one of the boys this week. One comment that stuck out:

 

"My favorite thing to do was the tracking game. I also like riding the pony and milking the cow. Digging up artichokes and shoveling manure wasn't as fun, though it still was fun."

 

Sounds like a farmer in the making-although I have to admit, we are all about manure around here.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Plow and Mourn - Matt Curley

Original song and lyrics by my son Matthew. Brothers Nick and Connor assist with background.

Son Matthew has caught some little bug this week so I have been doing some milking. Milking the cow is really something you either want to do every day or not at all because you use muscles not ordinarily employed in normal activity.

This morning at the end of the milking, I was putting the cover on the milk pail, but the pail was still under Mabel's udder. The cover (sort of like a plastic shower cap) must of crinkled and scared Mabel. (Matthew tells me he moves the bucket out from under her before he covers it.)

Well, Mabel moved one hoof into the milk pail and the other onto my ankle, pinning it sideways on the ground.

I thought it was broken. (This is an ankle which has been broken to various degrees twice before.) After keeping it up for a couple hours and alternating hot and cold, I am not sure if it is broken after all, but I can't really put any weight on it.

On the bright side, I do love carrying a cane. I guess being laid up, I will have to do some more writing ...

Oremus pro invicem!

Next ...

installment at CatholicLane.com. Here's the link: http://catholiclane.com/the-ways-of-god-for-fathers-foreknowledge/

Just wondering if anyone else noticed ...

I am no fan of the Affordable Health Care Act, however I gotta call things as I see them.

 

Everyone is in an outrage because Obama promised that if you liked your plan you can keep it, but now millions of Americans who liked their plan can't because of the Obamacare requirements.

 

I can understand the outrage on the part of the populace.

 

I cannot understand the outrage from Congress. Congress wrote and passed the law. Obama only signed it. Sure, Obama was the mover of the legislation, but once again we have Congress passing laws that they don't even know what they say.

 

Unbelievable!

Next installment: http://catholiclane.com/the-ways-of-god-for-fathers-delighting-in-goodness/

Baseball

I guess it is appropriate that I read the Grisham novel Calico Joe during the baseball playoff season. I used to love watching baseball on TV, listening on the radio, and especially going to watch the minor league team in Columbia, SC when they had one. Pretty good book, made better by references to players from the early 70's when I was collecting cards.

I didn't watch any of the World Series even though I am from Boston originally. I am guess I am glad Boston won, but I have no connection, know none of the players and have become pretty ambivalent.

 

In any event, we don't get TV reception, satellite or cable. Regardless, I stopped watching pro sports on TV years ago when the ads became so offensive-especially advertising prime time shows.

 

I was too young to remember the 1967 Series between Boston and St. Louis, but I wasn't too young to remember people talking about it in the next few years. I had a Bob Gibson card and two Lou Brock cards. Lou Brock became my favorite player over the years. And though I seldom saw him play, being in an American League town, I checked the box scores everyday to see how he did. But the baseball cards I really wanted but never got were Yaz and Jim Lonborg. Oh well.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Recipes

So while Mrs. Curley and the girls are having fun in the sun in Florida, I heard from Nick at Wyoming Catholic and he informs me that it is snowing; they expect 30 inches!

 

Mrs. Curley didn't leave me any food to simply "heat up" for suppers while she was gone, so we were on our own. I decided to empty the freezer of some foods Mrs. Curley wasn't too keen on using. So here are some of the things we've been having:

 

Thursday Supper: macaroni and cheese with spinach greens and pork sausage mixed in. This particular sausage was my own recipe and I inadvertently added too much salt. So while not so good eaten by itself, it is an excellent choice mixed with pasta.

 

Friday Supper: Meatless, so Dad's "famous" tunafish salad. Tuna fish mixed with chopped hard-boiled egg, mayo, and poultry seasoning-served cold. Green beans (served hot) on the side.

 

Saturday Supper: breaded, chopped and fried boar "fries" (for want of a better term), mixed with rotini, cheese, and milk. Bake in oven for 30 minutes. Baked okra on the side. (Probably the best supper of the week.)

 

Sunday- had a heavy meal at a friends house in the afternoon, so we simply snacked at supper time.

 

Monday Supper: duck meat (boiled off a baked whole duck from sometime in the past) mixed with rice, leftover green beans, leftover baked okra, and parmesan cheese. Add a cup of milk, top with saltine crackers and bake in oven for 30 minutes.

 

I am not sure what is in store for tomorrow. More foraging in the deep freeze and I am sure I will come up with something!

Oremus pro invicem!

Missing her...

My darling has gone to Florida to visit her Nana and taken the girls with her. Us boys have been managing, but boy am I tired. Sometimes I take a nap just before supper, but not today when I am both cooking and processing milk. Anyway, we have been working hard cutting wood, finishing the masonry work around the woodstove (just in time), harvesting, fixing cars, moving hogs, etc.

 

 

 

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Constancy in Love

The latest installment in my series The Ways of God for Fathers .... an excerpt:

 

In every family there are there are three primary relationships for the father. In descending order of importance: the first is the father with God; the second is the father with the mother; the third is the father with his children.

 

Constancy in love: Dad must pray every day-on his own and with his family. Dad must love God and show this love in his actions and priorities. The children must know Dad’s first love and relationship is with God. Now this doesn’t mean he neglects his vocation as husband and father to spend 5 hours a day praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Our vocation is as father. We may be called to be contemplative in the world-but in the world, not in a monastery. We aren’t called to live as monks.

 

Read the rest here.

Oremus pro invicem!

Foreknowledge ....

One of my upcoming installments of The Ways of God for Fathers (at www.catholiclane.com ) is about God's foreknowledge and how we can imitate this attribute as fathers.

So it is appropriate that I came across this eulogy Dr. Cuddeback wrote for is father recently.

When I close my eyes and think of my father, many thoughts come to mind. But the first is of his providence, his wise and loving care. He was always fore-seeing. Scanning the horizon, especially the horizons of those he loved, he would strain to see what was coming. One of the hardest aspects of being a man is not-knowing: not knowing what comes next, and thus not knowing how to prepare for it. Decisions need to be made in the present, with a measuring eye on the future and a remembering eye on the past. How often did I see Dad’s rational powers churning, sizing up situations—even those ostensibly unrelated to his own—and discerning how to arrange things for the good of those around him.

Then he proceeds to give some examples. Read the whole thing here.

Oremus pro invicem!

Next installment of my series on CatholiclLane . Here's an short excerpt:

Thomas Aquinas writes:

In God there is a primary perfection, which is that He never changes His nature. … Let us strive therefore to acquire a stability of spirit…

Ah, how suddenly we pass from good to bad, from hope to groundless fear, and from fear to hope, from joy to unreasonable grief, and from sadness to vain joy, from silence to loquaciousness, from gravity to trifling, from charity to rancor or to envy, from fervor to tepidity, from humility to vainglory or to pride, from gentleness to anger, and from joy and spiritual love to carnal love and pleasure.

In this way we never remain one single instant in the same condition, unless, alas we are constant in inconstancy…..

Not a pretty picture, but pretty true for a lot of us. So let’s examine our constancy as it applies to our vocation as father. (Let us not forget that a whole book could be written with the same outline for our vocation as husband.)

Where do we especially need a stability of spirit as fathers? Well, two areas seem to leap out at us immediately: discipline and love.

Read the rest here

Oremus pro invicem!

alopecia

alopecia-loss of hair, baldness. Origins in a Greek word meaning mange in foxes.

So my daughter has a new nickname for me: the mangy fox!

Oremus pro invicem!

Where I start a new blog dedicated to my published writings. Enjoy! Here's the link: Jim Curley

This past weekend we had a square dance and roasted a hog out here on the Curley homestead. My daughter took a bunch of pictures of the hog slaughter process for the book I am working on (hope to be available late in fall or early winter) on how to slaughter and butcher a hog. Here is a sample of some of the pictures she took.

The first picture was taken actually after the bullet was fired. The hog was standing up for the shot, but you can see here that the back legs are down.

Stunning the hog

 
 

Scalding the hog in a barrel of heated water (165 F) before scraping the hair off.

 

Some of the hair was stubborn, so we singed off the rest.

After evisceration, my son Matthew saws the carcass in half.

 

 

Oremus pro invicem!

"we need more people on the land"

There is a lot of good ideas over at www.frontporchrepublic.com . While I am not sure I agree with everything Mr. Peters says in this piece, still there is some good stuff here. Here's an excerpt from Jason Peters' post:

Consider some grim statistics. In 1930 there were over thirty million farmers in this country and 6.2 million farms. By 1950 there were still twenty-five million farmers on 5.3 million farms. But then the post-war mischief set in, and the government turned against its farmers. By the turn of the century there were fewer than three million farmers on 2.1 million farms. The difference between 1930 and 2000 is a reduction of five farmers to slightly more than one farmer per farm—which is to say, far fewer eyes observing fertility losses on much larger farms. And today, for every one farmer and rancher under the age of 25, there are five who are 75 or older.

More:

One, we need more people on the land. We need a better eyes-to-acre ratio. ... we need young people in local and regional governments who are liberally educated, which means they are familiar with, among other things, the philosophical and political theories that led to our current living arrangements. It also means they must be trained in both physical and cultural geography, urban planning, farming, gardening, environmental studies, and the courses in English and American literature that I teach.

And then from the comment box of this article, an idea close to my heart:

While Deep Springs is a two-year nontraditional college built around an operating ranch out in the desert, I find myself wondering if it might be worth founding and funding small two year post-10th Grade Institutes in varied contexts (urban, rural, seaside, mountains, plains) along the Deep Springs model in various parts of the USA to train “…young people in …the philosophical and political theories that led to our current living arrangements…physical and cultural geography, urban planning, farming, gardening, environmental studies, [as well as] courses in English and American literature…” and applied technology, health and nutrition, and rudimentary business skills added in? - See more at: http://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2013/10/lucks-a-chance-but-troubles-sure-2/#sthash.q68hJvdg.dpuf

Interesting about Deep Springs, I never heard of it, but it is an all-male school. Unfortunately the Board of Trustees are trying to break the trust and go co-ed. But that is an aside. I think there is a need for schools which educate the whole man, but which also encourage traditional rural living.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

So I think I pinched a nerve which makes my left arm and shoulder hurt a few weeks ago. Not one to let a little pain get in the way, I have kept working with it until this past weekend when it became a big pain. Now I am pretty much useless around here. Although I haven't seen the doctor, I believe the best prescription is rest.

 

This is why any readers out there have seen more posts from me during October this year than any month since March 2012 (well, except last month.) I have started to revive my "writing career"-that one that doesn't pay any money-although I did have a paying article published in a homesteading magazine last year.

 

The whole point of this is to alert you all to a new series of mine which begins today on www.catholiclane.com and which will continue every Friday for the next few weeks. The series is about being a father. Some of the articles in some form or another first appeared on this blog.

 

I certainly don't claim any particular expertise on fatherhood. In fact these reflections are actually my own meditations on what I need to do to become a better father-at least at the time they were written. So enjoy, if you can and give me some feedback.

 

Here's a quote from today's installment:

 

St. Thomas Aquinas notes (in The Ways of God) that we should “model ourselves” on our Creator in his attributes and imitate Christ in His actions.

- Read the whole thing at: http://catholiclane.com/the-ways-of-god-for-fathers-introduction/#sthash.7Cmf9q9R.dpuf

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Several months ago a woman who had just won the lottery was interviewed. Here’s the comment (not an exact quote) I remember:

“Now that I have won the lottery I can afford to put my kids in daycare and get a job.”

Last week a government worker was interviewed just after the government shutdown started. He was asked his biggest concern. Here’s what I remember (not an exact quote):

“I don’t know what I am going to do. The kid still has to go to daycare. How can I afford to pay for that?”

So there you have it: daycare at all costs. Rich? Send your kids to daycare. Out of a job? Send your kids to daycare. Daycare must go on!

Sorghum

Here's a few pictures from our sorghum harvest and cooking. Sorry I forgot to take any pressing the stocks which was done up the road. A local farmer who grows sugar cane lent us the use of his cane press for the morning.

 Collecting the stocks - no that's not me. We had some friends over to help.

 Taking the seeds off the stocks to feed to the chickens and turkeys.

 More de-seeding. After pressing the stocks go to the milk cow who absolutely loves them. In fact, her output has gone up 2 quarts a day since we started feeding the stocks.

 Cooking the sorghum. You get about 1 gallon of syrup per 8-10 gallons of juice. This is early stage cooking. It took about 3-4 hours to cook it down.

The finished product. Not as much as we hoped, but learned a lot and if we do it again, I am sure we can get 5-10 times the output on about 1/4 the plot of land. And boy is it good, especially on hot biscuits!

Oremus pro invicem!

Raising Good Children

This quote is from a post today by Rod Dreher. He is discussing fundamentalism of various types. So the quote is a bit out of context for my purposes, but this is often what I have observed.

“These yuppies want to have good kids,” I told my wife. “But they are terrified of being like people who actually do what it takes to raise good kids.”

Many people want to raise good kids, but it is not simply a time (or resource) commitment. It is in a sense a religious commitment. You need to pray with and for your kids. You need to pick your friends carefully as well as being careful about the kids your kids spend time with. You need to be willing to let much of the current culture behind. What you do, what you watch, what you listen to, and who your friends are will influence all this in your children.  Tough choices in what you do and what your children do, and where they school.

 

It is a challenge and sacrifice. Take homeschooling. This is a sacrificial and daunting endeavor, not for the faint-hearted. But it can be done well, even for those not confident at first. I am amazed and gratified that my Mrs. Curley has embraced and dedicated the last 16 years of her life to schooling our children, even though both she (and I) had many doubts and fears initially. (People who know us today have no understanding of the level of fear and doubt we had in the beginning.)

 

That is not to say homeschooling is the only way to go-but if another option doesn't exist, it may be necessary in today's environment.

 

Raising good children depends on discipline: disciplining yourself and your children-albeit often in different ways.

 

Raising good children is hard (may be impossible) to do in a isolation. Finding other families who are willing to make the same hard choices, who believe in God - not just in their words, but in their actions, decisions, and commitment is as important. Both children and parents need the moral, spiritual, and fellowship support of others who share their goals.

 

Reflecting once again on these challenges, I am again humbled and realize my need for prayer: yours and mine.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

What to think

I still haven't quite decided what to think of some of the recent papal interviews. There is a problem if every time Pope Francis gives an interview there has to be multiple disclaimers about interpretations and explanations from multiple Catholic columnists who support the pope. At the same time, you also get the feeling that other Catholics are laying in wait to criticize, ready to accept the most problematic interpretation, even if evidence proposes otherwise.

I am not worried about the secular media take. They operate both with ignorance and their own agenda. They lay in wait to take snippets out of context to suit their own purposes and always have.

My tendency is to give the benefit of the doubt to Pope Francis - after all, I am merely a poor sinner, husband and father whose vocation is not the pope's vocation, nor as papal advisor. In all this, I am reminded that I still need to remove the log from my own eye ... but still, it all can be confusing.

After reading all sorts of commentaries on these issues, I believe Carl Olson's current editorial on Catholic World Report most closely reflects my current thoughts.

Here's the link:

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/2622/pope_francis_the_good_the_baffling_and_the_unclear.aspx

Prayer for Pope Francis, the Church, and for each other is the most efficacious and what we are certainly called to do.

Oremus pro invicem!

Club of Queer Trades

More Chesterton fiction. I love it. I think I should become a professional detainer. I might be good at it.

It is funny how confused things can be in your head when you are young, and how it can carry over. We used Crest toothpaste growing up, always. I thought Colgate toothpaste was either immoral or just plain not for good Catholics. Likewise, since we didn't ever eat pizza growing up, I thought there was something intrinsically wrong with it. I am sure my dear mother would be appalled at these awkward opinions I held in my early youth. Of course I grew out of these foolish notions, but it was still a shock to find out that my future wife used Colgate AND her favorite food was pizza. I wasn't sure for a moment that this whole thing would work out. But only for a moment. Things have been great.

Oremus pro invicem!

I have been reading some Chesterton fiction of late. My daughter ordered interlibrary loan "The Man Who Knew Too Much", knowing that I like both Chesterton and the Alfred Hitchcock movie of the same name. Well, the Chesterton title is not the same story as the Hitchcock movie, but enjoyable anyway. It is a series of short stories centered around a man who seems to know everyone and "know too much about everything" which allows him to figure out mysteries which remain mysterious to everyone else.

Having read this one and many of the Fr. Brown mysteries, I was unprepared when my daughter brought home from the library Chesterton's "The Man Called Thursday". It was a page-turner (I liked the others, but in a calm and quiet sort of way) I couldn't put down, at least until the very last when it took a turn which I won't divulge.

Okay, so we are trying out a new boar. Tarzan could have fathered his last litter for us. He has been here over 5 years and thrown us many large litters. Our best sow, Harry, (she of 9 litters for us) was sold this week. We now have 1 remaining sow (Sam) who has had one litter for us. Her pigs are outstanding and she and Red are our future.

Last year I never got a fall garden in because of the quail farm stint I did. This year we are well on our way. The peas have just broken ground. We have broccoli and lettuce, radishes and a field of turnips. I will plant kale and some other greens tomorrow in our remaining garden space. It was great summer for okra for a while, gathering 6 pounds a day, but it just quit a week or so ago. Some okra still is straggling in, but I plan to pull it this week and maybe plant a bunch of carrots? It may be too late, but we'll see. They will harvest in the spring.

We sold a bunch of piglets and few pumpkins this weekend. God has been very good to us=-once again.

Oremus pro invicem!

My latest effort. Too short to put an excerpt here. Just go over and read it at www.catholiclane.com (Attack the Ball). For some reason I can't put links in my post this morning.

Oremus pro invicem!

Here's something I believe in:

“There’s an unlegislatable mandate to communities to be faithful to future generations, which means replacing yourself, or exceeding the replacement rate. When a community’s healthy, it will do that, and it will only do that when people essentially love a community more than they love themselves.” - Caleb Stegall, newly confirmed to seat on the Kansas Court of Appeals quoted in Rod Dreher’s 2006 book “Crunchy Cons”)

Oremus pro invicem!

Cooking Sorghum

So yesterday we pressed the sorghum stocks at a farmer's place about 10 miles down the road. We got home and started cooking the sorghum juice to reduce it to syrup.

We didn't get a whole lot of juice, about 8-10 gallons. This should yield about 1 gallon of syrup. Next year we will space the sorghum better and give it more manure.

We cooked a few gallons yesterday and figured out when to stop cooking. One batch we had to cook again because we took it out too soon.

This morning I am cooking the rest. It is a 3-4 hour process to cook a batch. We don't have an evaporator, so we are cooking it in batches on the stove. If it was a little cooler I might cook it outside.

We had a little sorghum to sweeten our cream of wheat at breakfast. Delicious!

Oremus pro invicem!

harvest time

Eventful week. We harvested the peanuts Saturday and have them drying on posts in the yard. Saturday we also started stripping the leaves off the sorghum. This continued on Monday with some friends. We took the leaves off, cut the stocks, and saved the seeds.

Here's some of the children (ours and friend's) gathering sorghum stocks before the seeds are removed.

Wednesday we will press the stocks to get the sorghum juice and start cooking it. Another busy week especially as we start school.

Oremus pro invicem!

I come back from NH yesterday after delivering Connor to The College of St. Mary Magdalen to many tasks. We have more wood to bring home from a neighbor, there are plumbing problems in the kitchen, the peanuts appear to be ready to harvest, as does the sorghum, and I have pigs to cut. But … as indicated below, we are back in milk!

Matthew has overseen the farm excellently while I and Thomas were gone. He has picked more pumpkins, kept the animals in good health, and been adopted by our new heifer calf. (I like the sound of that, "heifer".) She bawls everytime she sees him and runs to him. I guess I know who will be training that heifer the next few years.

Not to be outdone, Mrs. Curley and the girls have kept everything else going, including unloading a large trailer of manure which was donated to "the cause".

It is surely good to be home.

Oremus pro invicem!

Brown Swiss/Jersey cross heifer!

Back Home Again!

Just got back from 10 days on the road, delivering my oldest son to Wyoming Catholic College. I have never been west of the Mississippi except one business trip to San Francisco some 25 years ago. Some impressions of seeing more of this country:  You wouldn't believe the number of pro-life billboards in (most especially) Missouri. Boy they grow those rivers wide in the midwest: the Tennesse, the Ohio, the Missouri, and the Mississippi. Nebraska may look flat, but going east to west on route 80 is one long, long uphill trek. The flat land of Lander Wyoming is higher elevation than going over the Great Smokey Mountains of Tennesse. There is way too much corn being grown. Saw not a single hog in the "hog states" of Iowa, Southern Illinois, Missouri, and Nebraska.

Between Laramie, WY/Rawlins, WY and Lander, WY is truly the badlands-sagebrush and desert. While there are three towns listed on the map (Muddy Gap, Jeffrey City, and Sweetwater) they don't appear in person. One consists of a single restaurant, one sports a single liquor store, and I'm not sure the other exists at all. Certainly, load up your gas tank, cause there is NO place between Rawlins and Lander to buy gas.

I really like what I saw at Wyoming Catholic College. It seems to me that the staff and professors have the right stuff.

A couple more weeks and we do it all again for son number two at the College of St. Mary Magdalen in NH.

Oremus pro invicem!

15 piglets born yesterday - our first litter since early spring! Been pretty busy summer. Have been taking old corn and stocks from neighboring farmers' fields for the livestock. Picking eggplant and zuccinni. Orka should be coming in soon. Our sweet corn looks great and should be a bumper crop. Start picking next week. Peanuts look good too.

A couple days ago someone called an asked if we wanted a trailor of manure-of course there is only one answer to that question! Here is number Nick unloading the trailer onto the pick up truck, to be spread between the rows of sorghum.

Nick hasn't done much farm work this past year as he has been working for Darlington County as an EMT, taking practically every shift available. Next week he heads off to Wyoming Catholic, but he got his fix of manure shoveling this week!

Connor is heading off to the College of St. Mary Magdalen in a few more weeks.

Things will be changing quite a bit around here!

Oremus pro invicem!

The Homestead

It surprised me to see an updated satellite image of our homestead on Google the other day. This was taken in April of 2012 I am guessing. I can tell because of the cars present and the configuration of the plantings and pig houses. And it was in the spring as you can see in the field adjoining the property that some plowing has been done, but not finished. You can even tell we had the horse out that day because of the dark, just turned soil compared to the soil next to it.

In the front yard on the top side of the property you can see garden near the road, but also some pens with houses-last year we moved many of the pigs to the front yard.

Our milk cow (cows at the time) and bull and barn are located on the South side of the house (next to the house in lower portion of the photo).

On the South side in the back we still have a couple farrowing pens, but the rest was planted in sweet corn (which we picked June 1st last year and are still eating). The fences are still up as you can tell, but no housing.

Lots of things have changed since this photo. - Oremus pro invicem!

My latest wrting effort can be found: http://catholiclane.com/prayer-life-growing-pains/ . It's about trying to maintain a family prayer life as the children get older and busier, working etc. Enjoy it.

Here's a preview:

So on May 29th we surprisingly (and unexpectedly) had everyone at home in the evening. I had spent all day under my oldest son’s truck working on a very stubborn bolt while trying to change the starter. I had been struggling with this bolt for several days and was close to the end of my options. He really needed his truck back on the road for work, and in fact was off work because of the truck. As I was giving it my final effort, I thought about May and Mary, and how everyone was home. I made a promise, “Mother in Heaven, if you let me get this bolt now, I promise a May crowning today.” Then I started putting force on the lever and heard Nick shout, “It’s turning!” Sure enough that bolt came out. I told Nick of my promise, but cautioned him, “I only made the promise based on the bolt turning, not that installing a new starter will get the truck rolling again.” But Our Lady was generous. 10 minutes later the new starter was installed and the truck cranking.

Oremus pro invicem!

Four Types ....

I remember going to see the 1973 re-release of The Sound of Music in the theater as a child. I had a fleeting familiarity with the story-a family of singers who fled the Nazis by walking over the Alps. I thought and hoped the movie would be a chase through the wilderness. Initially disappointed that it was not the wilderness adventure, I still thoroughly enjoyed it for what it was.

Watching The Sound of Music on TV became a yearly event in my house growing up. It remains a great musical and tale, even if it is highly unhistorical. Do read Maria von Trapp’s The Story of the Trapp Family Singers for a wonderful story steeped in the Catholic culture of this family.

Several weeks ago, when we watched the movie as a family on VHS, my wife and I saw the movie in a new light, as an allegory for what is and has been happening in these United States for the past few years. Four characters in the movie (some fictional) illustrate four types of Americans and our country’s increasingly inevitable path to depravity.

Herr Zeller (played by Ben Wright) is an Austrian apologist for the Third Reich and enthusiastically welcomes the Nazi takeover.

Max Detweiler (played by Richard Haydn) is a friend of the von Trapp family, musical talent scout and apolitical. He doesn’t particularly like the Nazis but is keen on avoiding bloodshed and confrontation.

Captain Georg von Trapp (played by Christopher Plummer) is a retired Austrian naval hero and adamantly opposed to the Nazis.

Rolfe (played by Daniel Truhitte) is a young Austrian caught up in the new order.

All these men are Austrian, but each respond differently to the Nazi takeover of Austria. Herr Zeller facilitates it; Max Detweiler watches it, as first with distaste, but cooperates with it as inevitable*; Captain von Trapp resists it and finally flees in order to avoid cooperation; Rolfe joins the takeover, believing the lies and promises that a ‘new order’ will bring to society.

In America today we have these four characters: those who would destroy the moral order and force all others to accept the destruction; those who watch at first with disapproval or indifference, but then capitulate; those who resist and are increasingly the subject of marginalization and ridicule; and those young people who believe the lies, possibly because their teachers and even their parents belong to one of the first two groups.

I don’t tend to pessimism, but I think we have passed the crossroads. The new path is being chosen at an increasingly alarming rate. The time for penance is here. (It has been here for some time, but too many of us have ignored it.) The time for suffering is just around the corner.

Each of us must decide who we are in this cultural war and reform our life accordingly. If we don’t actively choose resistance in our words and deeds, we will become Max Detweiler, if we haven’t already, and our youth will become Rolfe.

This is a call to arms-or more accurately, a call to get on our knees. Our only recourse is prayer, penance, and Christian action; that is to say, personal holiness. It is always the same, but it can’t be restated too often.

*Max Detweiler does, in the end, facilitate the von Trapps’ escape, but his overall character is one of capitulation. I don’t think the viewer is expected to view this act as permanent conversion on Max’s part to become an Austrian patriot.

Oremus pro invicem!

In September 2008 I made a proposal on this blog about a Catholic Trade School for men. Nothing ever happened after that initial proposal except a few positive comments here and there. But the idea has never completely left my head. Every time I pass the abandoned motel on the outskirts of town I think, “That would make a good residence hall for the school”. And every time I pass the old high school down the street sitting on 20+ acres, I think, “That would make an ideal campus.”

So here is a re-cap of the problem and a possible solution for some.

Many Catholic young men either have no means and/or no desire to attend a 4 year degree program, yet these men still need more than a high school education in liberal arts and the Faith and need a skill or trade so they can provide for themselves, their family, and to live a life giving proper glory to God. It would also be beneficial for these young men to experience a Catholic cultural environment.

The solution could be a 2-year trade school for high school graduates which both teaches a trade and prepares young men with the knowledge and spiritual tools to be a Catholic man (and father) in today’s world.

The proposal: A 2-year school (post high school) for men which had a core-curriculum of theology, philosophy, history of western civ and classic literature, social teaching of the Catholic Church (i.e. Rerum Noverum) and a course in practical arts (cross-training the basics of the trades to follow). Majors would be in a trade: Electrician, Plumbing, Carpentry/Cabinet making (both with hand and power tools), Agriculture/animal husbandry, Butchering, Engine Repair (car and small engine), as well as a course in running a small trade/farm as a business.

I would envision the campus to have student housing and a permanent chaplain and chapel. The spiritual life of the school would include daily Mass, some of the hours prayed in chapel, community meals, and at least weekly adoration and rosary.

The school could have some income by selling services (student mechanics, electricians etc.) and produce/meat to the local area. A somewhat rural location with low property costs, but with some access to great population centers (possibly apprenticeships?) would be ideal.

Finally, while the students would board at the school, at the end of the course, men would be urged to return to their family and community of origin.

Besides start-up expenses for the physical campus, the equipment and tools needed for teaching each trade would be a barrier.

A number of men who also believe in this model need to be sought out to form a board of founders so work can be begin on establishing such a school.

Oremus pro invicem!

So our corn was up, but our roaming game chickens went and destroyed it. My fault! I like to have 1 or 2 gamecocks and about 8 hens at the beginning of Spring. These provide enough chicken for us as each hen will set and hatch twice or three times during the season (each clutch averaging about 8-12 chicks).Come February, if we have too many hens, we either put them in the freezer or sell them. This year we had some 25 hens and 7 or so roosters left. We whittled down the roosters some, but did nothing about the hens….yet.

Replanting the sweet corn today. But we did harvest our first broccoli yesterday for supper, and I notice flowers on the peas!

We have our small crop of peanuts in the ground and are in the process of plowing the leased acreage next door. Since my two oldest sons are working most of the time, I am taking my share of time behind the horse plow. Things are going well.

Oremus pro invicem!

Corns up. Broccoli is making. Peas are looking great. Still cutting & splitting wood.  Fixing chainsaws, tillers, engines-business picking up a little bit. Will be planting peanuts by the end of this week. We start plowing for the sweet sorghum crop tomorrow.Had our spring square dance this past Saturday. Cooked 1/2 hog on the grill and danced and danced. (Actually I am the very amateur caller, but, being the caller, I don't dance much.) Mrs. Curley is laid up with bone spurs, so I had to Virginia Reel with my youngest daughter-but what a treat. (To see me VA reel with Mrs. Curley, see the cover picture on the song in the post below.Sold three of our sows 2 weeks ago, including our 8 litter old-timer Big Spot. We still have our best sow Harry and a gilt we will think about as the future sow. One sow provides us with all the pork we need plus a little extra. Scaling down a bit will give us more land to plant on.Oremus pro invicem!

a song

Here's a new song written and performed by my son Matt Curley. Hope you enjoy it. The picture is mrs curley and I doing the Virginia Reel at our square dance some years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

Oremus pro invicem!

In looking back, I believe one of John Paul II’s primary missions (or what he accomplished) was announcing the Gospel to the world, to everyone, but especially to young people; “Do not be afraid to follow Christ”, is the line I heard and remember from John Paul on the Boston Common in 1979. Maybe he wasn’t a great manager, but his preaching around the world is responsible for many, many good vocations to the priesthood and religious life as well as many devout Catholic families who directly trace their catholicity to the preaching of John Paul II.

To say Benedict XVI wasn’t humble because his papal wardrobe is just ignorant. (However TS and Amy Welborn are ahead of me on this.) Further, Benedict’s papacy was not a failure as many would have us believe. The Church’s job won’t be accomplished during any one papacy. History will tell of Benedict’s contribution to reforming the liturgy and beginning the reunification of Christian churches.

To say (as the media says) that Pope Francis election is a repudiation of the papacies of both Benedict XVI and John Paul II seems to be very ignorant or very wishful thinking.

And to the media and poorly catechized Catholics who are being interviewed all over the place who think that because Pope Francis isn’t Benedict XVI and loves the poor that he will change the Church’s moral and doctrinal teachings (most especially with respect to artificial contraception and women priests) I can only say they don’t know anything about the papacy or the Catholic Church.

There, I have gotten it off my chest. I am excited about Pope Francis, but I was excited about both John Paul and Benedict. I have hopes that Pope Francis will reform (rebuild) the Church and continue the Evangelization of all men with his own talents and charisma; but it comes down to Pope Francis’ response the Holy Spirit. Thus I need to pray for him and the Church.

Since I am getting things off my chest, here is something else which has been on my mind:

As Catholics, do we still believe in Purgatory? The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraphs 1030 to 1032 would seem to very clearly affirm the doctrine of Purgatory.

Then why is it never preached?

Maybe the subject doesn’t come up very often in Scripture and is thus not preached during most homilies, but at funerals?

Is the funeral Mass just for the consolation of the living? Or is it being offered for the deceased’s soul? Or may be the funeral Mass is both for the living and the dead.

And why would a funeral Mass be offered for the deceased’s soul if everyone goes straight to Heaven?

I ask because I have gone to many funeral Masses over the years, both for family members who have died and because my sons have served as altar boys at many funeral Masses over the years. Yet only one priest has mentioned Purgatory in all those funerals. Mostly I hear about the deceased looking down from Heaven at his gathered family and friends.

A funeral Mass is an opportunity for the priest to teach about what happens when we die. In this way we can be reminded both on how to continue to help the deceased on his way to Heaven with prayers for his soul and also be reminded of the possibly destiny of our own soul.

It may seem awkward or even uncharitable to tell family members that their departed loved one may still be suffering, but in reality it is uncharitable to withhold the truth-the truth that their departed loved one may still be suffering on his way to a Heavenly reward, but that they can help relieve his suffering and speed his path.

Purgatory is a mercy from God-without it few would reach those pearly gates. To cover-up God’s mercy is not merciful or charitable.

How many languish in Purgatory because no one is praying for them?

How many of the living will later languish in Purgatory because we believe we will go straight to Heaven upon our death?

Oremus pro invicem!

Cutting wood, cutting wood, cutting wood. This describes much of my days these days. My neighbor is thinning his pine forest and there are many hardwoods interspersed. The race is on. I need to get as much as I can before he burns the rest so he can replant pine. Most of it is cherry and oak. We have been taking it out in 3-4 foot sections to be cut to size and split later. I think we have more than enough cut for next year and the year after. My chain saw has been getting a workout. I think it is near to the point of needing some refurbishing (new sprocket and chain). I have gone through three chains (actually 2.5) since September. Just shows how much I have been cutting. I have another saw which I plan to refurbish for next season-an Echo- which also needs a new sprocket, chain and bar.


I did put in broccoli, brussel sprouts, Swiss Chard, Romaine Lettuce and a few rows of peas (early Alaskan and sugar snaps) last week. We needed to re-plow and harrow some of the garden-which is now done. I plan to put in a whole lot more peas by weeks end.

Last year I started planting corn by this time (picking our first corn on 1 June). This winter has not been very harsh, but it is certainly hanging on longer than last year. It will be a few more weeks before the sweet corn goes in, much to my relief, I have so much to do before then.

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I am writing a book! How to Slaughter and Butcher a Pig. I have it about 70% written, but have lots of figures and pictures to add. I am hoping it will be available (at least electronically) by the end of the summer. I haven’t figured out yet how and where I will sell it, or if I will offer a print version.

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Mrs. Curley and I plan to end our Lent by doing an at-home, eight day retreat (1- hour per day) based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Pray it goes well and that we succeed in setting aside the time required (the real challenge.)

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Number One son is working all kinds of hours as an EMT to pay for college-Wyoming Catholic-which he will be starting in the fall. He has worked hard for 2 years. We will miss him around here-but he works so much, we already miss him.

Oremus pro invicem!

Getting the garden ready

Today the boys plowed up the garden area as I need to get some brocolli, romaine lettuce, Swiss Chard, Kolrobi, early peas in the ground.

We haven't started plowing up the leased field yet, but this garden work will get Old Man (the horse) in shape. This year we are thinking about sunflowers (seeds are great for lactating cows) and sweet sorghum (syrup, grain for hogs, and fodder). Lots of work.

Our gilt Henri (daughter of Harry-get the trend) had her first litter today-maybe still in process. Last check she had between 10 and 12 piglets.

Another great day!

Oremus pro invicem!

What’s up with gas prices? Two weeks ago I could find gas for $3.14/gal. This morning I saw $3.75 (although I bought gas for $3.50).

Butchered our bull (800+ lbs) this past week after ascertaining that our Jersey was bred. I am really hoping for a heifer (well, we always do). But this time especially, as the bull was a Brown Swiss cross. My favorite milk cow was part Brown Swiss.

The slaughter and butcher went well, especially considering we had only one extra hand helping. The weather cooperated too-giving us three days to hang at least two quarters before butchering. But I am surely glad it is over. After Batman 2 weeks ago and the bull this past week, I don’t want to see anything over 300 lbs for a while.

I saved the loin for steaks and the brisket for corned beef (and of course the tongue). I also cut a half dozen or so roasts, but the majority was put to ground beef. Alas our grinder appears to be broken with about 20 lbs left to grind.

I am disappointed in the grinder. We only had it a year or so. With most hogs, we are only grinding 20 or so pounds in a given day. With the bull, we were careful to grind only about 40 lbs at a time before giving it a good rest. But apparently even this was too much for it. Friends of ours had the same model and it also broke after grinding about 30-40 pounds. Industrial meat grinders really cost ….

Oremus pro invicem!

Pictures

Here's a repost of a picture of one of our gamecocks and hens from last year. And below that a shot of our newest litter (we had 2 last week) nursing. And below that, some more work being done on 'Batman' with some friends watching-they didn't just watch, this was a great effort by all.

Oremus pro invicem!

'Batman'

Yesterday we slaughtered and dressed 'Batman'. He was a very special hog: raised on cream (1/2 gallon per day), peanuts, and grain. We felt he was too big to process this summer, and then things (including warm winter) prevented us from doing this sooner. As you can see, he is/was a monster.

 

 

 

Oremus pro invicem!