Continuing saga ....

on food prices and small farmers vs. big Ag. This is actually where I started several weeks ago, and here it is again. I read the following at Front Porch Republic :

Organic farming, Conkin notes, exists only because of the financial backing of affluent consumers. Morever, the advocates of organic farming are often unaware of their dependence on technological improvements and scientific advances, many subsidized by governments. No small farmer of his youth could have been met the certification requirements for organic farming. Even today, for those who go organic, they cannot be profitable selling free-range chickens or organic tomatoes except that there is a bobo marketplace where people will buy these products well above market prices.

At the same time, a small farm cannot be profitable because the public wants to spend their money on other things than food, and thus settles for subpar food. (And I am not an all-organic guy. I think there is a middle ground.)

Oremus pro invicem!

The end of an era ... beginning of a new era

We sold our last goats on Saturday. In some senses we were sorry to see them go, but it is for the best. We didn't have pasture or enough forage for them, and they weren't providing much to us either.

And the new? Mrs. Curley distributed her first batch of homemade soap around to the washing areas of the house last night.

Oremus pro invicem!

"With justice your right hand is filled"

When I read these words this morning, I thought that this may be a good title for a Western. "Fill your hand" is a common phrase in Max Brand and Louis L'Amour books (maybe Zane Grey too.)

But this phrase didn't come from a Western ... but from Psalm 48: 11 (D-R Ps 47: 11 "thy right hand is full of justice" -maybe even better version as a Western title.)

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Got lots of work done the past couple days-getting a good start on planting the fall garden. But we've had no rain. We even had a thunderstorm that knocked out power a couple weeks ago-but no rain came with it.

Today I wake up feeling like a truck hit me. I've taken a bit ill. Maybe I will get caught up on some office work today-and if I get bored with that, maybe post some more about goings-on here.

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Mrs. Curley and I were discussing the past, present and future yesterday. It is clear I am no businessman-perhaps that's not so bad as having poor timing. We get into the book business just as print media (in all its forms) is struggling to stay afloat; we decide to reprint old books, most of which now you can now download virtually free from the Internet. Then we get into the pig business as pork prices plummet due to economy and the H1N1 scare (don't dare call it 'swine flu' around here).

I am not complaining in the least. We've struggled, suffered and had a blast-and keep going-laughing a lot at ourselves and God's sense of humor.

Oremus pro invicem!

Update on a few items .... In my August 4th post (should food be cheap?) I asked the question:

Let's put it this way, if man used to spend most of his waking hours securing food through labor, should he now do the same through his paycheck?

Time Magazine this week (not my usual reading fare) has a cover article entitled "The Real Cost of Cheap Food". Here's a couple stats from the article:

Since 1935, consolidation and industrialization have seen the number of US farms decline from 6.8 million to fewer than 2 million-with the average farmer now feeding 129 Americans, compared with 19 people in 1940.

Food production was very local-subsistence farming with a little surplus for some cash. And

According to the USDA, Americans spend less than 10% of their income on food, down from 18% in 1966.

The article goes on to dispute whether this cheap food-when considering the subsidies, routine antibiotic use, environmental hazards, and health hazards (due both to antibiotic use and corn as a mainstay of feed)-is really all that cheaper.

We use more grain and corn on our livestock than I would like to, but as we develop our land, our goal is to use less and less grain and feed more and more greens (perhaps pasture if we ever can obtain more land). We don't use antibiotics as a regular course, but I am not opposed to antibiotics for a sick animal.

This year for instance, our meat birds ate mostly from our grass, supplemented by feed. Our hogs get milk, eggs, and some of the garden yield (more in the fall and winter as our greens grow very well during the cooler and rainier months), and this year will also get some of our peanut crop.

More later .... Oremus pro invicem!

I picked up a 2nd hand book last winter and have found it invaluable: Practical Farming for the South by B.F. Bullock (1946). In this book Mr. Bullock urges small farmers to diversify and not put everything into one cash crop which's success can be destroyed by drought or flood. Doing a little research on the net on this title, I found it listed as one of the books written mid-20th century by a black author, but without 'Black themes". I would have never known.

Anyhow, I used it to plan my spring garden, and now my fall garden. One thing Mr. Bullock suggests is planting Swiss Chard: highly drought resistant, but will last into the winter.

I wanted to plant a lot of Swiss Chard this spring, but couldn't find it anywhere locally . I finally got a small packet of 2007 vintage. I planted some as an experiment. It was great! I don't have many plants, but the ones I have are truly drought resistant and taste great.

It is sort of like spinach, but milder, and you have to cook it.

I finally convinced my local feed store owner to order some Swiss Chard for me. (He said he never had anyone ask for it before.) He got it in yesterday-I'll pick it up tomorrow. I am pretty excited.

I have been tilling the finished gardens and spreading manure. First planting for the fall (sugar snap peas, collards, Swiss chard, turnips, spinach, radishes) will come end of this week and beginning of next. Still eating a few butter beans, eggplant, and hoping a new zucchini crop starts fruiting this week.

Oremus pro invicem!

I was going to post on this ...

but someone else did it better and sooner. The point in question is "Cash for Clunkers". I will let him speak:

Auto salvage yards are often used by handy car owners who cannot afford the parts and labor of a professional mechanic. With a drop in the supply of parts, the prices will rise... and what was once affordable may no longer be so. And once again, low income Americans get unintentionally shafted.

Read the whole entry here.

The Clunkers are crushed and shredded; thus parts can't be resold. Of course this isn't my only problem with the program, but it is one that has a direct effect on what we do around here when the car breaks.

Oremus pro invicem!

Hoppin' John

From Rodale's Naturally Great Foods Cookbook (1977):

It is traditional to serve Hopping John on New Year's Day throughout the Carolinas. Eaten then, this dish is believed to bring good luck and plenty of everything the rest of the year.

Hoppin' John is a brown rice and black-eyed pea dish made usually with bacon and often cooked in a crock pot; but Mrs. Curley made it last night with pig's feet--delicious!

It wasn't New Year's Day, but it seems to me that yesterday (or thereabouts) did mark our 5th anniversary on the homestead at Bethany. Of course if you eat Hoppin' John with collard greens, it is supposed to ensure the following year brings wealth. We forgot the collards ... Oh well what do we need wealth for, we have everything!

Oremus pro invicem!

Should food be cheap?

It's a question I sometimes ask. On one hand, everyone is entitled to decent, healthy food-it is part of the bounty of the earth-a gift from God.

On the other hand, Big Agriculture and factory foods have made food very cheap, driving small farmers and businessmen out of business.

It used to be that most of a family's waking hours were devoted to food production. As my 91 year old neighbor put it, "We never had any cash, but we ate well." The desire for cash, (i.e. things) killed the family farm-along with the theory of 'economy of scale' championed by Capitalism and Big Ag.

So, if a small family farmer wants to make a living, how does he do it? I will quote from Kelly Klober's book Dirt Hog :

Very little money will ever be made farming for the global village, but the folks in the big houses above the global village, now there's your market.

I don't like it. I would like to produce quality pork for regular folks; they should be able to taste and enjoy pork the way it should taste. It's not just a prerogative of the rich. Yet, I can't stay in business unless my pork is priced for the 'big houses above the global village'.

So is this my problem or the problem of regular folks? Let's put it this way, if man used to spend most of his waking hours securing food through labor, should he now do the same through his paycheck?

The world is different. (Things, I believe are out of kilter, but this is out of the hands of most folks.) Most need cars and other things just to make their way in this world. What is a necessity and what has turned into a 'necessity' through marketing?

My family (the whole family) spends a good part of our time putting food on the table. We haven't bought meat in over a year. We don't grow all our own food, but are getting there. What we don't grow ourselves (or receive from our neighbor's surplus bounty) we buy from a farmer's market. Cash-wise, our food bill is pretty low, but labor-wise, it is pretty high-just ask the kids.

Stuff to think about.

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I keep coming back to this general idea (whether expressed by CS Lewis or in this case St. Catherine of Siena): "All the way to Heaven is Heaven". I heard another form of this on Sunday. Our visiting priest commented that we all want to spend eternity with God; if that's really the case, then why don't we spend more time with him now-in prayer?

I guess if we are truly living in the presence of God now-(quite a journey to get there, I would imagine)-then Heaven will not be so much different.

Oremus pro invicem!

I never read any of Joyce Kilmer's poetry. My closest contact with him was the James Cagney/Pat O'Brien movie: The Fighting 69th. Someone played him in this movie, as he was in this regiment and died fighting in WWI . But in From James J. Daly, SJ's A Cheerful Ascetic there is an essay on Joyce Kilmer-convert to Catholicism and excerpts from some of his letters. Here's a letter which caught my eye:

I need some stricter discipline, I think, and it's hard to get it. I enjoy my confessor's direction very much; he's a fine old Irishman with no nonsense about him. But I need to be called a fool, I need to have some conceit and sophistication knocked out of me. I suppose you think this is "enthusiasm"-that much-heralded danger of converts. Perhaps it is, but I don't think so. I know I'm glad I live two miles from the church, because it's excellent for a lazy person like myself to be made to exert himself for religion. And I wish I had a stern medieval confessor-the sort one reads about in anti-Catholic books-who would inflict real penances. The saying of Hail Marys and Our Fathers is no penance, it's a delight.

Read that last line again.

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We have now lost three piglets; the one we were nursing took a turn for the better on Saturday morning and then just died Saturday evening. And then yesterday it looks like a little piglet was the victim of being laid on. As I said before, its not how many are born, but how many are weaned.

Oremus pro invicem!

Farrowing

Last evening (right on schedule) our second gilt (Duroc/York cross) farrowed. 16 live births!

A couple were difficult-in fact I had the hot soapy water ready with a a restraint as over an hour passed between the first and second piglet-the second being huge. (20 minutes is usual.) There was a second difficult one at about piglet 8. It came out breach (which in general is okay) but for a while it looked like only one hoof was coming. This piglet is very weak and in the house being nursed now.

About 1/2 way through the farrowing we had a downpour-fortunately it was fairly short. Of course Big Spot had made her nest in the open. She eventually retreated into her house, and we quietly moved the piglets in with her.

We went to bed without knowing the final outcome.

This morning I found piglet had escaped the pen and was wandering. Another had been apparently set on and was dead. And the one we are now nursing, looked dead in the farrowing house, but when I went to remove it, it was still breathing. I brought is in and daughter and Mrs. Curley started working on him. We don't have much hope, but my daughter is trying.

In the picture above, note all the black pigs. Guess dad's genes are pretty dominant. I love it. I love colored pigs. (Tarzan will get his watermelon today!)

16 live births from a gilt is almost double than what would be expected or hoped for. (The twelve we had from the first farrowing this year was very pleasing.) I bought the Big Spot from a friend who also sold me the two 'reds' that I have pictured here before. Of course how many you wean is always the big number. We have a couple runts in there. We'll see how they all do.

Finally, an area farmer let us take the watermelons he can't sell due to over-ripeness or other reasons. The pigs love them-but will get pretty fat unless we control consumption.

God has blessed us greatly.

Oremus pro invicem!

I never could resist reading or writing about Thomas More. If ever there was a saint's life or writer who could touch me, it is More.

My sister (from the dark and bloody ground) sent me a collection of essays by James J. Daly, SJ (1st published in 1931 - this edition is 1968). Three of the essays are on Thomas More.

It comes to this: if serious people are tempted to fling up their hands at the casual air with which saints trifle with misfortune, it is only because serious people are not serious enough. Take, for instance, Bishop Burnet (A "Protestant Bishop, historian of the Reformation, was shocked at what he was pleased to consider the levity of Sir Thomas on the momentous occasion" of mounting the scaffold-JC). It is very probable that he (Burnet) did not wear a hair shirt most of his life, nor get up every morning at two o'clock to spend most of the time in prayer and the rest in study til seven o'clock Mass. Thomas More did these things and many other hard things like them, which it is scarcely and injustice to the bishop to surmise that he never dreamed of doing. It is not, therefore, idle or paradoxical to conclude that Sir Thomas was the more serious
man.

Sounds like I need to get more serious!

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We have a gilt ready to farrow any day now, (actually due tomorrow.) She is a Duroc/York cross. I am interested in how the piglets (daddy a Hampshire) will look.

We took a ride on Saturday and looked at a few hogs, including some Old Spots. Boy, they looked interesting. But we need to consolidate what we have for the moment.

Speaking of which, we sold most of our herd of goats this past week. We have two more (wethers) to sell (or put in the freezer) and one nannie left. I think I can sell the nannie this week. We will use their old stomping grounds for garden - perhaps the richest soil on the property.

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You may have noted that I haven't spent much time posting about Requiem Press in recent months, but then again posts have been sparse anyhow. There is some news to report.....soon. So stay tuned.

Busy day on the homestead on this feast of St. Mary Magdalen. I think my Dad had a devotion to her. We found an old beat up holy card of Mary Magdalen in his sports coat pocket. I still have it.

Oremus pro invicem!

Dorothy Day:

I felt even at fifteen, that God meant man to be happy, that He meant to provide him with what he needed to maintain life in order to be happy, and that we didn not need to have quite so much destitution and misery as I saw all around and read of in the daily press. -From The Long Lonliness

A friend was just remarking to me the other day what a relevation it was to him to realize that God made the earth for him (or us) to satisfy our needs so we could be happy. You may say "Sure, sure I know that"-but think about it. Do you?

Oremus pro invicem!

Back to Ireland

Our beloved pastor, Fr. John O'Holohan SJ, returned to Ireland after some 20 years as a missionary in the States, preceded by some 20 years as a missionary in Zambia. He's not retired, he will be the chaplain to a hospital in Dublin and help out at parish.

We love you Father John! You have lifted our hearts closer to God these past 5 years! Pray for us - we will pray for you!

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Saw two kid's movies this week; a rare occurrence around here. First Cars. It's really the story of Bethune. In the 1960's, I-95 opens and towns along the former main route from Maine to Florida (Route 1) begin to die. Bethune used to have a truck stop, bowling alley, restaurants, movie theater, schools. It's all gone (the elementary school is hanging on, but just barely.)

Then, due to rain canceling our beach trip, we went into Columbia for a free Tuesday morning showing of Charlotte's Web at the Sandhills movie theater. (I have never read the book or seen the orginal cartoon version-although all my kids had done both.) I think I appreciated the movie much more now that I am out here homesteading than I would have 6 years ago. Pretty funny, and truly "G"-rated as advertised.

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I have so much good stuff to write about around here, but am so busy, I don't have much time on the computer. Actually, am thankful for that. I am at the stage where I almost want to chuck it-but I do make some $$ here and there using it, so it can't go yet.

I will leave you with a photo from the goings-on around here. We had the pleasure of harvesting our neighbor's field of corn and stalks, which was 'through' for the season due to lack of rain (thankfully we have been getting rain again the past 2-3 days.) The corn we will feed the hogs (we ate a little ourselves) and the stalks we will dry and feed the cows. Here are our first attempts at corn shocks.

Oremus pro invicem!

Think Pig!

Brief Update

Update: Commenter Jim D. suggested I put some more info on my pigs for sale up here, so here it goes: These guys were born on 4/24/09. They are Hampshire-Yorkshire crosses (both sire and dame were prize-winners at last year's SC State Fair.) Right now I have 3 Barrows (cut males) and 3 gilts (females) for sale. They are pushing 45-50 pounds. Pictured are a sampling. These are $35 now, but as they bigger they will get more expensive. (Figure about 1 more week at this price.)

We have two litters due in July (ready for sale in late August/early September.) One litter is also a Hamp-York cross. The other is a Hamp-Duroc-York cross.

If you are interested in any, send me an email (link on the right sidebar.) We are in Bethune (Kershaw County) SC.

Sold two piglets yesterday .... several more to go. Moved some pigs today, trying to keep them on fresh ground and some greenery, and have to get the farrowing pen refreshed. We have two litters coming in July.

Dusted my peanuts with gypsum on Thursday. It's been pretty hot out here for outside work, but we did get the garden back in some sort of shape this morning.

Been getting about 4.5 gallons a day from our Jersey. The calf gets some; we make butter; we drink about 2-3 gallons a day. The extra goes to the pigs.

Have been reluctant to comment on Mark Sanford. I was sorely disappointed in him, but I should be old enough to know by now that you can't put too high hopes in mere mortals-especially politicians. Still Mr. Sanford seemed different. Not popular among Dems nor among many Republicans, he seemed to be principled no matter what the cost-I guess only on some things. The family needs prayers. (Boy this society takes it toll on families.)

Back to work...thanks for stopping by.

Oremus pro invicem!

From an interview with Bob Waldrop yesterday on CatholicExchange :

Waldrop:I get a lot of plastic grocery bags left at my office door at church with four cans of green beans in them. And I am grateful for each can of green beans that someone gives. But I often wish that they would expand their horizons a bit and give something that they themselves would like to eat, OR at least something highly nutritious and often scarce at food pantries like powdered or canned milk, canned meats, and peanut butter. One of the things on my list of things to do is to organize home bread bakers who would bake bread for the poor. Another thing that we rarely if ever get is fresh vegetables. Home gardeners can plant an extra row or bed or two or three for the poor, and that’s a great gift.

If we wanted to think really radical, parishes and dioceses could actually buy farms and ranches, and operate them for the purpose of raising and producing food for the poor. We could have our own canneries and produce a line of canned goods for the poor — “St. Joseph’s”. The Mormons do this, internationally, and I always think that if the Mormons could figure this out, so could us Catholics. The Mormons know that the value of something like this goes far beyond the actual production of the food item. It might actually be cheaper for them to just go into the regular wholesale trade and buy all that food, but actually producing it themselves promotes solidarity.

hmmmm. (Read the rest here )

Oremus pro invicem!

In our last post-it seems eons ago, I paraphrased a point in The Way by Saint Josemaria Escriva on successes and failures. I received correspondence from a dear friend pointing out that my paraphrase isn't exactly true. Of course I can't lay my hands on my copy of The Way this morning (I had last week), but I did find a website with all his writings. Perhaps this is what I was thinking of:

Make this firm and determined resolution: to recall, when you receive honours and praise, all that brings a blush of shame to your cheek.The shame is yours; the praise and glory, God's. - The Way #252

In any event, my correspondent pointed out that God is with us in our failures and that sometimes a failure is not what it seems. Further we can only succeed if we cooperate with God's grace. (I AM paraphrasing the correspondent.)

All true. I guess was looking at it in another context: Some people will take credit for the rain, but blame God when they flunk a test they didn't study for.

Of course, point #252 really isn't about either. It is about giving God his due.

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Finally, I have been meaning to write about this for a couple weeks. I walk around with shirts having a dirty left shoulder, from milking-that is I lean on Mabel (our Jersey) with my left shoulder. If I milk in the same shirt multiple times, the stain becomes permanent. Another aspect of life I never contemplated before.....

And, I didn't want to let yesterday's feast of my favorite saint, Thomas More, go by unnoticed. I have often wondered at the fact he didn't remove his hair shirt until a day or two before his execution, and then only because he didn't want it found on him, preferring this penance to remain anonymous; this after more than a year in prison. That's a man!

Oremus pro invicem!

So, I am picking our first batch of green beans yesterday. (Last year we pick 4-yes 4-beans). I am reviewing the great zucchini, the moderately successful peas and spinach, spring collards, and everything. And I think to myself, "I finally did it!" But just as quickly, I checked that thought. My past failures were so proximate, I knew that I hadn't really done it. God had done it. He has blessed us with plentiful rain so far. He has blessed me with the land and animals and thus the manure to put on the land. St. Josemaria Escriva wrote in the The Way (somewhere)-paraphrasing: "Your successes are God's. Your failures are your own."

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I leave you with another interesting picture of yours truly ....

Oremus pro invicem!

When Mrs. Curley and I were a young couple with a young family we experienced often something I rarely understood. Here and there an older couple (usually having grown children) would sort of 'adopt us'. These were always great people; we enjoyed some wonderful friendships and times, but I never really understood why they adopted us. Yeh, our kids were cute, but ....

This past Sunday I think I sort of figured it out. A young couple were getting their first child baptized at Sunday Mass. They actually aren't parishioners; the young man's parents are, but he is in the service and on leave. They were so clean cut and so young, so much energy, and obviously so much love for that baby. My heart (even though I still have my own at home, but no infants) went out to them like it never has before.

Maybe I am just getting old and sentimental.

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Swiss Chard is in. Mrs. Curley cooked it in macaroni, cheese and sausage last night... delicious. The other day I was picking zucchini and I saw what I thought was a huge weed growing out of the garden. I picked it ... a huge radish, pictured here.

Finally, our first litter of piglets go on sale Thursday this week.

Oremus pro invicem!

The one who speaks is to deliver God's message. - 1 Peter 10

Scarcity due to long working hours .... Cut my first piglets yesterday. Not my favorite job, but I got the hang of it after a doing a few. Now to sell some....

Great celebration on Saturday. We had Guinness in the house after a long respite. More importantly some friends from out of town stopped by for a too brief visit on their way through SC (bearing the Guinness). I am sure Bethune was not on the original path, but we are grateful they stopped by to see the sights.

On tap: more fence building (for cows, pigs, and goats); I have to till in the peas and get my butter (lima) beans in this week; new portable pen for the turkeys (still have 12 surviving), and the general odd tasks.

Have another attempt at bacon going on (only one of about 8 batches has turned to my liking). Speaking of bacon, got to earn some.

Oremus pro invicem!

It must seem weird to most folks. Here I exclaim over a pea plant yielding ... peas. I gush over our first zucchini off the vine.

Many, many people have gardens and do these things everyday-I am in awe of them. Everyday I learn something new and there are new challenges-like I am back in school.

Yesterday I went to town and picked up a couple bags of feed. Put them in the bed of my truck. Stopped to run another errand and it started to pour rain. No rain in the forecast, but here we were with cats and dogs coming down.

I transferred the feed to the cab and drove home excitedly. Sure the straw I had spread out would get wet again, but I was thinking of the peanuts we planted in our neighbors field on Friday and the beans we planted on Saturday (as well as the rest of the garden.)

It stopped raining as I got within a quarter mile to home. Not a drop at the homestead.

5 years ago I hated rain. Theoretically I knew we needed the periodic rain, but I had no use for it. Drought? It only bothered me if they rationed my water or limited open fires at campgrounds. Now I experience personally the greater purpose.

Was reading The Yeoman Farmer the other day, and he was writing about mistakes made when they first moved to the farm. (Boy just check out the archives here and you can read some whoopers!) One involved originally getting a milk cow, but later realizing that for them, goat's milk was a better choice. Funny how it is opposite for us. We bought a herd of goats to milk and it just never really worked. And us with only 2 acres, buy a milk cow, it looks pretty good.

Finally, I have a new nephew born in May: Boethius. (I read Boethius' 'Consolation of Philosophy' some years ago at the recommendation of the my nephew's father. I do also recommend it.)

Oremus pro invicem!

It came to me as I watered the garden.

I am sure this is in no way original (in fact, it almost seems I posted something similar a few years back. But it struck me again this morning.)

Faith is believing that seeds mature into plants that give fruit.

Hope is the expectation, based on your faith, that the seed you plant will mature into plants that give fruit.

But this hope will be fruitless unless the seeds and plants are tended with love.

Farmer's philosopy?

Oremus pro invicem!

Weekend update

We've been getting a lot done around here. Planted a field of peanuts on Thursday. Picked our first zucchini today. It looks like we'll have lots more. Second crop of peas (first were sugar snap, these are Alaskan) are up and starting to fruit. Kale is going strong. The spring collards are about done (fed these to the pigs.)

Speaking of which, we are starting to 'creep' feed them (meaning feeding them food which their momma can't get to but they can) in preparation of weaning them this week.

Don't know if I mentioned it before, but we acquired a couple Duroc/Tamworth cross weaner piglets a few weeks ago. One is hopefully for the herd. Here's a picture of these two. I like red pigs.

The milking is going well. We still haven't separated the calf from the mother, (we haven't finished the milking shed for that matter), but we are getting almost 3 gallons a day for ourselves, plus cream for the coffee and butter.

One sad note for us, but a happy note for others-as they gain what we lose: Our beloved pastor, Fr. John O'Holohan is returning to Ireland for good. He will be living in a Jesuit house their and working in a parish in Dublin near his family. We will miss him. He inspired and guided us these past almost 5 years. We will pray for him (and a holy pastor for our parish) and miss him.

Oremus pro invicem!

Need to update some of my side links, especially to include sites like Front Porch Republic. Here's an excerpt from a piece by Caleb Stegall, which was part of his commencement address to his alma mater recently:

In less poetic language, this is what I have sometimes called practicing the discipline of place. To practice this discipline is to believe that to suffer one’s place and one’s people in the particularity of its and their needs is the primary basis for finding love, friendship,and an authentic, meaningful life. This is nothing less, I would argue, than the key to thepursuit of Christian holiness, which is the whole of the Christian adventure: to live in love with the frailty and limits of one’s existence, suffering the places, customs, rites, joys, and sorrows of the people who are in close relation to you by family, friendship, andcommunity—all in service of the truth, goodness, and beauty that is best experienced directly.

Now, what am I saying? Does this mean that I think you should always stay in one place,that you cannot be called elsewhere, or that you ought to forever limit your own horizons.No. I am neither foolish nor naïve enough to think that this is either possible or even agood thing. What it does mean is that the human heart, your heart, will never flourishand blossom if it is forever pining after the next thing, or captured by the false promise ofsomething better just out of grasp, always seeking satisfaction somewhere other thanwhere it is. Rather, it is that marriage between the endless internal horizon of your heartand the limited, restrained, concrete life of geography and community that has borne themost delightful and satisfying fruits of human history. So cast down your bucket where you are.

This is at once the most radical and the most conservative thing you can do with your life.Yet you are heading out into a very conventional, middling, controlled world. Oh, they will tell you that their marches for progress and rights are daring, that they are radical.Or they will tell you that their religious revivals are conservative, that they are the moralcenter. You will hear it all, but the truth is that for the most part, people are in the grips of a boring, lifeless ideology of personal fulfillment, choice, and upward mobility. We live in a society of tourists—and if tourists have one thing in common it is this—that theyare not at home.

Many if not all of you are off to college somewhere to further your education. This is nota bad thing, and may become a very good thing for you, but I am here tonight with awarning. The world of higher education is a strip mining operation, plain and simple, andyou will become the raw resource being mined. This is the result of a system designed todiscover and refine the most meritorious among you and ship you off to whatever spot inthe world you will be most “productive.”

You will hear over and over and over again, in many different forms, that nothing must get in the way of making the most of your social and economic opportunities. No ancientbonds of tradition must hold you back (look to the Future, they will say); no loyalties toyour home, to the place of your memory and your belonging must interfere (you can be aJayhawk anywhere, they will say); no sentimental attachment to those who havebefriended and loved you can count (think of all the diverse experiences you will miss,they will say).

I say, resist! Resist the spirit of the age. It does not have your welfare in mind.

Butter

Number 3 Son spearheaded the effort yesterday morning (while I was in town earning keep.) Looks and tastes great!

Oremus pro invicem!

We went to Mass in the morning-the kids doing some school work in the car on the way (it is a 35 mile trip.) Came home. I worked on a new chicken tractor, we put a picnic shoulder on the grill. After lunch, two of the boys and daughter slaughtered and plucked two chickens, which I then butchered. One son finished up the chicken tractor while I took another up to McBee to buy a bale of hay. The animals got fed, the cow got milked, and we sat down to dinner.

And boy what a dinner! That bbq'd picnic shoulder was fabulous. (Mrs. Curley had marinated it and continually basted it while on the grill. This is how to cook a shoulder.)

I commented on how well we eat. I said I bet we eat better than anyone we know. Then I also commented on how hard we all work. Number Two Son said it was worth it to eat like this. (I am glad he thinks so.)

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We have been saying parts or all of the rosary in Latin these past weeks. First we did it just to learn the prayers in Latin, but it has caught on. Number Three Son told me it helps him concentrate on the mysteries. I can't get away with saying an 'Ave' in English without some looks from the kids. Amazing how some of the kids have better pronunciation of the Latin than I do (even though I took 3 years of it way back.)

Oremus pro invicem!

Saturday evening (just at dusk) I am heading out to fill the car with gas and pick up some 'expired' beer down the street, when I hear a strange low guttural sound from Mama pig. As I go to investigate, I suddenly see that ALL the goats are out. They have forced a hole on the back side of their pen and are happily munching on some greenery. I call for help and head over.

By the time I get there, all but one of the goats has scrambled back into their pen. "Johnny" is still out, and since I am not the most popular guy with our goats (I cut their nails, chase them off the pig food, the garden, etc.) I wait for Number 2 daughter so I don't scare him off. Sure enough, she just walks over and grabs him, and we put him back in.

By this time Mrs. Curley is out as are my top (by age) three sons. The sons go to patch the fence and I decide to head out again. But just then I remember I was originally alerted by a strange sound from Mama Pig. Mrs. Curley is the closest, so I ask her to check.

Mama Pig is stuck in a tire .... Background: the pigs have rubber tubs for water. They are easy to tip over, so we get old tires from the recycling center and wedge the rubber tubs into the hole in the center of the tires. A determined hog can still tip it and still get the tub out of the tire, but it takes a lot more work.

Mama Pig must have gotten the tub out of the tire, then put her head through the hole, and somehow her front legs also. She was not happy.

So ..... Number One Son and I went in and slowly tried to work the tire back, the idea is that it will be easier to ease if off her hind quarters than to get it over an agitated hog's head. Progress was slow with Mama becoming increasingly unhappy, especially at the tire can't be too pleasant as we try to ease it past her full teats. Finally she has had enough and runs.

We decided that we would simply go and hang onto the tire. When Mama ran, we would hang on and pull it off. We tried it. We didn't get it off, but simply enraged Mama Pig. She came after us (very dangerous), and we retreated out of the pen.

Mrs. Curley suggested trying again, but this time lubricating her up first.

So we got some canola oil, and from outside the pen I poured it on her in proximity to the tire. Still outside the pen, I leaned over and grabbed hold of the tire. Then Mama tried to run ... the tire slipped off.

You never know what's going to change the schedule and interrupt plans around here.

Oremus pro invicem!

PS .... Oh yes, I forgot to mention, we are now off store milk. Our Jersey's milk is great!

So, yesterday afternoon I am in the middle of butchering a hog and I hear "Uh Oh!!!!". Mrs. Curley tells me the chest freezer has cut off and there is a funny smell. Uh Oh!

Sure enough, the compressor is not going and there is a funny smell. Mrs. Curley thinks its freon.

Fortunately, the unit from Sears, is still under warranty. So I call and am told: "Sorry for the inconvenience. A service technician will be out between 3:00 and 5:00 PM on May 26th."

I say, "I have to wait a week?"

"Sorry for the inconvenience, sir. But we only service your area on Tuesdays, and tomorrow is already booked."

Can you believe it? I complained that this part of the warranty needs to be explained during the purchase, that is that service technicians are only available in my area on Tuesdays-and I better plan my appliance breakdowns well in advance so I can get the nearest Tuesday. (And they want me to buy extended warranties? I think not.)

So after a few more phone calls and 'call elevations', I get put on the waiting list for today.

Then I hear the news ... the freezer has cut back on. The smell seems to be gone.

Now, just to give you perspective: when this all happened, we were just finishing up the first half of the hog, the second half being on ice. With the freezer now on, (I put a thermometer in to ensure it was holding temp.) we decided to go ahead-after all how long could I keep the hog on ice in the bathtub?

So a ham or so into the other side, Mrs. Curley tells me she smells it again when putting some meat in the freezer. Daughter who is helping Mrs. Curley pack the meat says, holds up the marker she is marking the meat packages with and says, "I only smell this magic marker!" And turns out, that's all we were smelling too! (the compressor cutting out must have simply been part of its cycle.)

I am embarrassed to call Sears and cancel the service call. (But I am glad I learned about how the warranty works.)

Oremus pro invicem!

Weekly (or so) update

Lots been happenin'. Picked up a couple Duroc/Tamworth cross piglets this weekend. One for the herd and one for the freezer come the fall. I like red pigs. Will get a picture up soon.

We also slaughtered a hog this weekend with friends. And then, the weather was so good (44 F when I got up this morning) that we slaughtered another this morning. Butcher later today.


Speaking of pigs ... we celebrated my birthday a few weeks ago and Mrs. Curley & Number 3 Son worked out a beautiful cake, pictured here.


Next we have a bowl of sugar snap peas from the garden. We've been having them with dinner all week. More to come. Beans are up as is the zucchini. We have more to plant, including a field of peanuts this week. We've (not me) been eating our onions too. Collards and the thinned beets are going to the pigs.

Here's a picture of our last goat moments after birth a week or so ago. I think it is the last of the spring.



And the most important happening in the last week was our youngest receiving her First Holy Communion on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

Life is good. God has blessed us abundantly.

Oremus pro invicem!

Update on the Communion in the hand issue discussed below: The Man with the Black Hat discussed this several days ago as it arose in Texas. Here is his take after some research:

You see, the multiple options notwithstanding, Catholics of the Latin rite are ENTITLED to communion on the tongue, but are merely permitted communion in the hand. This bishop's attempt to restrict it is illicit -- that is to say, it is unlawful. He has no authority to restrict that which a higher authority allows. Even if he has an excuse. Even if he likes the warm, fuzzy feeling that comes from people blissfully following one's every official utterance.

I haven't been keeping up with the computer, so I didn't realize this was going on elsewhere.

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New goat kid today Birth just happened a few minutes ago. This will be the last of the season.

One of our free-range roosters landed in the dog kennel today. Our dog (collie/spaniel mix) broke its wing-probably trying to play with him-and then (the dog) started crying-which alerted us. I hope this isn't the start of any bad habits (on the part of our dog or our roosters).....

Am getting more milk now. I've figured it out, and the cow has figured out that I have figured it out.

The boys weren't serving Mass on Sunday so we decided to get an early Mass at another parish (our parish only has one Sunday Mass at 10:00 AM). Not a great idea. The priest announced that we were all to receive Holy Communion in the hand due to the flu thing. I have never received Holy Communion by hand in my life-and neither has Mrs. Curley or the kids-and I wasn't about to now. We were some of the last to receive. When we did receive on the tongue (the priest did not try to confront us in Communion line) Mrs. Curley told me (I didn't notice) that there were lots of gasps and whispering. Guess we won't be too welcome there. That wasn't the only thing. Their 'vacation Bible school' was being held at and jointly with the Episcopal parish. Am grateful the the blessings we have now.

Can you imagine if there had been a confrontation over Holy Communion. I could announced that not only would I only receive on the tongue, but I was simply a poor swine farmer! What a scene that would have been.

Oremus pro invicem!

Money-quote on let-down

From The Family Cow by Dirk van Loom:

People were aware of some "let-down" process long before hormones were known. All kinds of gimmicks and props and rituals have been used to bring it on strong. For thousands of years it was suggested the calf had to be present at milking time. If you didn't have a live calf a stuffed one might do. Or the milker would don a calf skin.

Then there was (and still is in some parts of the world) a practice of insulflation to encourage let-down. While one person milked another blew air or water into the cow's rectum.

I explained all this to the owner of our local feed store. He said he wouldn't want to be the one blowing the air. I pointed to my son and commented, "What do you think he's for?"

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More office work this morning (Requiem Press still lives in a weak economy), but later if the rain holds up, I will work on some chicken/turkey housing and possibly process a couple roosters who have come of age.

Oh yes, and we have a game hen sitting on some fertile eggs. A couple more weeks and we will have some totally free-range chicks floating around.

Oremus pro invicem!

Letdown

That is, how it applies to cows and milking...We've had some trouble milking the cow. For one, we didn't up her feed before she calved because we didn't know when she was due. So this offsets full production. For two, we are just getting the hang of milking (and she us.) So weren't doing so well. But there is a third factor I theorized, but was proven this morning. Letdown. She was holding back her milk for the calf. (We have not separated them yet. We just take whatever milk the calf doesn't.) This morning we got out there just as the calf was trying to nurse. I shooed the calf and milked.....letdown!!!! She couldn't help it, the milk had already been let down. We got twice as much as ever before.

We haven't started drinking it yet-that will come next week, but have been feeding it to one of the pigs getting ready for butcher. (And by the way, I am not the only milker. Yesterday I was earning keep in the city and Number 1 son had to do the evening milking. He did a good job.

Now to the garden. Not everything is in. We still have more beans, squash, tomatoes, eggplant, and lots of peanuts to plant, but we are not behind. So far the peas have come in well. Beets, cabbage, onions, collards, Jerusalem artichokes, cayenne peppers, tomatoes (2 plants) and some zucchini and beans are all up (in various stages of development.) We already harvested the radishes. Most went to the beasts, as did the thinned beet greens and collard greens. But I tell you, we are working hard.

Still have a barn to do, a pig pen to construct as well as building something for the turkeys ... they are just about ready to leave the brooder, as are our meat birds. Better get back to work.

I will try to supply more pictures soon. We have them (and videos, just not much time.)

Oremus pro invicem!

From an American Conservative article in March '09 about SC governor Mark Sanford:

Though he describes his childhood as happy, Sanford’s adolescence was touched by tragedy. When he was a junior in high school, his father was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. When he died five years later, the Sanford family buried him under a pair of oak trees overlooking a river, according to his wishes. Mark built the casket. He says,

"You hammer the nails closed, you carry it out there in the back of the pickup to a certain part of the farm. You lower the thing down there. You and your brothers do it on your own, and then grab shovels. We say a little prayer, fill the grave, walk back up to the house. It was an intensely personal experience that really hit home for me: you ain’t taking any of this stuff with you."

Similar to my wishes, although I don't have an oak tree or a river to be buried near. I want an old-fashioned wake here at the homestead. I want people eating, talking, and drinking in the back room while others take turns in a vigil praying for my soul in the den where my body lay (on dry ice-no embalming for me!) in a homemade casket. After transport to and from the funeral Mass I want to be buried on our homestead where the daily view of my grave by my loved ones will prompt numerous prayers for my poor soul. I want my sons to lower my casket and shovel the dirt. This is the way it should be done.

Oremus pro invicem!

English Martyrs

How could I neglect such a favorite feast? I will let my posts from the past (Here's a digest of them ) about these heroic soldiers of Christ speak for me today. I thank a commenter on one of these older posts today of reminding me. If you want to know more about them, one book is our own Witnesses to the Holy Mass and other sermons. It can be ordered here. Read an excerpt here.

Oremus pro invicem!

Milking ...

I find homestead chores are taking up most of my time these days. This is not a bad thing. I do miss posting daily and substantially, (there are plenty of stories to tell), but real work calls. Just a short update here ....

Piglets are growing and prospering (11 of 12 survived). I visited a fellow hog-raiser on Tuesday and learned how to castrate piglets. It looks just like it reads, but it is good to see it done in person before trying at home. I will keep a couple piglets, but plan to sell most as feeders by the end of May.

I mentioned turkeys briefly before .... We ordered 20, but only 13 survived the first 48 hours, so the hatchery replaced the 7. We received these this past week. The first set of turkey is ready to leave the brooder, as are our meat birds (some Cornish X hens and some large breed roosters). Much work to do as neither has a place to go.

Milking shed has most of its walls now and is partially roofed. Still much work to do, but we now have a place to milk. The new calf is indeed a heifer. If all goes well with milking, we will keep her.

Milking has been rough to start, but I am getting the hang of it. We are now milking her out twice a day while still keeping the calf on her. This gives us some, and introduces us to the milking schedule (we need it more than the cow), and still gives the calf a strong start without the calf over-milking. I'm still learning this milking thing, but somehow I feel different now that I have done it (?).

We still have one goat that has not kidded yet. We will begin selling some goats soon too.

The garden is looking pretty good in general. I planted zucchini and beans last week. We have more to go. I have a concern on some sections of the garden with some yellowing going on. I am not sure what the cause is. We have many peanuts to plant this week. I hope to get the boys on it.

I am way behind on office work and regular household fixits, so that's it for today. God is good!

Oremus pro invicem!

What a weekend! Piglets on Friday (11 of 12 survived so far.)

Pig roast and square dance on Saturday ... lots of work and fun .... and what pork! Never tasted such meat (and potatoes). While we were scraping our 1st pig I thought never again, but after tasting the results, we'll do it again.

Then today ... our cow calved! Looks like a little heifer, but daylight will tell for sure.

God is good!

Oremus pro invicem!

A couple notes and pics. The first is framing up the milking shed last weekend. We haven't finished yet, but hope to in the next weeks.

Next up (and finally), here is picture of our gilt yesterday-she's not so big today.... she had 12 piglets this afternoon. I was as nervous as a new dad. They are not out of the woods yet, but am proud of mama pig and boar tonight. We'll see how they're doing in the morning. (Sorry no pics yet, the camera needed re-charging.

Oremus pro invicem!

He is Risen!

Finally back, if only for a moment. Contemplating this first post I wondered if I should catch up on everything: Mrs. Curley's fall down the stairs (she's okay with 2 separate ankle sprains), how several goat kids were born (one being delivered by Mrs. Curley herself), 3 pigs bred (and the saga of getting one of these home and then the subsequent moving of her from one pen to another, the new chickens and new turkeys, the brooder, the new barn going up, Holy Week with a houseful of sick children, the 5th anniversary of Requiem Press (April 19th), the garden (and the new Bethune Farmers Market), and all the rest.

All these stories and much more to be told ... but these will have to wait in turn.

The break was good and welcome, so welcome in fact, that I believe future posting will be sparse for at least a while.

But happy Easter to all ... He is Risen!

Oremus pro invicem!

Mark Dalley, 19 years old, went home to our Lord on Tuesday. Pray for his soul and the consolation of his family.

Rosary 2:30pm Sunday, visitation following, McEwen Funeral Home, Monroe. Funeral 11am Monday, Saint Catherine Catholic Church, Lancaster.

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen. — Eternal rest grant to them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

Try to acquire the virtues you believe lacking in your brothers. Then you will no longer see their defects, for you will no longer have them yourself. (from St. Augustine quoted by St. Josemaria Escriva in Christ is Passing By)

We cannot regard this Lent as just another liturgical season which has simply happened to come around again. It is a unique time: a divine aid which we should accept. Jesus is passing by, and he hopes we will take a great step forward –today, now. – St. Josemaria Escriva (Christ is Passing By-Scepter Press)

So, what's been going on? Plenty! Our family milk cow was delivered on Saturday morning. She needs some love, but is already looking better. We don't have a barn up for her yet (just a temporary shelter if she wants it), but we are working on it. She is warming up to us slowly. She is supposedly due to calf in the May-June time frame. She was dried off this winter due to illness of the owner. Take a look at her!

Later on Saturday Number 3 Son and I took a trip to Sumter, SC to take a look at a possible gilt addition to the hog herd. We spent several hours touring his place. He has a Duroc Boar, two Tamworth Sows and a several Yorkshire Sows. Those Tamworths look good. Eventually I would like to have only heritage breeds ... but that can wait. We did pick out a Duroc-Yorkshire cross gilt and will get her this coming Saturday.

Our new kids are thriving. Here are a couple pictures moments after birth.

I bought a tiller I can't afford yesterday. It was great deal, and our tiny cultivator was just not meant to till the size garden we are planting.

I tilled a couple sections yesterday. We need to get our onions, beets, sugar snap peas and cabbage into the ground this week.

Our neighbor who has been so generous with his excess/over ripe water melon and corn is letting us plant on two sections of his land. Both sections by themselves are 2-3 times bigger than our old garden area. This will give us an opportunity to really supplement our livestock feed and maybe even eliminate some of the feed bill.

We will still use the old garden site for a family garden, but will now be able to grow some legumes in bulk. Lots of work to do, but we (at least Mrs. Curley & I) are excited.

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Which brings me around to the last point. Ash Wednesday is fast upon us. I need to spend more time in prayer, and I have much work to do around here in the next weeks (as outlined above). Thus, this will be my last post for a while. I don't really know if I will post at all during Lent-although this isn't meant to be a formal 'blogfast', but don't count on much coming out of here.

I spend way too much time in front of the computer with little profit (financial or spiritual), so it's time to cut back. Just practically, the economy is tough right now, and it doesn't make sense to spend time on doing things which don't help support the household.

I am hoping the investments and efforts we have been putting into our small holding here will help us in these tight times to feed ourselves and anyone else in need. We have been working towards this goal. I am drawn constantly to Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day's vision (as noted in my header).

Now it is time to get going.

I pray all who happen to this page have a spiritually profitable Lenten season.

Our Lady of Joyful Hope, pray for us!

Oremus pro invicem!

Truths

The thrill of seeing and collecting newly laid eggs does not diminish with age or with the number of eggs collected.

Writing is never so eloquent, meaningful, and beautiful as when it is written in connection with the death of a loved one.

If you look towards Lent with foreboding, you need to rediscover the meaning of love and hope.

Oremus pro invicem!

Still alive. We think the worst of the flu is over, but we are coming back on line slowly. I am enjoying doing all the animal chores with Mrs. Curley these days, even though we are quite recovered ourselves. I will be hesitant to relinquish the chickens to the boys when they are fully recovered. The Rhode Island Reds are now at full production, an egg a day from each (and possibly one hen is doing a little double duty.)

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I haven't been doing much blog reading these days, but have been following Amy Welborn's writings these past few days. You know, I find the more people close to me that die, the less I fear my own mortality. I have also found my tears at the loss of loved ones, when examined closely, have been tears of joy and gratitude for being blessed with having had the loved one in my life. So many truths come out of our contemplation of death-perhaps a sign we should contemplate it more often as Thomas More often urged.

Here's something that Amy wrote which hit home for me:

For years - 26, to be exact - I have practiced letting people belong to God, not me. It is my mode of parenting, to try my hardest to respect the child as a child, first of all, of God. The road was seriously paved for this when my oldest left home for college 8 years ago, totally on his own journey. And as he and the others grow and developed, I worked harder and harder on it inside my soul.

Let go. They are the Lord’s. They walk with Him, they do not belong to you, they do not exist for your satisfaction or pleasure or entertainment or for any affirmation of anything you have done. They are the Lord’s.

Boy, isn't this something all parents must strive for? It can be a fine line sometimes.

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There's a meeting on Thursday evening this week to organize a Bethune Farmer's Market! I may have a conflict (depending on the boys health-turns out two of them won 2nd place in VFW essay/speech contest, and the banquet is Thursday.) It would be great to have a local market here in Bethune.

Finally, our book Giving Up Stealing for Lent! is excerpted in the latest Catholic Men's Quarterly. I recommend both the book and the magazine.... Oremus pro invicem!

The soul of Bridie (Folan) Mulkern) passed on 14 February 2009. Born on 1 January 1935, she was the loving mother of 4 sons: Tom, James, Kevin, and Michael. Tom is my friend. His mother was always warm and welcoming of his friends. She was a fine, fine lady of strong faith.

Her brogue was so thick that it was many visits before I could well understand her. But there were many, many visits to the Mulkern house over the years, and I was blessed with her friendship even apart from just being her son's friend.

She was always quick to laugh, a great teller of stories, and didn't mince words when she found something wrong.

I had not seen or spoken with Bridie Mulkern for a couple years. I understand she was brave in her last trial and died a peaceful death. May God grant her soul rest!

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Please also pray for the soul of Angela Rose Izzo, 90; who passed away 1 am on Sunday in Groton Ct. Angela Rose Izzo is the grandmother of our dear friend Lori Dorchak.

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen. — Eternal rest grant to them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

Down and Out

I interrupt our regularly scheduled break from blogging with a weekend report. I mentioned in my last post that we had some sickness about-well it hasn't abated. I think it's the flu and for some, it has now been over a week. Some of us recovered and then relapsed. This morning Mrs. Curley and I (neither of us very well) and our youngest feed and watered all the animals and checked for eggs. I seldom go near the chicken coops, so it was "fun" for everyone.

We are getting over a dozen eggs a day now (the Rhode Island Reds are almost at full production and the 2nd year Buff Orphingtons are at 50%). We have another 8 or so assorted pullets which will start to lay in another couple months, and we are planning to get some Golden Comets in March.

Mrs. Curley and I have been thinking that an excess of eggs is not a bad thing because as cash gets tighter, our pigs will love those eggs we can't sell or consume ourselves. So we may get more layers than we originally planned. And we certainly want to hatch out our next year's crop.

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Welcome aboard! We had two goat kids on Thursday evening. Even though we were sick, Mrs. Curley and I was on hand for the birth (just in case I had to play James Herriot.) (Pictures will follow, I am too sick to bother with downloading, etc.) One billy and one doe. These are the first goat kids from our own breeding. We expected them in February, but forgot to write down the breeding date. Mrs. Curley, earlier in the day suspected Jill was not too far from delivery. They are cuties.

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I'm in re-runs..... If you missed it 2-3 years ago you can read my exposition on Ephesians 5 here . (For some reason the main page at CatholicExchange isn't loading properly.)

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One of my gilts is refusing to let Tarzan (the boar) do his job. She runs from him. Have called my extension agent, and am waiting for a call back.

Speaking of that, we were supposed to take delivery on our family cow today. But with us all on our backs, we didn't get the new pen and barn ready. The owner has agreed to put off delivery for another week.

In the meantime, Mrs. Curley called our extension office and dairy expert with some questions. His advice: "Buy your milk from the store." I couldn't believe it.

Now back to the business of recovery...Oremus pro invicem!

(The Week) In Review

You may note that I have added "A Word from our Sponsor" to the top of my sidebar. I liked the comment so much (from the comment boxes), and from such good folks, I just couldn't resist displaying it prominently. I know it is partly vanity, but it is also true. I was never much of a pork man myself and neither was the family. But this home grown pork is goooooood!

There are a several pasture-raised pork operations in a, let's say, a 150 mile radius of us. There is a packing company in Kingstree, SC which caters to small poultry and hog farms who want to sell legal (USDA-approved). The problem is (due to the fact small farmers can't process their own meat legally without large investments and jumping through hoops), while this meat is surely as good as ours, it goes for $5 to $8 (and up) per pound, depending on the cut. Who can afford this? Why can't regular folks get access to this good pork? (that is out-door raised, on the ground, happy pig-pork)

The feds lock out the small farmer who would like to feed regular folks legally. (And note, virtually all of the food scandals and e coli/salmonella scares originate in USDA-approved facilities. What's wrong with this picture?)

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I think we were overstimulated as a family a week ago and it took its toll. Most of us have been down for the past week. For some it was a minor inconvenience, (a little stuffy, small cough, etc.) for others it has been more painful with high fevers. Fortunately, most if not all are on the upswing. And it is a good thing, we have a busy week ahead of us.

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Looks like we may really be getting ourselves a family milk cow this week! She is a 4 year old Jersey due to freshen in late May or early June. If we weren't CHAINED before, we will be now. Of course every time you chose something, like a lifestyle, you are rejecting everything else, like all the other lifestyles.

The family cow is big investment in time and money. We are not flush with either, but I think it will pay off in the long run. We drink enough 2.5-3 gal/day, plus butter, cream and any excess can go to the pigs. Plus, she is pregnant, so we will have either valuable heifer to sell or a steer to eat (or both). This will round out our livestock aspirations around here (oh, except for some turkeys and more chickens).

But of course we have work to do. We don't have a area fenced-in for the cow, or even a barn large enough to house her. We surely have much work to do.

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A few years ago when reading a borrowed copy of Restoration of Christian Culture by John Senior, I quoted him quite a bit here at Bethune Catholic. Browsing yesterday, I see that The Daily Eudemon has been reading it too.

I read Restoration and wanted to put it all (or a lot of it) in practice around here. We never did 'smash the TV' but our viewing is pretty limited to begin with. But here is the money quote which I am truly remiss in:

“those in the married state [should] offer a tithe of their time for prayer—about two and one-half hours per day.”

Father emphasized the necessity of prayer in his homily this past Sunday. Last night a friend of mine was telling me (over a beer) how we must truly desire Christ in the Eucharist and in our prayer. I see a recurring theme here.

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Finally, I think I got my taxes completed! I will give them another look over before mailing, but the hard work is finished.

My filing system is a shoe box under the desk. All receipts go in there, and at the end of the year I spend a day sorting and totalling. Once done, the taxes usually only take 1/2 day.

Oremus pro invicem!

I had already finished my post below when I read this sad news. I met Amy Welborn and Michael Dubruiel in April 2006. Here is what I reported. But now I will tell the rest of the story.

We were coming back from a wake in Columbia, and we pass through Camden on the way home. I knew Amy was doing a booksigning at a coffee shop there. The whole family was with us. I parked the van and Mrs. Curley and I walked down to the coffee shop leaving the kids in the car. We peeked in the window, and sure enough there was Amy Welborn sitting at a table with 2 or 3 other folks. The rest of the place was deserted.

Now I am not a people person. I don't like to take initiative to talk to someone I don't know. I like talking, but I hate those first phases of conversation.

So Mrs. Curley and I stood outside the window discussing whether we should go in and what I should say. We must have discussed it for 10 minutes. All this time, a man was changing a diaper in the car behind us. We took little notice.

Finally, someone at the table waved at us, so I figured we had to go in. I am glad we did.

We went in and had a wonderful conversation with Amy. She gave Lori a copy of her book on Saint Mary Magdalen. After a while Amy introduced to Michael who just came in-he was changing a diaper in the car!

Mrs. Curley and I often have wondered whether he heard our conversation about to whether to go in and what to say. He may have because he was especially gracious to me.

He pulled me aside and we talked as one publisher/editor to another. He encouraged my efforts and made me seem like I knew something (which I still don't).

We corresponded once or twice since, and again he was encouraging and very open to helping any way he could.

May God grant Michael rest and his family consolation.

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen. — Eternal rest grant to them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

Weekly update

I woke up this morning to ground covered in snow! This is the first time in the 18 years I have lived in SC (4 in college and the last 16 years) that I have seen snow cover the ground twice in one winter! The kids are just getting up. I am sure I will be victim again to vicious snowball attacks!

Whew! It has been busy since I last reported in. Beside paying work, which is keeping me hopping (Deo gratias!), we have been doing quite a few things around here. Last week we slaughtered and butchered two pigs. Wilbur and Cissy were brother and sister. They were almost the same size when I purchased them at 10 weeks old. But Cissy out grew her brother by quite a bit. At slaughter Cissy was ~275 lbs and Wilbur ~180 lbs. We took W first on Thursday and made whole hog sausage out of half of the carcass. Fortunately we had some friends down to help us. Mrs. Curley had a friend in the kitchen (she also held a leg during the stick!). Friends of our boys also came to help. One skinned with me; one helped tend the fire; and one helped dress the head. We started at 9:30 AM and finished cleaning up the kitchen at 11:30 PM. A looooooong day, as Mrs. Curley can attest. But it would have been much longer without the help of these hardworking young men.

Friday, the Dorchaks came down to help with Cissy. Slaughter on Friday, butcher on Saturday. We're getting to be old pros at this. Things went very smoothly and quickly.

I remember our first slaughter in July. We worked on skinning for some 5 hours. At one point, I was alone in the little red barn. It was mid-July. The air conditioner pulled from my office and the blocks of ice on the ground could barely keep this 8X8 room under 70 F, even at 10:00 PM. As one of my friends was in the house dressing the head and the other tending a cut, I was left alone skinning the fore legs and then sawing the carcass in half. Almost near despair at the daunting task which still lay before me, I wondered what I had gotten myself into. But an hour or two later as we drank a few beers and relived the day, I realized something greater was going on.

Now I look forward to these slaughters with more pleasure than may be I should. It is not the meat in the freezer (although this is a very, very, good thing), but the camaraderie, community/family prayer, and good friendships forged over a day of hard labor.

Next slaughter ... March.

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Speaking of pigs .... don't we always ..... we built a new pen this past week and moved the three little ones on Monday. They were overdue to move to a new area. Now we have 4 empty pens which we can rest and grow back greenery on. It is fun to watch pigs explore and dig up a new area. We have a few more pens to build to ensure we don't tire out any ground and keep a good rotation. We have a little breathing room now.

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Plans for the spring: Our turnips are gone, mostly to the pigs. Our collards are all but gone. So it is time to think about spring gardens. I have laid manure on the garden areas in December, so they will be ready to plant on in March.

We need to get some more meat birds and some more laying hens. (Our Rhode Island Reds are starting to lay slowly. The Buff Orpingtons are laying at 30% efficiency.) We have a few which will be ready to lay in a June or so, but we need another flock to ensure year round egg availability. Golden Comets are the ticket. We expect to get some soon.

We also want to try our hand at Turkeys this years. You have to keep them very separate from the chickens, but I hear that while they may be a pain, there is nothing like a home-raised turkey for eating. I am hoping to raise enough to have a few for ourselves and a few to sell.

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I had some thoughts about current events (Super Bowl ads and CBS' new reality show), but decided against wasting my time commenting. But a letter to both the NFL and NBC on the former is definitely called for.

On the economy, as this stimulus package goes forward, I am struck by how both parties see solutions to problems in terms of expanding government. They quibble over emphasis and details, but the end result is the same. There is no real change. And so the same things happen over and over, they just get worse. We lose our freedom to determine how and where we make a living. We become simply tools serving the economy (as most of us are already considered.) Once our financial freedom is totally under control of the government, the stifling of our other freedoms will accelerate.

I have begun to notice SC Senator Jim DeMint becoming more and more prominent nationally in resisting bailouts and stimulus packages. I must keep an eye on him.

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Well, life and work is calling. Til next time, May the Lord grant us strength in temptation, endurance in trial, and gratitude in prosperity! Oremus pro invicem!