A comment in the post below reminded me of the following piece which was published on www.catholiclane.com a few years ago. Being lazy, I repost it instead of writing something original.

The text is below with the original link being: Original Article .

Randians Left and Right are Wrong by Jim Curley

 

There was a piece on National Public Radio (NPR) a week or so ago charting the influence of novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand in today’s politics, specifically in economic policy touted by certain Republicans in Congress.  Ayn Rand was a proponent of “objectivism,” that is quoting from the NPR piece:

 

It is, she says, a system of morality “not based on faith” or emotion, “but on reason.”

 

Rand wholly rejected religion. She called it a weakness, even a parasite — one that convinces people their purpose is to work for the betterment of others. In fact, she says, for man, the truth is just the opposite.

 

“His highest moral purpose is the achievement of his own happiness,” she says.

 

“One of the principal achievements of this country in the past 20 years, particularly — I think most people agree — is the gradual growth of social, protective legislation, based on the principle that we are our brothers’ keepers.”

 

“I feel that it is terrible that you see destruction all around you, and that you are moving toward disaster until and unless all those welfare state conceptions have been reversed and rejected,” Rand answers.

 

“I am opposed to all forms of control. I am for an absolute, laissez-faire, free, unregulated economy.”

 

NPR proposes that Ayn Rand’s influence is strong on Capital Hill today among Republicans.  NPR quotes Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) (my Rep) who has read her books “6 or 8 times,” Allen West (R-FL), Speaker John Boehner, Paul Ryan (R-WI), and Steve King (R-IA) who either give favorable reviews of A. Rand or who seem to speak her message.

 

There is no doubt that Republicans often decry the Welfare State and numerous regulations.  And true, some Republican Congressmen have been enthusiastic about Ayn Rand’s philosophy.  This is troubling, especially when practicing Catholics show their enthusiasm without some caveat on her general philosophy.

 

I would also venture that while in general conservatives do decry entitlement programs and the “regulation state”, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are all Ayn Rand enthusiasts.  One can certainly stand for smaller government and subsidiarity principles without agreeing that man’s highest moral purpose is achieving his own happiness.  Further, I would argue that most Republicans only differ in their preference in size of government and regulation by a matter of degree from Democrats.  We don’t see many radical proposals on the size of government and regulations gaining traction even when Republicans hold the majority; mostly we see skirmishes on the edges.

 

But this isn’t by far the whole story.  There seems to be many on the Left in Congress who subscribe to Ayn Rand’s objectivism on social issues in a much more committed way.  The push for the homosexual agenda, abortion, and contraception by the Left is based on the flawed philosophy of pleasure without responsibility, which is very close to Ayn Rand’s “highest moral purpose”.

 

It seems Ayn Rand’s objectivism has influenced both sides of the aisle in government and in the general populace, and most dangerously in the social issue sphere.  We are constantly bombarded by the message that the purpose of life is simply a hedonistic pursuit of our own happiness, and some of us have bought it.

 

Man’s highest purpose is to know, love, and serve God.  This is the only philosophy that will make man happy.  It is a philosophy of being our brother’s keeper in a personal way.  It is a philosophy of self-sacrifice which paradoxically makes man happy.  Only when we seek the happiness of others do we ourselves have peaceful joy.

 

We are our brother’s keeper.  The government’s attempt to preempt our personal role as our brother’s keeper has unfortunately been accepted by many.  When, as a society, we let the government do our charity, we rob ourselves individually and as a society of the opportunity and obligation of doing God’s work.  Peter Maurin of the Catholic Worker Movement decried this trend of letting government do our charity.  In a conversation with Stanley Vishnewsi on their first meeting, Peter Maurin said:

 

The purpose of the Catholic Worker is to create a society where it will, be easier for men to be good. A society where each person will consider himself to be his brother’s keeper. A society where each one will try to serve and to be the least. God wants us to be our brother’s keeper. He wants us to feed the hungry at a personal sacrifice. He wants us to clothe the naked at a personal sacrifice. He wants us to shelter the homeless. To serve man for God’s sake, that is what God wants us to do! (from Wings of the Dawn by Stanley Vishnewsi and reprinted in The Catholic Worker, May 1976-The Catholic Worker Movement website at www.catholicworker.org)

 

It would seem to me that Congress and the American people would do well to think about Peter Maurin’s words rather than Ayn Rand’s.

Reading/listening.

Once a week I travel to a client's facility about 70 miles away. This fall I am also teaching a course at a technical college about 60 miles away. While I am news junkie, I finally got sick of it and started getting audio books from the library for my treks.

Actually, the trend started during Lent when I gave up listening to the news on the radio. During that time I listened to CD's on spiritual topics.

Then on two long car trips to New Hampshire and Virginia this spring, I got audio books (one with my son-so we listened to one of my all-time favorites: Treasure Island. It was good to 'read' it again after some many decades.)

More recently I have listened to 2 Louis L'Amour novels about Barnabas Sacket, the patriarch of his Sacket novels.

I wish I could find Allen Eckert books (The Frontiersmen and Court-martial of Daniel Boone) audio, but am settling for actually reading them.

Just now I am listening to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Some good information so far, but she is a bit preachy and probably not a great choice for younger ears as she seems to linger on comparisons between human and plant reproduction quite a bit, I think for humor value-they are only functionally related.

I really need to add in some good spiritual audio here. I listened to Chesterton's Everlasting Man on tape on a long trip many years ago.

What I have found is that when listening to the news, my mind wanders and I sometimes ponder many things. When listening to a book, I tend to stay focussed on the book. My imagination is more static. Sometimes that is good, sometimes bad.

Oremus pro invicem!

multiplication of pumpkins

On this feast of the Holy Name of Mary - Oremus pro invicem!

Short Takes

This Sunday's homily was one which should have been heard by some of our bishops!  I know they heard the Gospel on the duty for fraternal correction, but I do hope they put it into practice more than they have.

 

Of course, this is always the temptation-to hear the Gospel (and homily) and apply it to someone else instead of yourself!

 

The two previous Sundays (at 2 different parishes) I heard in both homilies a variation "Pray for what God wants to give you, instead of what you think you need." This is something I need to hear almost every day!

********************************** 

 

If I were to take the picture of the pumpkins around the woodstove which appears below, today, it would show 9 pumpkins. There are plenty more to pick in the coming days, but not as many as I hoped for.

 

Summer garden is about done except for the okra, a few eggplants, and a Jalapeno pepper plant. Am trying to get the fall garden in.

 

It looks like the peanuts will ready sooner than expected. I pulled a few plants over the weekend and they look pretty ready. We have about an acre of peanuts. With the downpour of rain yesterday and today, I probably need to get the peanuts out of the ground sooner rather than later so that I don't have them rotting in the ground.

 

Finally, for a while I thought we wouldn't get any syrup from our small sorghum crop. The weather has been spotty with drought conditions for a few weeks followed by deluge, then drought again. But it looks like the sorghum will produce something. I should have a few weeks before harvest.

 

 *************************************

 

Now really finally, I have a couple new links on the sidebar. Good friend has moved to Chile and reports his adventures (Our Chilean Adventure). Also, Those Catholic Men is a new site (disclaimer, sometimes they carry my writing) with some good articles for men.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

So here it is on my 22nd wedding anniversary and what am I doing? Killing a hog!  I married well!

Oremus pro invicem!

Pumpkins and Peppers

Picked our first pumpkins today. We have a bunch, and some are huge. However I am fearful about them making it. This year we had no squash bugs on our zucchini, but it looks like they've found the pumpkins at this late date. I am hoping for the best.

Anyhow, pictured below are 3 pumpkins we picked today. These are the baking kind. We do have a patch of the "jack-o-lantern kind also, but we mostly planted these from last years' seeds. I believe the largest would weigh between 30 and 40 pounds. There are some even larger ones out there-some so large I can hardly believe it.

We like pumpkins, not just for ourselves, but the seeds are a great natural wormer for livestock and the pumpkin itself is highly enjoyed by the pigs.

Also in the picture note the drying cayenne peppers strung on the stove pipe. We had a bumper crop and probably won't even plant them again for a couple years. After dry, we grind the peppers and store them to add to sausage, etc.

On this feast of the Queenship of Mary - Oremus pro invicem!

Canoeing down the Lynches River

Update: We actually took only one picture on this trip as we were too busy working the river. However, here is the picture. It is Nick preparing supper riverside. (Its not that great, taken with my stupid-phone.)

My oldest son, Nick bought a used aluminum canoe this summer. He went 43 miles down the Wateree River with Connor in about 10 hours (overnight trip). He went 45 miles down the Congaree River with Matthew in about the same time. It took Nick and I 8 hours to go 15.5 miles down the Lynches River-and it didn't take so long because I am now an "old man". Basically we encountered 20-25 if not more log jam blockages like the one pictured below (not our picture).

 

We got on the river at Highway 15 landing at about 6:00 PM on Thursday night. We paddled for about 2 hours and then found a campsite for the night. It is lucky we didn't move on, it was probably the best looking campsite we encountered the entire trip. I hadn't been on a river in almost 30 years, but there are some things you never forget how to do. I manned the back of the canoe and Nick was the lookout. The log jams came immediately. We either had to lift the canoe over, portage, or do gymnastics with the canoe and our bodies to get by these obstacles.

 

In days gone by, cotton was floated down the Lynches River to Charleston (via the Great Pee ). I have to imagine that they must have had river clearing crews keeping the Lynches clear. Nothing like this today. I wonder how much SCDNR would pay me to go down the Lynches with a chainsaw and cut channels.

 

So we camped for the night riverside. Nick cooked us a rice, cheese and sausage meal. Very tasty and filling. The student became the teacher. Nick made all the decisions on the trip and made the calls on how to get around the jams. (I did veto one of his ideas once when there was a clearly better option.)

 

On day two, early out, I saw a head or eyes moving perpendicular to the river. Once we got close, the gator dove to the depths. The river level varied from over 6 feet to less than a foot. Certainly if the river had been 8 inches higher, some of the log jams could have been passed easily. On the other hand, a few would have been more difficult, if not impossible, to navigate under with higher water.

 

There were times we had to go to the left bank to avoid a tree and then immediately go to the right bank to avoid the next obstacle, in a matter of feet. A few times we went under a log and had to lay flat to get under. Once when we were stuck on a log, Nick was under some branches. He cried "wasp!" and dove into the water. I asked him why he dove out of the boat just because of one wasp. He told me there were many! He had swatted at the wasp right under its nest in the branches and 10 or more attacked him. When I saw the nest (being still in the boat) I told him to drag me out of there!

 

Earlier we had just gotten around an obstacle where the current was pretty strong and we got slammed into another jam. It knocked me right out of the canoe, with Nick to follow. The canoe filled with water. We managed to get the canoe over to a small sand bar in the middle of the river and empty the water. It was actually refreshing. In fact the most boring part of the trip was toward the end when we actually had some 15 minute stretches with no obstacles.

 

By the time we hit the boat landing at 401, my back and bad shoulder were on the way out-me being an old man.

 

The whole time on the river we only saw 1 other person-a man by the river bank-probably on his own property. We saw (and in fact followed down the river) 4 of what appeared to be snowy egrets. Nick saw a bald eagle, but I missed it. No snakes, no wild boar, and just the one gater-and oh yes, wasps!

 

I am so glad Nick bought this canoe. The trip was fun and very challenging-a great way to end Nick's summer as he goes back to Wyoming Catholic next week.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

I mentioned a few post down about the fabulous cantaloupes we've been blessed with this year. Just to give you an idea:

And they are all sweet.

Oremus pro invicem!

Warren Carroll noted in The Crisis of Christendom that a major peace (essentially 100 years of peace in Europe) ensued after the Napoleonic Wars. However the peace was not all it seemed. While major powers did not engage in war, revolution (and its accompanying violence) was rife throughout Europe.

I am wondering if we are seeing the same thing today. The 20th century was a century of war, including the proxy wars of the Cold War. Now, the major powers are not at war, but we see a multitude of civil wars throughout the Middle East and now in Ukraine.

During the 100 years’ peace mentioned above it seems that realignment of governance and ideology within European countries set the stage and the enemies for the violent 20th century. I sense that the ideological and governance realignment going on in regions of the world today is setting the stage for major wars in our future.

It is tragically sad to note that the periods of so-called peace are no less violent than the periods of major wars.

Oremus pro invicem!

I mentioned below I have been reading Chesterton's America. The editor, Mr. Bennett, has done a very interesting thing. While Cecil Chesterton's text forms the backbone of the book, he brings in commentary on each period of history from other Distributists' writings; for example, we find passages from G.K. Chesterston, Hillare Belloc, Herbert Agar, and other intertwined with the main text.

 

It is interesting to read an outside view (an English view at that) of American history. I have read several things already which we never heard in school. Just to name three: That New England relied heavily on slave trade for their economy at least until the mid-to-late 1700's. Related, that the view in the South that the African slaves were somehow sub-human was not introduced and not widely held until into the 19th century. And thirdly, the whole "No taxation without

representation" rationale for the American Rebellion was somewhat of a sham. In fact some 80% of British subjects were taxed without representation at the time. The matter was more complicated ....

 

But MOST surprising to me is that fact that I am reading Cecil and GK side-by-side and finding I like reading Cecil more than GK. Who would have thought?

 

Oremus pro invicem!

I am still working on Chesterton's America (see post below) however in the mean time I read and finished The Virginian. I am surprised I never read it before. I was inspired to read it by #2 son and #2 daughter who both read it recently. Glad I did. Those who have read it may appreciate my comment to #2 son after I finished reading it: "I almost missed the gunfight, it being so subtle." (Supposedly it is the first gunfight written in a fictional western.)

 

Garden update: Harvested the first corn from our last plot of sweet corn. I think we will have another picking. Green beans have been coming on. Tomatoes increasing by the day. Zucchini still coming (first year with no squash bug damage-could it be the winter lasting so long?). Okra and peppers doing well too. I think the sweet sorghum has been saved by our last rain. I was worried we were losing it even though it is supposed to be pretty drought resistant. Our acre of peanuts looks good, but we need to keep up with the pigs weeds better. They have been especially prolific this year.

 

A friend of ours saved some cantaloupe seeds from his dad's garden in Nebraska 30 odd years ago. Last year he planted them and 5 plants came up and fruited with some of the sweetest cantaloupe I have ever tasted. My friend gave us one of these treasured cantaloupes. I saved these seeds and planted them this spring. We harvested the first ones this week. Boy are they good. The best I have ever tasted. Guaranteed we are saving more seeds!

 

Great to have (almost) everyone home this summer. But summer is short and many are going their own ways in mid-July and August.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

My son wrote this song for me for my 50th birthday. I told him he should have played it after I died so that he would be the one crying instead of me.

 

 

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Chesterton's America

Got this book in the mail today. I was inspired by this review by my favorite editor.

 

 

Can't wait to get started ... and by the way the Chesterton in the title is not GK, but his brother Cecil.

 

On another note, we picked 9 gallons of blueberries today in Chesterfield. These should last us a little while.

Oremus pro invicem!

Corn & Rain

The annual precipitation in Bethune, SC is quoted (and has been quoted to me) at 45 inches per year. First, that measurement is actually for Bishopville, SC-which 19 miles south of here, and Bishopville always gets more than us. But you can't tell some people some things.

 

Typically, we watch rain clouds pass over our fields, cross the road and let go over the Lynches river about 1/2 mile away.

 

That being said, we finally got some rain today. It has been quite a while. Our cantaloupe was just about burned up. We have already lost our first two plantings of sweet corn. Actually, we picked enough small ears today between showers for one meal! One meal, I am grateful for.

 

We have one small patch left of sweet corn, with the rain today, may still have a chance to make.

**********************

 



Yesterday, the AC was in trouble at the house. We called our regular AC tech and they sent someone down. The tech checked a few things and then disappeared under the house. 45 minutes later he was still under there. My youngest son checked on him and came back chuckling: "He's asleep!" But Mrs. Curley wasn't so sure. She called me (I was working off homestead yesterday) and I told her if he wouldn't wake up, she needed to call 911 (it has been in the low 100's all week.)

 

He wouldn't respond so she called 911. 911 told Mrs. Curley to have someone pull him out from under the house. Number 2 son showed up and proceeded to do so .... This woke him up! I guess he was alright after all.

***************************

We've been out of pork for a while (Mrs. Curley cooked it all secretly for my 50th birthday party.) So Friday night we put down a 275 pound pig and butchered it (starting at 6:00AM) Saturday morning. Even though it was hot, we got both chores done in record time (slaughter and evisceration in 75-80 minutes; butchering in an hour flat.)

This should last us until cooler weather.

************************

The world seems pretty crazy these days. May the Lord have mercy on us!

Oremus pro invicem!

The   Deliberate Agrarian writes a few days ago in an essay commenting on the saying "Freedom isn't free":

If our military, under the direction of whoever directs them (ostensibly, the President), were defending the personal freedoms of Americans, through various military actions all over the world, especially in recent years, then why am I less free that I’ve ever been?

 I find myself asking the same question.

Oremus pro invicem!

With 1/2 my siblings

As mentioned a few posts ago, we had a great time over here on my 50th celebration. Amazingly 6 of us (out of 12) were able to be here. It was great to see so many friends and family. Here's the group shot of us siblings.

 

I am so blessed to have such family and friends.

 

 

It struck me that this picture has some Catholic features: We have a picture of the Sacred Heart, a Crucifix, the Angelus, an icon of St. Stanislaus Koska, a nun, a beer, and (in the background) a baby!

 



Oremus pro invicem!

 

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).

 

********

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.

*********************************************

 

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!