The last meal

Granted, everyone expects surgery to be a success - but there is that chance.... SO, why not lift the dietary restrictions for that last meal? What can a little extra cholesterol and salt (and sugar) hurt in one meal?

Oremus pro invicem!

The last day

 Here I am with plenty of time to contemplate. God has given me a wonderful life, no matter I have spent a good portion of it screwing up the "wonderful".

Generally, I am expecting things to go well tomorrow, because this is a pretty standard procedure these days, but I know things happen. Consciously I am not scared. I am not praying for a 2nd chance. I am only praying for God's grace.

Every labor I have jokingly asked Mrs. Curley to offer her labor for me. I will definitely be offering my pains or discomfort for her and my children.

Oremus pro invicem!

It has been a great time

It has been a great time these past few days. Most of my children are home - either for college break - or just to stop in and wish me well before surgery. 

I am hoping I can see my granddaughters today. I am sure they won't let them up on the cardiac floor, but I have plans to sneak down to the lobby and see them. (I have been experimenting with my heart monitor to see how long it takes for them to respond if I disconnect it or go out of range.)

There has been so much fun and laughter in the hospital room I was sure they would kick out us out (all but me!). But the nurse told us the rooms were pretty sound proof, so have at it.

My pastor sent a priest by yesterday. I received the sacraments. He asked if this would be a "watershed" moment for me. Of course, if I have been living how I should, this experience should change nothing.

I was at Our Lady of Grace for All Saints Day this year. Fr. Kirby (I am certainly going to paraphrase so don't think I am quoting - only giving my impression of what I heard.) talked about how strange this place Earth becomes to us as we get older, AND that we start to realize as we get older that we start to know more people "upstairs" than are left here with us on Earth. Something good to think about. This isn't our home. 

Oremus pro invicem!

Here I am

We have a new litter of pigs due any day now - but I won't see them born. I won't be home for Christmas, but with any luck I will be home for the feast of St. Thomas Becket (12/29).

So unexpectedly, I find my heart is broken - the real one, not the core of my being one. 

I am sure open-heart surgery is worse than sitting in a hospital for several days (while feeling fine), but whether it is or isn't I will be finding in out in a few days.

I could complain about the hospital (regulations, food, johnnies) but then I wouldn't get any "offering up" credit would I? Probably just lost the credit with the last sentence.

The unexpectedness of it all is really what gets me. I am a pretty darn active guy. I might not be the best diabetic, but I exercise and am really active. This past year I have maintained my lowest weight in over 20 years. But it is the first one which probably was my downfall - not a good diabetic. I like my old-fashioned doughnuts! 

I believe I will be seeing a priest today or tomorrow to take care of any outstanding matters - so not to worry there.

Oremus pro invicem!

Floppy's new litter

 Finally arrived! 5 little boars and 5 little gilts.

Oremus pro invicem!

Holy Souls

When Requiem Press was still around, in November especially I would remind readers that our booklet Daily Prayers for the Church Suffering was a good (and cheap) way to remember to pray for the souls in Purgatory every day of the year - not just in November. 

We have been out of booklets for some years now, but I have plans to resurrect it sometime this year as the need is still great.

This is the 23rd anniversary of my father's death. While I have hopes he is in Heaven, I know my prayers for him won't be wasted.

Eternal Rest grant to them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them!

**********

This past weekend I was doing a demonstration and leading a discussion at a homesteading conference in North Carolina. St. Joseph's Farm is a microdairy and holds father-son retreats as well as homesteading conferences. You should check them out: St. Joseph's Farm

Oremus pro invicem!

New Boar

We went to the SC State Fair on Sunday. I headed to the livestock shows - just to look. But I came away with a new Boar from Kewanee Farms out of Georgia. I have now purchased 3 boars from Kewanee. They are the best I have had. He is a Hampshire like my first boar (Tarzan).

Oremus pro invicem!

How do you measure success?

How do you measure success? On one hand, we grew a small plot of popcorn for the first time which yielded 12 pounds of kernels to pop. Success by any measure - we will be hard pressed to eat that much popcorn in a year.

On the other hand, I planted many cantaloupe seeds in the garden. One seed germinated; one fruit grew on the one plant. Carefully watered and cultivated, it was harvested and tasted; we feasted on the most flavorful cantaloupe imaginable. One cantaloupe from all that effort would not seem a success - but the seeds it came from go back 3 generations from a state almost 2000 miles away. Saving the seeds from this one fruit for the coming years guarantees the variety will survive - success. (I have referenced these seeds before: Bethune Catholic: cantaloupes and cats - long story, but the ones I had this year were about all I had left after a few dismal summer garden years due to lack of rain.)

Measuring the success of students however is much more difficult. If they succeed in my Astronomy or Physics course would be one measure, but ultimately it is whether they succeed in life. My contribution is extremely small in that endeavor. AND in most cases I never know.

On the homestead we can measure success every time we light a fire in the wood stove or open the pantry or chest freezer. As an adjunct, it is not so easy.

Of course the ultimate success is not on the homestead or on the ball field, but in every endeavor which brings us closer to salvation.

Oremus pro invicem!

Jersey Beef - nothing like it!

We put down a young  Jersey steer a week or so ago- (not so young as the pictures. The steer we put down was about 6 months old.) We ground up the hamburger today. 

I cooked some medallion steaks from the loin for supper tonight. Boy, that meat was tender and flavorful. Nothing like Jersey beef.

We thank God for the bounty from our homestead this summer!

Oremus pro invicem!

pigs and popcorn

Red had pigs this weekend. Historically she is a good mother.

We also harvested our popcorn this weekend. I had taken a couple ears a few weeks back. I popped them in our Whirley Pop and it was great - so time to harvest the rest. 

Oremus pro invicem!

More pigs

Sad Update: Well we lost the litter and the sow. Turkey vultures came after a couple. I drove them off - I think permanently, but then we noticed that Rusty (sow) was eating or moving around much. Then her piglets started to get lethargic - due lack of nursing. We put the most energetic with Floppy's litter and it seem to take. In the meantime, we found a rupture in Rusty which was unrepairable. We transferred the remaining two energetic piglets of her litter to Floppy and put Rusty down. This morning, the transfers were dead. We tried, and Floppy tried, I am not sure she could handle 3 more.

Update: Or 8. or 9! Everytime I go out, there is one more! I think she is done now.

Under a tremendous (and tremendously needed) rain, Rusty had her litter. Only 7, and one is really tiny. I don't think it will make it. 

Red is not due for a few more weeks.

Oremus pro invicem!

Update: More pics of Floppy and litter:

Came home from Mass yesterday to find that Floppy has 14 live births. So far all are still well, although I had to save one this morning - Floppy had trapped it between her back and the fence. This is her 2nd litter. 

Rusty is due with her 2nd litter any day now also.

Picking tomatoes, patty pans (or scallop squash), cucumbers, kale, Swiss Chard. 

We got behind around here because of illness. I was sick more or less for a week - highly unusual for me. 

Lots going on with Turkeys growing, our first set of meat chickens in the brooder, and baby pigs dropping.

Oremus pro invicem!

Summer work

All my summer classes at two institutions have been cancelled due to low enrollment. I guess Physics and Astronomy are not so popular. Lots of time now - but not the $$. Isn't this the case?

But this is also an opportunity. Certainly the homestead and gardens have never looked better (if only rain will come!).

But I am thinking of resurrecting some old business projects, getting back into publishing a couple booklets we did before and maybe getting back into making wooden boxes.

I have started to layout the Daily Prayers for the Church Suffering booklet, which we can print ourselves in limited quantities. Too bad I didn't save the layout files. I am sorry we didn't have more. Recently I was at a wake and met an old friend who told he and his wife do those prayers together everyday.

Stay tuned.

Oremus pro invicem!

Back again!

We were licensed for foster care in 2016. After numerous children over 6 years, in March we decided to stop doing foster care and closed our home. 

Wouldn't you know that the last two children we had in care (siblings) for 27 months, came back into the system right after we closed our home. 

However, we scrambled around and reopened so these children could have a familiar place with us again.

The joy is here!

Oremus pro invicem!

I was supposed to get up early today and butcher at least 1/2 the hog I put down on Saturday morning... but I slept in just a little bit, and then had coffee, and then went outside and could feel the heat coming on. We will try again on Thursday.

We did get to the scrap metal place today. Metal was selling for $10 per 100 pounds a month ago. Today it was only $7. 

We also planted some more tomato plants (Roma's) moved a pig and fixed some fencing.

My last day of classes and final exam is this week. Then I get 10 days off before the summer session starts.

Planting was a little late around here. (I still have to get my cantaloupe in), but we are picking lettuce, swiss chard and peas. 

I guess there is lots to comment about in the news and politics. I am just not that motivated. It is funny, when Mrs. Curley and I were first married, I was writing letters to the editor and losing sleep over all kinds of outrages. Mrs. Curley didn't understand why I got so animated. Now the roles are reversed.

Oremus pro invicem!

Feeding Jersey steer calves

We have 7 calves. One is 5 months old, but the rest are young like these. It has been rough getting them to this point. They didn't get colostrum and we did alot of nursing.

Oremus pro invicem!

Spring Break

What I did for spring break (from 1 of my colleges - the other is on next week):

Farmer's sink, new faucet, and butcher block counter tops.

I didn't finish, but had some tremendous (and unexpected) help from friend Joe.

I have been promising this to Mrs. Curley for years. Now it's easier to bottle feed 7 Jersey bull calves! 

Still a lot of cosmetic stuff to do, but we have water in the kitchen again.

Oremus pro invicem!

More and more

So we bought a Jersey bull calve back in October. A week ago we brought home 2 more which need some tender nursing care. Not learning my lesson, I brought home 4 more Jersey bull calves yesterday. There is a lot of bottle feeding going on. 

(This is my secret plan to convince Mrs. Curley we need a milk cow again!)

We weaned 2 litters of pigs yesterday and moved the sows into a new breeding pen, which Mrs. Curley helped put together.

Tomorrow we put in the strawberries.

Oremus pro invicem!

Finally ....

 Red has 11 new pigs.

Busy week.

 Lots going on at the homestead this week.

On the plus side, we brought home a couple bull calves, we put in 10 blueberry bushes and 2 fig trees; we continued to hack away at the overgrown muscadines; and we worked on a new area for the breed stock (pigs.) Finally our neighbor loaned us his electric chain saw chain sharpener on a semi-permanent basis. Now I just have to learn how to use it.

On the down side, we discovered my livestock trailer needs important work before I take it out again. Also the truck is needing something electrical - it could be the battery, but most likely something else is draining the system. 

I have a start on next year's wood, and several people approached me this week about wood on their property which needs taking. Now I just need the time.

Oremus pro invicem!

Well, I am surprised ...

 Big Red has not given birth yet.

We put in broccoli and lettuce today. We have been working on fencing new pig pens, trimming back long overgrown muscadines, and figuring out how to get new bull calves home with a broken trailer and an iffy pick up truck.

Oh well....

Oremus pro invicem!

Pigs, pigs, pigs

 Mrs. Curley and I processed a hog this week - not too big - maybe 200 pounds. We think that this is the first time Mrs. Curley participated actively. She sawed the pig in half after evisceration and butchered with me on Thursday morning.

Red is ready to bust! I would be very surprised if we didnt' wake up to a litter in the morning. This will be her 3rd litter. She has been a good mother.

And, here are 4 really good looking girls from our litter born 3 weeks ago or so. 

Oremus pro invicem!

Its been a while...

 The kids came home and then left. We've had 2 litters of pigs, 2 snow storms, 1 ice storm, and lots of other things. We have another litter due this week.

We are in the midst of Spring garden planning - some things should go in the ground VERY soon.

We have finally finished collecting wood for this winter and are working on next winter. I won't be caught so short again. 

We have been working on pruning muscadine vines which have been over grown since the day we moved in here - finally getting them under control.

I hope to document more progress this spring - but who knows?

I finished a few books recently: Anthony Esolen's "Defending Boyhood", a book (can't recall the name) about hunting and fishing in SC-a personal memoir. Now reading RJ Snell's "Acedia".

Last year was sort of a homestead disaster, between my work schedule and my weekend commitments away from home on pig business. We are trying to regroup and refocus on why we are here. (We are also thinking again of getting a milk cow????)

Stay tuned.

Oremus pro invicem!

Merry Christmas!

 May the Nativity bring peace and joy to your family and throughout the Earth!

Oremus pro invicem!

Old ground covered

 I know everyone has covered this ground, but......

So Food Lion is selling "Holiday Trees"! Really? Which Holidays are they? New Year's Trees? Hanukkah trees? 

Radio stations playing "Holiday Music". Which Holidays are we talking about. In this case, there are a few generic winter songs, but the rest - Christmas!

I really don't have a problem with someone saying "Happy Holidays" as this does historically encompass Christmas, Holy Mother of God, Epiphany, and minor feast in between.

BUT Holiday trees? 

Sorry for the rant.

Oremus pro invicem!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Our children are spread all the country this Thanksgiving - on G is home, and my in-laws are here. Two days ago we had a bonfire so we could use the "hole" for target practice.

This morning we put in our 28 lb turkey, which G was invaluable in helping with, in the oven.

Oremus pro invicem!

Supply Chain and Gift Giving

Mrs. Curley and I have been talking about Christmas this year. There was a year in the tight Requiem Press days where we made all (or just about all) our Christmas presents for the children. The shop and sewing room were very busy that year. As I recall there is a Little House on the Prairie episode which inspires this kind of Christmas gift giving.

We have been talking about the supply chain and lamenting out personal dependence on it and China. But I read this at Front Porch Republic this morning. Here is the "money quote", although you read the whole thing.

With the supply chain tangled, we have what may be a brief moment to consider its flaws without being blinded by the glare of its surface efficiencies. Perhaps, we can craft a Christmas experience not dependent on plastic molded an ocean away. As David Cayley, author of a fine introduction to the work of renegade priest Ivan Illich, noted on a recent B.S. podcast, we should beware of an institutionalized Incarnation. The more we farm out our expressions of affection to things and entities designed to do the work for us, the more we miss the point. More gifts rooted in real engagement and fewer dependent upon shipping containers could be one of the benefits the broken supply chain delivers.

Mrs. Curley and I had already discussed moving back towards opening the workshops for this Christmas. (I hope this doesn't set out panic in my children - if any of them even bother to read my blog anymore.)

Oremus pro invicem!

Busy days ...

Last week we drove up to Pelzer, SC and bought a couple turkeys (Thanksgiving and Christmas). Then we drove down to Kinards, SC and bought a couple bull calves. 

Now when I buy bull calves, I always ask whether they got colostrum from their mother. People do lie about this, but there is no reason to deny the calf the colostrum. You can't use the first day or more of the milk from the mother because it is all or mostly colostrum. 

Well, we have raised a bunch of calves here in the past. I am pretty sure these two did not get colostrum. We have been fighting the good fight all week to save them. Probiotics, electrolytes, Re-Sorb, using bottles and fluid feeders. It looks like we are winning. At least one calf seems to be back to normal. The other is improving every hour. 

We are still cutting wood, but now are burning it occasionally too. Two mornings we have taken the chill off with a small fire in the wood stove. More to come....

Weaned another litter of pigs this week. What an adventure! The sow kept breaking away from the breeding pen to get back near her pigs. This from a sow who was digging holes under the fence daily to let the pigs out! Now pigs (rather hogs) from her first litter (now 160 pounds) are trying to suckle off her - and she is letting them. I have never the seen the like. Wish I had a camera with me.

Oremus pro invicem!

Convergence

Sometimes unrelated articles converge to an idea or conclusion. So this past week I read Phil Lawler's piece on the state of the public schools and his advice: 

Educate your children at home, if you cannot find another school. Find other parents who share your concerns and will match your commitment, and start your own school. Scrimp and save and do your best; it will not be perfect, but it will be better for your children than the indoctrination program that now confronts them.

Don’t wait for the next outrage. Don’t wait until your children are seriously hurt. Get them out of the public schools. Now.

And then I read the seemingly unrelated piece by David Cooney explaining why the unlikelihood of capitalists being woke is really not so surprising:

Conservatives will claim that it is because the news, education and entertainment industries have been “taken over” by liberals or leftists, including many socialists, who indoctrinate our children in school and the public in general through education, biased news reporting and the underlying message of our entertainment industries. There is an element of truth to this observation, but it doesn’t really explain how they were able to accomplish all of this.

In my view, the blame for that is mainly the conservatives themselves. It was the conservatives who failed to learn the lessons of recent history. Every socialist regime that has arisen in the last century has employed the same tactics of taking over education, news and entertainment and ensuring that only one point of view could be presented. Taking control of educational institutions was always a high priority because the socialists knew that they might not be able to change the minds of adults, but that they could use schools to indoctrinate children to believe things contrary to their parents beliefs and values. Conservative capitalists knew that liberals and socialists were “infiltrating” all of these arenas in our societies. We know they knew it because they have spent decades complaining about it. Yet, they did nothing significant to resist it.

So here is the convergence. Why and the solution, but immediate and for the future. Will anyone answer the call?

Oremus pro invicem!

Songs of Sion

Many homeschoolers over the years have used the Fr. John Laux series for high school religion class. See the series (TAN) here. I th ink I posted on this some years back.

In several of the books in the homework assignments, Fr. Laux references another of his books, Songs of Sion. I have searched for this book for years. Now that I no longer need it for our homeschool, it comes up in one of my outstanding searches.

I ordered it and got it. 

Fr. Laux provides a biref introduction to the Psalms and then groups them according to type: Pennitential Psalms, Messianic Psalms, Gradual Psalms, etc. And he provides a short commentary on each: what it is about, where each psalm may be useful for our prayer.

If I still ran Requiem Press, I think I would try to reprint it.

Oremus pro invicem!

This morning's work

I am starting to feel better about the winter as the night temperatures are getting cooler. Not too comfortable, though, as much of this wood, which we cut and split this morning, won't burn well until at least February.

Oremus pro invicem!

More Pigs! Red's 2nd Litter

Update: Red had 11 piglets! All are doing well.

It was quite a pig day. I was going out to cut wood and noticed one of our 100 pound pigs was wandering around the yard. I went to his pen and all 5 were out. They had busted through the old gate. It took a while, especially since most of my children are too far away to help, (Wyoming, SD, and OH) but we finally got all five in an old farrowing pen. 

Meanwhile our litter which was born in August are always escaping their pen. Mom lifts the fence and they all get out. I put it back down, but after they get back in and she feeds them, she just lifts it up again. I think she is trying to tell me something.

Came home yesterday to Red's 2nd litter of pigs. Boar (Daniel Boone) is a Berkshire and Red is a

Hereford with some other red pig mixed in. 

I think she had 11, but I will be able to tell better this morning. Here are the pics:

Oremus pro invicem!

 Woke to another litter of pigs. Opal's first litter. 

Finally finishing Contagious Faith. I can't endorse this book enough.

. Oremus pro invicem!

Science?

It is ironic that in the "age of science" (I say this in the context that science has become the new "god"), science is the first thing to be sacrificed at the altar of Co-Vid.

For just one example, wading through everything out there, it seems clear that the way you can get Co-Vid19 is to talk face-to-face with someone (with Co-Vid) without masking at a distance less than 3 feet (1 meter) for a prolonged time (generally considered to be about 10 minutes). This is how CoVid is passed according to the experts. (Obviously there may be exceptions, but this is the pretty much what has been determined.)

If this is truly the case, where does transmission actually occur? I would venture it transmits in close relationships (family at home or close friends), maybe at parties, road trips with a business associate, at work occasionally depending on the nature of the work, at recess or cafeterias.

Is there a documented case of someone contracting CoVid as a customer in a grocery store? At Mass? At the library? These seem VERY unlikely places for transmission (with or without masks), especially if grocery carriages etc. are being sanitized. (How long the virus lasts on surfaces seems to be still unclear, or at least reports are contradictory.)

At the three colleges I taught at face to face (with masks-sometimes worn properly, but not necessarily social distancing) during fall 2020 and Spring 2021, not a single case of classroom transmission of CoVid was documented. Classrooms (set up traditionally) are not likely places for transmission.

Heard on the radio Thursday, (paraphrasing) "Israel has the highest vaccination rate per capita in the world ..... and the highest daily rate of increase in CoVid cases." To me this says something about the effectiveness of the vaccine? Yet we have to get it? 

I also note that when the country was shutdown, cases only increased (see likely transmission occurrences above), and when masking became the widespread policy, cases continued to increase. Now this is all anecdotal, BUT there is scientific reasoning (CoVid particle size versus typical mask void sizes) and several-to-many documented studies (going back to the '70's) showing masking does not impede spread of viruses. The exception may be a medical mask (N95?) in conjunction with gloves and other sterile garments. (For example see this article: https://www.aier.org/article/masking-a-careful-review-of-the-evidence/ )

There is much, much, more that can be said on these topics, but it is ironic that in the "age of science", science is dashed upon the rocks, and we are being bullied with fake science.

Oremus pro invicem!

The Homestead....

I have never been so late in getting wood for the winter heating season. My goal is always to be done by the first week in March for the next winter. I feel I have written this before. In any event, I started cutting and splitting wood today (now yesterday).

A small start....

I have a lot of work to do.

The summer garden was a disappointment, but understandably so. We got things planted, but then I got kidney stones with complications. Then I brought our youngest daughter to Wyoming Catholic College and got sidetracked with visiting my beautiful granddaughters and moving my middle daughter to South Dakota from Wyoming. In any event I got back after what seemed like 3 weeks, but just over 2.  

So we've had some really great sweet corn, but small and not much of it. The cucumbers were good, but few, and by the time we got back they were pretty done. The beans - who knows? The cantaloupe never appeared. Just a few okra. But the tomatoes (cherry and Roma mostly) have been great.

So besides getting wood, it is time to prep for fall garden and move pigs to clean up the garden areas we are not planting in until next year.

Of course we are short-handed. Only my 15-year old and Mrs. Curley (who is having knee problems - hopefully soon to be fixed.) We also have a young man visiting us for at least a few days.

But things are working out.

Oremus pro invicem!

4975 miles

That is, to Wyoming and back with several cross state (WY) trips in between. Great to see my kids and grandkids, but it is also good to be finally home. 

I spent a good bit of time in Moorcroft, WY, near Devil's Tower - which is a unique (or largest of its kind on earth) geological formation. Got to take some pictures of it, and actually recorded a remote lecture with it in the background for my Earth Science class.

Oremus pro invicem!

More pigs!

Lots happening here. More pigs last night. A small litter, but if she raises them all, it will be okay. 

Kidney stones ..... not too fun, but not as bad as it could have been. An 8 mm stone is nothing to laugh at (I am not laughing!), but my kidney is saved - which may have been in question for a time.

I don't know the fall dates yet, but if you are a man and have a son over 12 or a young man you are mentoring, you may want to consider coming to a St. Josephs Farm weekend. 

Oremus pro invicem!

What is going on? Is this the end?

Update: Made through the week without further incident! Still reading Contagious Faith by Phil Lawler, and still recommending it.

Saturday I almost blew my head off lighting a propane grill. (I usually cook pigs on wood, but it was raining and I wasn't at home.) Luckily my burns were not too bad. Mrs. Curley is happy one of my eyebrows is much shorter than it was.

Monday I was picking weeds at home and almost stuck my hand in a copperhead's mouth. I did kill it.

Today I was stung by a wasp when moving an old pallet.

Nothing ever happens to me. Is it a warning that I should get my life (my soul) in order?

If the pattern holds, I can't wait until Friday!

Oremus pro invicem!

Contagious Faith

 Only on the 2nd page of the first chapter, and I think I will be recommending it.  

Oremus pro invicem!

I got a glimpse of the future this morning....

It is 10:00 AM on a Saturday morning. I have already slaughtered and eviscerated a 300 pound hog and put it on ice. 

There is a good reason that in days past small farmers (and/or homesteaders) were mulit-generational. I am not old by any means, but as I slaughtered a 300 pound pig this morning, virtually by myself, I saw my limitations in stark relief. I don't know if I have ever killed a hog by myself until today. It has always been a community activity at our place - either the community of just our family or joined friends (and brief acquaintances). 

Historically and culturally in the South (at least) hog-killing has been a community activity. And there is great reasons: for one, a 300 pound hog is heavy. For another, why process a 300 pound hog if there is no community to share it with? 

With the advent of the industrial revolution, not only did the young leave the homesteads and farms for cash jobs, but machinery was created so that people could do things with less help - less community. 

We don't have machinery like tractors to lift and move the hog (although I did drag it with a chain and my pick-up truck to our "cleaning" station.) But even if we did, I would have missed the community. By the end, my daughter and young son did come to help, and I felt the community restored. But for an hour or so I was by myself and wondered why. 

Oremus pro invicem!

Last night at our table....

 Home grown broccoli and fried chicken. 

Tonight duck breast and pork ribs - with broccoli.

Oremus pro invicem!

Boone + Red #1

Last night around 11 PM Red (Hereford) finished delivering her first litter. This was the first litter fathered by Boone our Berkshire Boar.

Here they are:

Oremus pro invicem!

Time to plant

 We have had a wet February. Last week into this week we had over 10 inches in 5-6 days. And it stayed chilly. Today not so much. Beautiful and I am working up a sweat planting.

So today we put in broccoli, spinach, romaine, swiss chard, peas and beans. I will plant corn before the end of the week. We may have another frost, but if it isn't too deep the corn should be okay.

Oremus pro invicem!

A life worth lived?

The question that was put to forward at a gathering I was at this weekend was: Do you want to be alive or do you want to be living?

In these times of CoVid19, this is a question we should be asking ourselves. Are we sacrificing a life worth lived just to stay alive and well? Are we sacrificing experiences which make us better persons and possibly make a difference to others in order to stay safe and well.

What is more important, our soul or our health? (This question is one I am not sure how most of the US Bishops would answer based on their actions in the last year.)

So many of us now exist and operate with fear that it begs the question of whether that existence is worth the cost.

I do think CoVid is real, but is also being used nefariously: Fear + Isolation = Power

Oremus pro invicem!

St. Joseph's Farm Weekend

 Want to learn about raising and processing pigs. Here's the place to go: 

SJF Weekend Workshop – Pigs 101: Husbandry, Killing, Butchering Basics | St. Josephs Farm

February 19-21.

I hope to see you there!

Oremus pro invicem!

Durable Pigs!

 We slaughtered a hog this morning and were gifted with a new litter of piglets this afternoon. 

This is "Happy's" first litter. We are hoping she is a good mother. This was our boar's last litter with us. We sold him (a Yorkshire) and have a new boar (a Berkshire).

BTW, I have finished reading Durable Trades by Rory Groves. I do recommend it. It is a quick read if you don't read the details of all the trades. (For example, I skipped midwife and baker etc.) Perhaps the best parts of the book are the Introduction and Parts I and III (which are not the listing/descriptions of the durable trades.) 

Oremus pro invicem!

Merry Christmas!

We were greatly surprised when my son, daughter-in-law, and 2 granddaughters showed up - all the way from Wyoming - to spend Christmas with us. I spent hours holding the infant over the few days they were here. Peace and joy!

We have been busy with so many of my children home (extended due to COVID). We put down our steer, fixed the skew of our feed shed, raised a new goat pen and shelter, cleared shrubs etc. 

It has been great to be working with my children again. There is something special about spending time together in a common endeavor.

Merry Christmas!

Oremus pro invicem!

This is a book I want to read

Update: Someone read my post ... I got it for Christmas. So far so good. Merry Christmas!

You can read a short excerpt at: Front Porch Republic 

Oremus pro invicem!