We woke Friday morning to a new litter of piglets (14 - 13 now as the runt has since died). This is Big Spot's third litter with us, and her smallest! We just slaughtered a gilt from her last litter a week ago. We could call her "old reliable"-she breeds easily and has high quality offspring.

This morning while feeding the hogs before going to Mass, our expectant sow Harry jumped her fence. She wasn't in any hurry to get back in. Usually a hog will follow a feed bucket, but Harry wouldn't follow until she took a tour around the grounds.

Was at the library on Friday; tried to find a book by the master of locked room mysteries, John Dickson Carr, but couldn't find a single title. I settled for "The Yellow Room" by Mary Roberts Rinehart. I recall reading and enjoying this one many years ago.

Finally, another plug to clear our inventory: Everything is on sale at Requiem Press.

Oremus pro invicem!

Sweeeeet Pork

Finally the weather has cooled a bit ... cooled enough to slaughter a hog. She was farrowed in Feb and was probably 275+ lbs. Since the end of July she has been on a diet of milk, grain, watermelon, pears, greens, and hay, and did I say milk every day?

Last night we had a crown roast (from the loin where the chops come from). It was the sweetest pork I have ever tasted. It was the milk, I am convinced.

After today, I am going to leave Friday's "New Requiem Press website" post on top for a while. If I have any readers left, please spread the word. We really need to raise some money and clear out our inventory. Here's the new link: http://www.requiempress.blogspot.com/ .

Oremus pro invicem!

New Requiem Press Website!

Unveiling our new Requiem Press website!

No hidden costs! Shipping included in the listed price.

Everything is on discount!

Pay by PayPal!

Thanks - Oremus pro invicem!

It’s impossible to give a 2 month update. Just a few highlights:

Introducing Dolly, our new ¾ Swiss Brown (1/4 Jersey) milk cow. Mostly the milk goes to our pigs (and the calf-see below). She is so gentle, and even though never before hand-milked, she took right to it. We don’t even restrain her legs (like we do for Mabel). We also still have our Jersey heifer from Mabel. She is halter-trained and ready to be bred. We may sell her as how many cows can our small holding support? Speaking of cows, we purchased a Jersey bull (Bart) calf. We will raise him to breed back our milk cows next year and then fill our freezer with him.

Our plan to sell some surplus turkeys this year was disastrous. Out of two batches, only two survive (Thanksgiving and Christmas). These will be the most expensive turkeys ever!

On the other hand, raising meat birds is going well (though we are not selling any). We have been eating Dark Cornish, Gamecocks, and some surplus roosters of various strains all summer, and we still have some two dozen left to butcher. We also have a dozen Dark Cornish hens (with rooster) to hopefully perpetuate our meat flock (along with the game hens).

We also have a diversified egg layer flock developing for the coming year: RI Reds, Amberlinks, Silver-laced Wynadottes, NH Reds, and some mixes. The old ones will go to the crock pot or the sale in a few months. (Was slightly disappointed with the White Leghorns and Comets we had this years. They did okay, but I expected better.)

Okra! Okra! Okra! We are getting plenty and learning to love it. Mrs. Curley makes a mean soup of okra, tomato, corn, and lentils, with chicken broth. It’s good in the summer-being lighter, but really I can’t wait until we have some in the dead of winter.

Put up over 30 quarts of corn. Most was not from our own field as the drought hit it, but from a neighboring farmer who let us pillage his field when he was done. The pigs got quite a bit also.

Watermelon was a wash, but the cantaloupes come faster than we can eat them. The green beans were a total loss (I managed even to lose the hay). Butter beans (Lima) are being harvested now-okay, but I was hoping for more. Zucchini was great while it lasted. Tomatoes have been so-so, but not finished yet. Egg plant is doing well now … and Cayenne peppers, more than we will use in a few years!

Dixie Lee peas are coming in like crazy. Looks like we’ll have a bumper crop.

It looks like our peanut crop (graciously on a neighbor’s field) is bigger and better than last year. I think I posted before that the peanut hay for the cows was a real boon.

Twice we went blueberry picking, some 18 gallons in all. These will taste good throughout the year in muffins, pancakes, jams, etc. It’s almost time to pick our own muscadines too.

And now it’s about time to start the fall garden. Broccoli, brussel sprouts, Swiss chard, collards, and turnips will go in as fast as I can manure and till up the spent garden space.

Now we have a flock of ducks, mostly Muscovy, but a few other species are roaming around. We also have a half dozen Guineas. (We went to the local small animal sale a few weeks back and go some deals).

With all these birds hanging around, our front yard is full of poultry tractors. Some of the poultry (gamecocks and guineas) roam totally free (no feed cost either).

We had an excellent spring with four litters of pigs. So far the summer/fall production is slow. We’ll have some, but things haven’t worked as well as planned. More to come this fall.

Requiem Press …. The old website will be coming down soon. We are going to try to clear out our inventory with some stellar pricing real soon. Our new site will be the requiemreader.blogspot.com site where transactions will be by Paypal only. Stay tuned on that one.

School started for us this week. Should be an exciting year. St. Michael, pray for us!

Plans before winter? We need to repair and finish (roof) the barn. I’d like to convert totally or partially to solar heat for our water heater with a homemade unit I am planning. An outdoor solar heated shower may be in the works too. (Don’t worry family members if you plan to visit, we won’t be dismantling the indoor plumbing anytime soon.) We’d like to get our wood stove (or more precisely our chimney) working again soon. A local builder has some ideas on how to make it safe again without spending an arm and a leg. (I don’t recall if I ever posted about our chimney fire back in early 2005, but we haven’t been able to burn wood since then.) Also, a couple of new chicken coops for our upcoming laying flock need to be built.

We really need to paint the house and repair the roof soon too. But we have some other minor, but urgent repairs or jobs to finish first.

God has been very good to us this year. We have been blessed with many family visits from the North. Food has been in plentiful supply. Money hasn’t, but we are together, working and playing (mostly working).

One final note: I was struck particularly but the second reading this past Sunday:

And you have forgotten the consolation which speaks to you, as unto children, saying: My son, neglect not the discipline of the Lord: neither be wearied whilst you are rebuked by him. 6 For whom the Lord loves he chastises: and he scourges every son whom he receives. 7 Persevere under discipline. God deals with you as with his sons. For what son is there whom the father does not correct? -Hebrews 12: 5-8

This was something I need to be reminded of this week!

Oremus pro invicem!

Tore up my ankle a few days ago ... twisting it in a hole I had tripped in three times the day before. Guess I am a bit hard-headed and don't learn quickly.

However, it has been good for me to try to be a good patient and to let go of a little control.

We've been eating well. Broccoli, Brussell Sprouts, Lettuce, Peas and Kohlrabi are finished. Zucchini, Green Beans, Swiss Chard (still) are in. I am told we have a few ears of corn are ready now (but we desperately need rain or we will lose much of it) and okra, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, peppers, are on the way. We need rain, but God's will be done!

We haven't done our yearly Enthronement of the Sacred Heart yet. We were going to on the feast, but realized we hadn't prepared properly. So we are on day eight of a Novena and will Enthrone on Sunday. Usually this also entails something we do called (for want of another name) family forgiveness. (What this is and the origins can be found in this older post post, about half-way done.

Oremus pro invicem!

Just a quick note .... For some reason I can't comment on my own blog anymore. Every time I try, I get an error message. So, to Mr. Hand: Good to hear from you. I missing posting, but feel the time away from the computer is more fruitful these days in many ways.

The Requiem Press website will be going away in a few days. I have replacement in mind, but haven't figured out how to get control of my domain name. At any rate, this is the last week to order books at the old site. The new site will use PayPal until our stock is diminished.

Oremus pro invicem!

Lots been going on these weeks. Often I remark, "I'll have to post about this ....", but these days things are just hopping. I don't get much computer time-which I think may be a blessing. So a quick update; in the last three weeks:

We've had 2 sows farrow (12 each) and one due to farrow on Monday;

Our dark Cornish flock is on the front yard in chicken tractors eating and fertilizing;

We had our annual square dance this past weekend-loads of fun!;

We're just about finished with our broccoli-next year we'll plant more, same for the Romaine lettuce;

Peas are almost ready to harvest;
corn is up and looking good, as are the zucchini, watermelon, beans, etc.;
we have a bit more to plant and we desperately need RAIN!;

We picked up an Ossabaw Island boar and two gilts to start a new Ossabaw herd;

I also picked up a Berkshire gilt this week to complete our regular herd; she'll be ready to breed in a few months.

I am sure I've missed something significant, but must go. We have Turkey chicks and more dark Cornish day-olds coming in next week, and I have to get ready for them.

Oremus pro invicem!

This is what we were doing last Friday night!

Happy Easter!

He is risen!!!!!

Posts have been sparse ... have been planting, working and many things. I hope to post more later in the week, but will leave you with this picture of my youngest son on the neighbor's horse.

Oremus pro invicem!

Deja vu

Here I am today rushing around, polishing brass (candle sticks and thurible) with Brasso and then shining shoes-all in preparation for tonight's Mass of the Last Supper. Reminds me of my days at the Citadel-rushing around polishing and shining.

God bless you all!

It was during Holy Week six years ago that I discerned what I thought was a call to start Requiem Press. As we begin Holy Week six years hence, I announce that Requiem Press will be closing its doors over the next few months. It was a good run and I learned a lot and met some fantastic people.

We will be selling out inventory (if possible). The website is still up, but things will be changing as we go through this process.

You know, I thought my books would help change the world-bringing people back to Christ-perhaps a few did, but I learned (once again) that I need to be more like the potter's clay, letting Christ make the model and just be His tool-not trying to do it all by myself.

I hope we can still sell some books, cause there are bills to pay.

More on this later.

I have a couple other good stories up my sleeve, but they will have to wait until we get past this holy season.

Oremus pro invicem!

Last week I returned to my old Men's Prayer Group at my former parish after some 5 years absence. We pray the Liturgy of the Hours, discuss something (scripture, the sacraments, etc.) and then go to Mass. I think I'll try to make it from now on when I am in the city. It is very valuable for men to pray together. I have missed it unknowingly.

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We finally made some peanut butter from our fall harvest. I also made some 'diabetic' peanut butter. Both seem to be hits. We have a bunch more to make. We haven't decided whether to plant peanuts again - it may depend on whether the land made available to us again. The peanut hay proved very valuable as a supplement for our cows (still getting almost 4 gallons a day from Mabel). In truth, besides some peanut brittle at Christmas, we haven't really used the peanuts as much as the hay. But this is changing.

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Our litter of 13 piglets is coming along very nicely. I will start weaning them in another week or so. I think we are going to hold a few of these back to sell as bbq pigs around July 4th. But we'll see.

In the meantime, we have litters due April 15th, April 18th, and May 17th. We have a gamecock hen setting on a clutch of eggs in one of our farrowing houses. Fortunately, those eggs should hatch a few days before I need to move a sow into the farrowing house.

I mentioned we are raising some Cornish/Rock broilers .... but in the meantime, we had eaten one of the gamecocks hatched in October. Boy, now that was a delicious chicken-maybe the best I've ever had. Methinks that I won't do C/R broilers again. We are going to build our gamecock flock.

I looked yesterday and some radishes, swiss chard, and peas are poking their heads out of the ground. I spread some more manure yesterday and tilled some more garden plot.

Oremus pro invicem!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Instead of writing a new post, I will post a link to my best previous post on St. Patrick's Day: 2007 St. Patrick's Day post

In the mail today came a request from the Mary Mother of God Mission Society -Reviving the Catholic Church in Eastern Russia. I have scanned it and reproduced it below. I have met one of the priest (an American) who has served in Vladivostok since 1991 and can recommend him and his work without question.

Unfortunately, I don't have the money to add my support to this worthy mission at this time-so I bring it to your attention. (http://www.vladmission.org/ )

Oremus pro invicem!

So, we planted peas, Kohl Rabi, Swiss chard, broccoli, lettuce, strawberries, radishes, beets, carrots, and onions this week. A good start, but we have more peas and Swiss chard to put in. Most of these will be done in May/early June, so we can plant some other stuff then. And of course we have other garden areas to plant, which won't be ready til April.

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Went to the Kershaw County Friends of the Library sale today. It always happens when we're broke, but we manage to scrape together what ever we need. Mrs. Curley found a Sheed & Ward book circa 1955 enticingly titled: Catholicism Protestantism and Capitalism by Anmintore Fanfani. Here's the blurb from the jacket (I am too lazy to retype it, but please do read it):

I also picked up The Lore of the Land by John Seymour with original illustrations by Sally Seymour. Finally, I picked up a book: Producing Your Own Power. This has two chapters on generating power from bio mass (Methane gas from manure.) This is of great interest. Our dairy cow and her heifer generate many pounds of manure each day. This winter you could see the heat coming off the manure piles. We need to harness this somehow. I'll keep you all up to date on my research.

*******

And we unexpectedly had time and caught the noon Mass in Camden. We really weren't dressed for it, but I figured it was better to go to Mass dressed down for a change, than not to go at all.

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We have Cornish-Rock broilers in our brooder. They came last week a day late and we lost 3/4 of them (the hatchery will replace our loss). Six weeks from now we should have chickens to sell (and some for our own freezer.)

Piglets are 5 weeks old this weekend. We have 2 litters due in mid-April and one in mid-May.

Tomorrow we will all be here for a change (the older boys have been in great demand as workers around the town), and if the weather holds up, we need to get some pens made, till some ground, build a new chicken house, and much much more.

We've moved our Lady of Fatima shrine and the girls will be planting flowers. I am looking for a site for an Infant of Prague shrine at the back of the property.

Lots of work, lots of joy.

Oremus pro invicem!

Over the years we have met, corresponded with, read about, etc people who yearn for a Catholic community of 'like-minded' folks. You would hope that being Catholic and 'like-minded' were synonymous and that a local parish community would fit the bill. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. The Catholic Church in America (and very likely other places as well) has seen great upheaval in these past decades, with theological and philosophical factions, scandals, and the like. We can lay blame at numerous doorsteps, but I don't have time (and possibly not the knowledge) to cover them all.

Thus many (and this is particularly desired among agrarian-leaning Catholics, but not limited to this group) want to find/form/join a community of "like-minded" folks. However, the definition of 'like-minded' itself is often the downfall of such planned communities. Philosophical attitudes often arise from the culture one is raised in. And thus when you put together Northeasterners, Southerners, people of Anglo descent, Eastern European descent, Mediterranean descent, 1st generation Americans, 5th generation Americans, ...., middle-class descent, children of poverty, etc. (you get the picture) AND then you add in (even among faithful Catholics) Vatican II, Latin, Novus Ordo, etc. you have a cauldron ready to boil.

(Not to be nostalgic but) In past times more people were born, raised, married, raised a family and died in the same parish surrounded by family and extended family. The importance of this stability can not be ignored. (Of course the industrial revolution and centralization of power has helped destroy the overwhelmingly agrarian culture.) These folks shared faith, family and culture. All three have been damaged. Let's leave aside faith for a moment.

The melting of ethnic cultures over several generations produces no culture. What has taken the place of traditional culture is the Protestant/now secular culture that is America. This has been facilitated by wealth, but even more so by mobility-which may in part be because of the seeking of wealth, or the American dream.

It is funny that many today (and I speak specifically of those seeking 'community') want natural foods, but seek an unnatural community. For true community is based on the family and then the extended family, created by the intermarriage of local families who share faith and geographic and ethnic culture who remain in the community to make it grow.

If I want a Catholic community in Bethune, SC of like-minded folks, it will happen if my children stay in (or return to) Bethune with their families and bring their talents to bear in this community-and their children do the same.

Rural communities have suffered because the younger generation has left. But you can still see the remnants of community in most rural areas stronger than other places because few people move into dying rural towns-thus the people left have roots there.

And who am I to preach stability? My wife and I left the communities of our youth to seek a better job-the American dream. Now being wiser (but poorer) we can only hope that our children see the folly of mobility. (This is not to say that we are unhappy where we are; this is a wonderful area, just lacking a nearby Catholic Church. But we also realize that more geographic stability would benefit our country. See the web magazine Front Porch Republic for more on this topic.)

That is not to say everyone must follow the same cookie cutter. However, the majority would do better staying local. When we send our children off to college (a whole other can of worms), it should be so that they come back to our community with new knowledge and skills.

Oremus pro invicem!

Snapped a few pics today. First is the new litter 3.5 weeks old, trying to steal mom's food.

Next is Tarzan (our boar) and Cordelia, a Hampshire gilt we hope will be bred soon.

Finally is Big Red, a Duroc/Tamworth gilt. She is bred and due end of May.

Off to the Stations of the Cross.

Oremus pro invicem!

From the Small Holding ...

From Practical Farming for the South by B.F. Bullock 1946, from the introduction to the section on Field Crops, in which Professor Bullock argues against the common practice then (and even today) of planting and specializing in only a few "cash crops":

The southern farmer must be convinced that his farm is a better place on which to live than it is on which to make a living. ... American farms were once made to produce almost all the basic needs for a happy and prosperous life, and they must be made to do so again if the true spirit of American freedom is to survive.

We've been doing much planning for our current year of planting. Last year we put in our peas and onions by this time. But it has been colder than usual. We did till some garden areas this weekend, but with snow on the menu for Wednesday morning, I think we have a few more weeks.

We moved our heifer calf last week and will be planting our early crops (peas and onions) on her old pen. We will be planting on the pen we raised turkeys on last year and are extending the garden in the front. (I think and aerial plot is called for. I will work on it for the next post.)

In our main garden area, we are planting entirely in corn. We are going to let some hogs harvest it, one section at a time, moving the fencing. I hope this works out. As each section is hogged down, we will come back immediately with greens. We are pretty excited with all the extended garden area.

Big Spot still has 13 piglets thriving at 3 weeks old. They just started to steal their mom's food. I need to cut the males this week. I will wean in another 4-5 weeks. We have 2 more litters due in mid April, one towards the end of May, and hopefully one in June/July-but the last is too early to predict yet.

Mrs. Curley and the girls are making a new area/grotto for Our Lady of Fatima 'shrine'. They got quite a lot done on Saturday. Now they just have to plant the flowers.

I am looking for a good spot to create a shrine for the Infant of Prague image we have. I owe it to Him.

Sorry for the long absence, but get used to it as the busy arrives. (Oh yes, we have 100 day-old chicks coming this week-Cornish/rock broilers.)

Oremus pro invicem!

This Sunday, Father suggested we look at our life and see what we are doing that gets us closer to God what doesn't. Although Father didn't mention it, it is a good preparation for Lent.

And, I read in CWR the following by Annie Calovich:

My sister, Celine, had been insistent that our mom not go into a nursing home, and she had prepared her daily for death, saying the rosary and other prayers with her at set times of the day, keeping holy images in front of her eyes and the TV out of her room. ....

Since we should always be preparing for death (St. Paul says that our day of salvation (or not-JC) is closer than it has ever been) perhaps we should heed the same practices.

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Something to feast your eyes on before the meatless days which are soon to come before us. (Part of the hind quarter during the butchering of Bucky.)

Finally, a clip from the recent snows. (Aside, my boys have worked recently for a local horse trainer: exchanging their work putting a roof on his barn for a horse. Horse was delivered a week or so ago. They are still working for a saddle and tack.) Here is Number 2 Son taking a ride in early morning after the snow this past week. (The background sound is undoubtably Big Spot calling her litter to nurse.)

Oremus pro invicem!

Beef is back on the menu!

Finished butchering today after the 6 inches of snow had let up and melted some. We had rib-eye steaks for dinner tonight-our first homegrown Jersey beef .... delicious. Geeta Dardick (author of the BEST book on the subject: Home Butchering and Meat Preservation) warned that we should have low expectations as our beef isn't grown in a feed-lot. May be they were low, but were greatly exceeded.

Time and taste will tell whether we do this again soon, but thumbs up for now. Groovy man!

Oremus pro invicem!

Snow! and the end of Bucky

It is snowing as I write-coming down pretty hard. Accumulation is expected to be 3 inches overnight. We haven't had snow yet this year.

We slaughtered our first cow yesterday. Boy, what a job. It takes a bit more than a hog. I will wait to see how it tastes before commenting on whether we shall do it again.

Pictures here show the breast bone being split and a c0-conspirator working on salvaging the cheek meat and tongue.

I wish I had a picture of us splitting the carcass with an old axe we were given. When I brought the axehead down to our local hardware store to get it fitted for a new handle, the owner was excited: the head was old and she asked if she could weigh it ... 6.5 pounds. They told me to take good care of it. I figure if I use it as a working tool, it is more likely to last.

We were pretty much done except quartering and moving the carcass into the barn in 3 hours. Not bad. Of course Bucky was probably only 650 pounds (a Jersey).

We are making much of it ground beef, but are hanging part of the carcass for a couple days as weather permits and drying aging some of the cuts in the fridge.

I'll report on the taste in a day or two.

Oremus pro invicem!