Baling on Papa Stronsay

The last week or so has seen the winter feed cut and bailed here on Papa Stronsay.  Unfortunately no photos were taken of the cutting, but the rest of it can be seen here.  It's a time consuming but necessary task if the animals are to get through the winter without starving.  This year has been our best ever harvest.

Fr. Anthony and Br. Martin took the haybobbing in turns.  Fr. Anthony is driving here.

We were very lucky this year to have the generous help of Tony and Matt Duffy, farmers from Stronsay.  Matt came with their baler and did all of the fields.  It took a little over 12 hours to do.

This baler not only bales the hay, but also wraps it in plastic.  It can put much more hay into each bale, so that although they are the same size as our normal bales, they are 1.5 times heavier!

 

 

 

Baling on Papa Stronsay

By the end of the evening there were 203 bales!

Matt changes the rolls of plastic wrap.

For the evening recreation, the community came down to cheer him on!

Matt with his tractor...

...and with the community.

A job well done!

Many thanks to Matt for all his work - and a happy birthday for today!

Our Lady's Garden, 2007 - 2010. Update.

"Our Lady's Garden."

Chant of the
Salve Regina
on the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, 2010.

2007 - 2010

Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes
11 February 2007.

The future greenhouse blessed for the Queen of Heaven
as
"Our Lady's Garden"

Brother Paul Mary in the trenches.
4 May 2007
A lot of work was done.

And a few days later, same trench:

Fr. Anthony laying the raised bed over it.

Since May 2007 we have seen Our Lady's Garden
taking shape,
we are still experimenting on what works
and what doesn't.

16 July 2010
Update

Grapes were planted last year.

Pruning the Grapes.

I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he will take away:
and every one that beareth fruit,
he will prune it that it may bring forth more fruit.
(Jn. 15:1)

Fr. Anthony's Peach Tree.

Some of us doubted
the introduction of a peach tree
to Papa Stronsay!

From the beginning,
when the tree was but a spindle in a pot,
it produced abundant peaches
although those first ones were but the size of golf balls.

This year they were large, soft and brimming with juice.

Could these be the most northerly peaches in the world?

Fr. Anthony's Peach Tree
was a very successful introduction.

...the wilderness shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily.
(Is. 35:1)
We have produced our own flowers for the altar since March.

Br. Yousef Marie with the Jerusalem Artichokes.

Nectarines.

The Passion Flower.

Doing well but it didn't need to be inside.

Corgettes everywhere.

The tomatoes are in abundance.

Post Scriptum.

11 May 2007
the planting of the Kiwifruit vines!
Understandable perhaps,
(rich in Vitaman C)
we were hopeful,
but alas!

It flourished
and remains fruitless
three years,
a failure!
2007 - 2010.

"Behold for three years I come seeking fruit on this and I find none.
Cut it down therefore,
Why cumbereth it the ground?"

But he answering, said to him:
Lord, let it alone this year also,
until I dig about it and dung it.
And if happily it bear fruit:
but if not,
then after that thou shalt cut it down.
(Lk. 13:6)

(2 male and 4 female Kiwifruit vines are growing together
their fruitlessness is probably due to our degrees of latitude (59.2° North).
The sun remains close to the horizon at this latitude
and there may not be sufficient sun intensity to bring forth flowers for fruit.)

The unsuccessful Kiwifruit vines
of Fr. Michael Mary!

Come ye also sons of earth, come ye and adore Him.

Solemnity of the Most Holy Redeemer.
(Third Sunday in July.)

V/. Lord, Thou hast redeemed us by Thy Blood.
R/. And hast made us unto our God a kingdom.

Answering the Matin's Invitatory.
Where in heaven JESUS reigns, Angels bow before Him. *
Come ye also, sons of earth, come ye and adore Him.
(Invitatory, Matins of the SS. Redeemer.)

Come ye also, sons of earth, come ye and adore Him.

... ipsa me deduxerunt et adduxerunt
in montem sanctum tuum et in tabernacula tua.
.... it is He who will open the way to Thy holy mount,
to Thy heavenly tabernacle.

I cried unto the LORD with my voice,
and He heard me out of His holy hill.
(1st. Antiphon, Matins of the SS. Redeemer.)

Come ye also, sons of earth, come ye and adore Him.

In the Bollandists’ life of St. Colette (6th March), who was remarkable for her great devotion to Holy Mass, we read: On one occasion, when she was assisting at the Mass said by her confessor, she was heard, at the consecration, to exclaim: “My God, my Jesus! O angels and saints, O men and sinners, what marvels are these that we see and hear!” After Mass her confessor asked what had made her cry aloud in this manner.

... When your reverence elevated the sacred host ...

She replied: “When your reverence elevated the sacred host, I beheld Christ upon the cross, the blood flowing from His precious wounds; at the same time I heard Him thus address the Eternal Father: Look upon this body of flesh, in which I hung upon the cross, in which I suffered for mankind. Look upon My wounds, look upon the blood that I shed, consider My sufferings, consider My death. All this I endured to save sinners.

... For My sake, spare these sinners, O My Father ...

Now, if Thou dost consign to perdition on account of their iniquities, and deliver them over to the devil, what compensation shall I have for My bitter passion, for My cruel death? The reprobate sinners will render Me no thanks; on the contrary, they will curse Me to all eternity. But if they were saved they would praise and magnify Me forever in gratitude for My sufferings. For My sake, therefore, spare these sinners, O My Father, and preserve them from eternal damnation.”

Come ye also, sons of earth, come ye and adore Him.
Of dying creatures are born dying creatures,
and of them that once could not die
are made beings that must die.
From Adam all men are born to die;
but JESUS, the Son of God,
the Word of God, by Whom all things were made,
the Only-begotten Son, co-equal to the Father,
was made so that He could not die,
for "the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us."
If then He accepted death,
and crucified death upon His Cross,
dying creatures are freed from death.
(St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. Tract on John iii.)

The Altar, the holy hill,
to which God comes down from heaven ...
No man hath ascended up to heaven,
but He that came down from heaven.
For He came down; and died;
and by His death delivered us from death.
Death slew Him, and He slew death.
(St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. Tract on John iii.)

Come ye also, sons of earth...

come ye and adore Him.

Feast of our holy diocese of Aberdeen.

Today, 9 July,
Feast of Our Lady of Aberdeen.
The First Class Feast of the Patroness of the Diocese.

The Coat of Arms
of the holy
Diocese of Aberdeen:
Three fish forming a triangle on a blue field
(These three fish were caught by the confrères this afternoon
and laid out in honour of
Our Lady of Aberdeen.)

The first early Christian symbol of the Fish is taken a stage
further by combining three fish within a basic triangular shape.
Each letter in Greek for "fish" (ἰχθύς)
(or in capitals ΙΧΘΥΣ
pronounced Ichthus like IK-THUS)
represented a key word related to the
identity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
He is
Jesus Christ (IX),
Son of God (ΘΥ),
Saviour (Σ).

But back to our "Ichthus-es"
on Papa Stronsay ...

... As you guessed,
the kitchen was busy again this evening.
An even larger catch than our last one,
the haul of
just three crewmen
and two fishing rods!

Br. Alfonso packs the fish for the freezer.
The question is:
How many were caught?

Br Martin Mary cuts into delicious Mackerel.
Since from the time of the Apostles
catches of fish have been counted,
we must do the same,
it's a tradition.

Tonight were counted:
202 Mackerel!
(St. Augustine might tell you the signification of this number!)
but as anyone knows
53 Coley fish ...
are
in honour
of the numbers of Aves in the Rosary.

Of course
we did not count the number of fish
that were washed overboard in the rough seas,
nor the Cod of unreported dimensions
snatched away by a ferocious sea fowl
just as it was being hauled aboard!

O Our Lady of Aberdeen
Thank you for this festive day!
Best wishes from Papa Stronsay
to all in our holy diocese!

Happy Feast day to all our readers.