Our Lady of Mississippi Abbey Blog

February 6, 2023

ABBOT GENERAL'S VISIT TO OLM

Dom Bernardus

Last week our new Abbot General, Dom Bernardus Peeters and his secretary, Fr. Raphael came for a four day visit. Dom Bernardus is the former abbot of Tilberg Abbey in the Netherlands. He was elected Abbot General last February at the General Chapter in Assisi, Italy. We each met with him individually and he gave the community four conferences while he was here. It was a wonderful experience to get to know him and to hear his vision for the Order.

December 9, 2022

ALL HANDS ON DECK

This past week and next week are the busiest 2 weeks in our year. All the candy we have made needs to be boxed sealed and shipped to go out to our customers. It is a huge job and everyone drops what they usually do and go over to the shipping department to help. Luckily, everyone likes to ship. It is satisfying to prepare the gifts that are being sent out. Sometimes you recognize a name on a label as someone you know. That is fun. We are grateful to all our candy customers for supporting us by their purchases.

Sr. Grace entering orders.
This semi will be full before it leaves the dock.

November 17, 2022

Leucistic Red Bellied Woodpecker

A few weeks ago we noticed a bird flying around and coming to the bird feeders. It appeared to be all white with a red cap. We don't have all white birds so we started to investigate. We determined the bird to be a leucistic red bellied woodpecker This is a definition given on the web for leucistic:

This is a normal red bellied woodpecker.

an abnormal condition of reduced pigmentation affecting various animals (such as birds, mammals, and reptiles) that is marked by overall pale color or patches of reduced coloring and is caused by a genetic mutation which inhibits melanin and other pigments from being deposited in feathers, hair, or skin.

Notice the red cap.

Notice the red belly.

This is somewhat different from an albino bird which has no color and pink eyes.only about 1 bird in 30,000 has leucistic or albinistic plumage. Based on these results, leucism and albinism are very rare occurrences among birds.

November 14, 2022

MAKING APPLE CIDER

This past Saturday we pulled out the apple press and pressed our apples for cider. You take turns pressing as it takes a lot of physical strength. There are several steps. First washing and cutting up the apples. Then cutting up the apples more with the cutting machine and finally pressing the apples in the press. We ended up with about 10 gallons. The cider is delicious!