[Northkeep] OK, here is a Lenten question...maybe Talana?

[Jennifer Carlson]

We're not looking at beaucoups of battery hens in a modern hatching facility - we're talking about what a household/manor/poulterer supplier could afford to raise.  Also, hens lay fewer eggs in winter, and increase production as spring comes on and the days get longer.  In modern egg facilities, the lights are kept on twenty-four hours a day to fool the hens into producing more eggs.  So during the winter and early in Lent, the hens weren't going at it great guns.
 
And don't forget, Sundays and certain feast days were exempt from Lenten traditions.  If you will recall, last year St. Patrick's Day fell on on Ash Wednesday - talk about a train wreck?  Catholic Bishops in Irish and Irish-descent parishes from Australia to the U.S. petitioned the Pope for a fasting exemption for that day.
 
Beer, of course, is ok to consume on fast days.
 
As for making a living during lent in the middle ages, they did what we do - save up during the flush times to make it through the lean times.
 
 
Talana
 
> From: Anawyn at aol.com
> Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:03:24 -0500
> To: northkeep at lists.ansteorra.org
> Subject: Re: [Northkeep] OK, here is a Lenten question...maybe Talana?
> 
> I know, I know, but we are talking 40 days here. 40 days! Cows are milked 
> twice a day, and I just can't picture storing that many eggs. And how do 
> they make a living for those 40 days? Maybe there is something written during 
> the Lenten period in the Middle Ages that would shed some light on 
> particulars?
> 
> WorryingNeedlesslyAboutTrivialMatters
> 
> Anawyn
> 
> 
> 
> In a message dated 3/11/2011 10:28:36 A.M. Central Standard Time, 
> talana1 at hotmail.com writes:
> 
> 
> Lent usually corresponds with the time when lambs and calves are dropping, 
> so they'll take care of some of the dairy production. For the surplus 
> milk, you would be making cheese and butter, for later consumption or sale. 
> Abstaining from eggs means chicks hatch, replenishing your flocks. And 
> gathered eggs need not rot - there are methods for preserving them, such as 
> dipping them in isinglass, or coating them with lard or wax. Even kept in 
> your refrigerator, eggs purchased fresh at the beginning of Lent will be 
> usable at Easter.
> 
> In servicio,
> 
> 
> Talana
> 
> > From: Anawyn at aol.com
> > Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:37:12 -0500
> > To: northkeep at ansteorra.org
> > Subject: [Northkeep] OK, here is a Lenten question...maybe Talana?
> > 
> > We know the restrictions placed on diet during Lent in the Middle Ages, 
> > such as no eggs, dairy products, meat, etc. So...what did they do with 
> all of 
> > the continuing accumulation of foodstuffs? I mean, for those living on a 
> > farm they HAD to milk the cows each day, that could not be neglected. 
> The 
> > eggs would pile up and rot, so those would have to be gathered too. I 
> would 
> > think that wasting or throwing away food would certainly be considered 
> an 
> > "ungodly" activity, not to mention the loss of income for those who 
> depended 
> > on selling their various comestibles for a living.
> > 
> > See, this is what happens to your train of thoughts when you wake up and 
> > can't go back to sleep. I suppose worrying about the past beats the 
> aspect of 
> > worrying about the future in some ways. Now I just made myself hungry 
> for 
> > an omelette...:->
> > 
> > Anawyn
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