New Skete Monasteries News

By Brother Luke             It’s Christmas afternoon. Matins and Divine Liturgy are in the past. The community meal is in the future. Right now, before early evening chores in the puppy kennel, I have some time to exhale!   The dogs and I have been out for a walk, but now I want to rest in my chair and maybe read, with the soft sounds of Christmas carols and songs in the background.   As I settle in, the dogs have to work out their own plan for the siesta. What? Siesta! No chance! Well, maybe a chance for Kahn.   He usually comes over to me for a good long petting session; it seems we need to assure each other that we are still around! Once done, then he will settle down for a bit on his therapeutic dog bed. But before long he ambles over to the door and lies down near the crack at the bottom of the door to get a bit of the breeze coming in. After all, my window faces south, and we get the afternoon winter s...

By Sr. Jolene Earlier this year (in May 2018) the nuns were faced with the challenge of decommissioning two aged oil tanks.   As described in the original article, “The Saga of the Oil Tanks,” the newer of the two tanks, in the front of the monastery was able to be emptied, cleaned, and filled with pea stone.   The older tank under the brick patio off the sisters’ kitchen presented a much more complicated situation.   The tank was removed and found to have several holes, and oil had leaked and contaminated the soil under and around the tank.    At the point when the previous article was concluded the community was awaiting analysis of the level and extent of soil contamination.             The report from the DEC confirmed a level of soil contamination in excess of the allowed 10 ppm (our on-site test yielded 164 ppm, so we were not surprised by the DEC findings).   We were extremely gratefu...

By Brother Luke             Getting our Christmas tree this year presented a few new problems. In the past we always had a pick-up truck, and I could use that to get the tree. Sometimes we were allowed to drive into the field behind a neighbor’s house and cut down a tree from there, but that no longer is an option. As with most people, there are years when we have to get a pre-cut tree; they unfortunately do not always last all that long. Our tree is sometimes up well into January, sometimes even all the way to February 2 and the Feast of the Encounter. So, for us the fresher the better. But we also have several Christmas Tree farms in our area, and when possible we go there to cut a tree just when we need it. Still, a truck is useful and we no longer have one.             Last year I learned that we could put a down payment on a tree and leave it untouched until the...