ARCHIVES: HOG FARM AND SUBIACO SAUSAGE

OUR FOUNDING HOGS & SUBIACO SAUSAGE: On March 6, 1878, the founders of what would later become Subiaco Abbey set out from St. Meinrad in Indiana. Our Founders? Fr. Wolfgang Schlumpf, Brother Kaspar Hildesheim, Brother Hilarin Benetz, two mules, two cows, and two pigs. Along the way, however, the two pigs jumped from the wagon and ran to the woods with the three monks in hot pursuit. The pigs were soon retrieved, and the trio of monks continued the jolting ride southward toward Arkansas. Those two little founding pigs became important as the farm grew over time to provide food for the monks and students of Subiaco. In our earliest records, the director of hog operations was Br. Bruno Koch (pictured). He stayed with his hogs on the ridge and was the last inhabitant of "Old Subiaco," until he moved to the new monastery in September 1906. He then marked the occasion by marching his "hog community" to the new place. In later years, the best-known hog farmer was Br. Leonard Schroeder, who regularly won top prize at state and county fairs (his pigs were MASSIVE). He was succeeded by Henry Vogelpohl, brother of Fr. Herbert Vogelpohl. In the final years it would be Br. Michael Fuhrmann and Br. Paul Edmonston who managed our reduced operation of seven sows which primarily served to handle food waste from our kitchens and the Community Outreach Services (COS). The hog operation closed around 2000. You can still see the old slaughterhouse by the barns and the remains of the hog barns that were designed by Br. Leonard that are east of the tap room down by Cane Creek. He had a cottage built next to the creek where he often stayed when sows were having piglets. Not forgotten was the commitment of Mr. George Huber who came from Germany in 1925, settled at Subiaco, and served for 25 years as the butcher and gardener. Huber (with his really cool moustache as seen in the photos) was the one who invented the famous “Subiaco Sausage” that would be showcased in dinners to raise money for the new Church organ and the new Coury House Retreat Center. For many years boarding students could look forward to that special Subiaco Sausage being served every Sunday at the Academy. Br. Leonard Schroeder and Dolores Forst would make the sausage later, and Delores has now passed on the tradition to Charlie Kremers '78 and the present monks. Today our Subiaco sausage is still made by monks and kitchen staff for our benefactors at special times of the year. [[side note horror story: George Huber was using the mixer that is still used to mix the meat and spices before going into the sausage stuffer. Suddenly, the auger ripped off his fingers to the second knuckle. He wrapped his hand in a cloth and completed the mixing—throwing nothing away. John Steger ’42 was a senior at the time and a table captain. When the sausage showed up at his table he told the boys the story of the missing tip of the fingers in the sausage. John said he ended up with two or three extra sausages that time.]] Thus, the story of our two founding pigs whose families provided for the needs of Subiaco for almost 125 years!