Episode 65 — Winter Ruhls

In this mid-January “slow season” check-in, Mike, Mark, and Poppy look ahead to a quick Pennsylvania trip for the last week of flintlock/muzzleloader season—and hope for ice fishing that’s been spotty in PA and nearly nonexistent in New Mexico. To lean into the winter vibe, they call up Uncle Sim (born 1932, turning 94) to hear what winter meant on the Rexmont farm before TVs, freezers, and modern conveniences.

Sim walks the crew through old-school farm life month-by-month: holiday traditions, New Year’s butchering, and the realities of preserving food without modern refrigeration—smoked meats, canned meat (including his legendary canned tenderloin), dried produce on the woodstove, and hauling water by hand. The conversation is packed with details about how much work went into keeping a farm running through winter: manure piling and spring spreading, milking routines, and making do with limited electricity and heat from a single stove.

The stories really come alive when Sim describes the community that revolved around the farm—neighbors coming down for butchering weekends (and lively debates over pig weights), kids playing “boom sock” in the barn lofts, and entire mining towns forming hockey teams to play on the farm pond. He also dives into winter fun like sled riding from Rexmont down to the farm, and the grit-and-humor of growing up with a party-line telephone, Saturday-night baths, and a no-nonsense “wood chest” behind the stove for discipline.

Sim’s memories spill into food and market life too—potatoes and apples stored in the barn and basement, cider and apple butter days, and his mom’s Saturday market routine in Lebanon selling cakes, cookies, eggs, and chickens (plus a classic hot-dog theft-and-getting-caught story). Before signing off, Sim touches on small-game hunting traditions—how the boys couldn’t hunt until the corn was husked—and how different the hunting felt back then compared to today.

In this episode:

Mid-winter hunting plans: flintlock/muzzleloader wrap-up + hoping for ice

New Mexico vs. Pennsylvania winter realities

Rexmont farm winters: butchering, preserving, and staying busy

Canned tenderloin, smoked meats, dried produce, and life without freezers

Community weekends: butchering gatherings, homemade wine, and farm “events”

Barn games like “boom sock” and town-vs-town pond hockey

Sled riding routes, party-line phones, and Saturday night bath routines

Lebanon market trips: baking, selling farm goods, and Sim’s hot dog story

Small game hunting and corn husking as the gatekeeper for fall hunting

Follow along:
Instagram: @OutdoorRuhls • Website: www.outdoorrules.com • Listen on Apple Podcasts / Spotify / YouTube