"Now my dears, you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor."

Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Peter Rabbit

I thought of Mr. McGregor this week as I stood surveying what was our pepper plants. What were once neat columns of serranoes and jalapenos were now two rows of mostly stems. The bell peppers and tomatoes had also both been pilfered. I pride myself on being a woman that “has it together” emotionally. I’m not one to give into tears unless they are truly warranted. As I stood there, though, looking over the absolute carnage, tears pricked. I’m used to the ups and downs of homesteading, but sometimes — things just hit harder than normal.

Now that summer is here, I’ve been starting most of my days in the garden. Usually, it’s one of the best parts of my day. This year, it’s been — difficult. It started with all of our plants simply refusing to grow. I don’t know if it was the potting soil (which sprouted mushrooms immediately) or the heirloom seeds, but our plants are small compared to last year. Then, we made the mistake of planning to pick up our cucurbit seeds at Walmart when we were ready for them — only to discover Walmart had already literally thrown them away for the year. We ordered some, but we are starting weeks behind. Next, all the rain we’ve had has set us back on soil prepping while causing the weeds to grow at what seems an almost unnatural pace. Pests seem worse than normal. We lost all of our okra awhile back, which I’ve since reseeded. Cutworms got to a bunch of our peppers earlier this week, inspiring me to use diatomaceous earth for the first time. Something has been eating our green beans, and I finally figured out its rabbits. And then came Thursday with the great pepper apocalypse.

As I stood, looking around me — at the weeds, the broken trellises and squash boxes needing repair, and the rows of stems — I had a moment of wanting to throw up my hands and give up. There is so much needing done on the bunkhouse still, and the garden has been taking up so much time. I wanted to scream at the thick grass and brush just outside the fence, “Fine. Take it. You win.” I wanted to sit on the ground, put my head in my knees, and surrender. Instead, I took a deep breath, pulled out my phone, and started looking for solutions to the rabbit problem.

Last year, we had zero issues with rabbits eating our plants. Now I realize why our old cats, Gandalf and Arwen, used to spend so much time in the garden. Gandalf started spending most of his time away last fall, and we rehomed Arwen, as we didn’t want her wintering alone without a heated home (we used to have a little cat house on our covered tent porch near our wood stove). Since then, we have suddenly run into issues with mice getting into — everything. And now, rabbits are terrorizing our garden.

I did a little research, and I decided the quickest deterrent would be to add a 2—foot layer of chicken wire along the bottom of our garden fence. The rest of the family jumped in to help. My dad called around, then decided to run to Menards in Springfield. The kids started pulling the rock border away from the bottom of our existing fence. Bonnie-Jean and our brother Levi quickly got to work digging a 2-inch trench beneath the fence we have, so that the chicken wire could be slightly buried. Grace attacked the giant wild rose bush that took up a good 10-foot section of the fence. I worked inside the garden, moving squash boxes and piles of detritus that could be harboring rodents. The weather was calling for afternoon storms, so we worked quickly hoping to finish before the rain.

The weather was supposed to hold off until later in the afternoon, but since we live in Missouri, it started thundering a couple hours earlier than we initially expected — just as our dad pulled in with the fencing. We considered putting the project off another day, but we didn’t want to lose the rest of our plants. So, with one eye on the ominous black clouds drifting in from the south, I grabbed our pneumatic stapler. Levi grabbed the fencing, and we got to work. Bonnie-Jean and Grace worked behind us, burying the wire and adding a rock border to discourage animals from digging. Our sister-in-law Erin came and helped them as well, along with one of our nieces.

We got two 80-foot sides of the fence done when the rain started to fall. It wasn’t too heavy, so we grabbed an old trash can to put over the air compressor and kept working. While the rain fell steadily, thank God, we didn’t have a true downpour. I’ve never seen a fence go up so fast. We finished attaching the wire just as the rain started to worsen. We ran around getting all our tools put under cover, laughing with exhilaration that we had finished something that felt impossible.

Thankfully, our fix worked. The rabbits haven’t been back to wreak any additional havoc. More importantly though, the experience of all jumping in and pushing ourselves to our limits as a group was rewarding. Life is busy and often we are all going in different directions. It was a gift to come together and show ourselves how much we can accomplish when we act like a team.

The garden was our biggest focus this week, but we did spend some time creating two flower beds for all the zinnias and cosmos we planted this spring. Grace, Bonnie-Jean, and I constructed two simple wooden frames. We used scrap wood left over from our interior siding, and we coated everything with Eco Wood Treatment. Bonnie-Jean dug 13 wheelbarrow-loads of dirt in the woods to fill the beds with. She and one of our nieces planted the flowers Friday evening before the rain hit on Saturday.

That night after dusk, our brother Jeremiah and I suited up to do some beekeeping. We’d seen we had a new swarm in our trap a couple weeks ago, but we’d been too busy to move them. Our niece Chloe came along to hold a red flashlight so we could see what we were doing. When we opened the trap, we were impressed by the six large Layen’s frames already full of comb with visible brood, bread, and honey. It was the most advanced looking swarm we’ve ever caught — probably because the trap had been stocked with comb from previous hives.

After a crazy week working outside in the heat, we all enjoyed our rainy Saturday. It’s our week to provide treats after Mass today, so after a morning spent deep cleaning, we baked more than 100 muffins. We did four batches of the recipe our mom developed for the coffee shop our folks owned when we were kids — blackberry crumble, cappuccino, cranberry orange, and banana nut coconut. It was a nice moment to slow down, connect, and prepare ourselves for church.

Thursday night, after our long day throwing up our rabbit fence, I stepped out after dark to look for possible Northern Lights in the post-storm cloudless skies. While the Aurora Borealis didn’t make an appearance, the fireflies were so spectacular, they left nothing wanting. I stood on our deck looking out at a sparkling world — from the stars twinkling across the sky to the lightning bugs twinkling from the treetops to the earth. It was nature’s fireworks at their best, and I stood soaking in the beauty.

The next day, when I visited the garden, I noticed tiny new leave on many of the chomped pepper plants. And just like that, hope unfurled — tiny and stalwart.

“I heard in Addison’s Walk a bird sing clear:
This year the summer will come true. This year. This year.

Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees
This year, nor want of rain destroy the peas.

This year time’s nature will no more defeat you,
Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.”

C.S Lewis

Even though the rain has been incessant, we made the most of the good weather when we had it. On Wednesday, Grace, our brother Levi, and I spent almost the entire day in the garden along with Levi’s kids. We loosened soil, formed 14 18-foot rows, and planted nearly 200 seedlings (peppers, tomatoes, basil, and cilantro).

Later in the week, we started more seeds indoors — cucumbers, three types of summer squash, six varieties of melons, and some more herbs. We plan to wait a week or so to start the winter squash, as we prefer our pumpkins to ripen closer to fall.

We still have a bunch of flower plants waiting to go in the ground. Now that our vegetable starts are planted, we can work on the lower priority flower bed. The cosmos and zinnias need full sun, so they couldn’t go in the shady flower bed we made a couple weeks ago. We are planning to construct some simple raised beds near our homestead entrance.

Aside from our gardening, we’ve been in survival mode this week as Grace’s mini-Aussie Milly has still been in heat. With all the rain, we’ve had three male dogs in the house with her — and it’s not been fun for anyone. Grace did find a stud for Milly, and he came over to our homestead for a couple visits. Unfortunately, Milly didn’t accept him this time. She is very shy, and while she liked his owner, she was wary of the unknown dog. Grace hopes they can try again next time she is in heat.

May is nearly over, which means our days are getting hotter. After a little trial and error, I found a rhythm of slow-rise sourdough proofing that allows for early morning baking. A morning bake when it’s cool outside allows us to run the whole-house exhaust fan while using the hot oven. After baking a rather flat couple of loaves followed by some rather small ones, I was thrilled to achieve two nice sized loaves yesterday morning — and then again today. While we don’t eat a lot of bread (most of our family tries to avoid gluten), we have all been loving Sunday afternoon sandwiches with slow-fermented sourdough. This type of bread has reduced gluten content due to the long ferment time.

And this week, we had Saturday evening sandwiches as well, in honor of the Feast Day of Joan of Arc. At the suggestion of Kendra Tierney’s book, we made Croque Madame sandwiches. It was a delicious (if darkly humorous) choice. Right during dinner, severe thunderstorms in the area knocked out our power for about an hour. We went ahead and finished the last few sandwiches in the warm oven — even though they are supposed to be grilled and then broiled. They were still very tasty.

It was a long week of rain and fussy dogs. I’m thankful the dog drama is almost over, and from what the forecast says, we should be able to work outside most of the week. We have so much to do in our garden. We are itching to start on our flower beds. We have a honeybee swarm we need to relocate into it’s proper hive. The world is perfectly green, the Black-Eyed-Susans are blooming, and I am so ready for June.

“Let my teaching fall down like rain,
and my words descend like the dew.
Like rain upon the sprouts,
and like showers upon the grass.”

Deuteronomy 32:2 NCB

I woke up tired this morning. I took my coffee and walked around on the dewy grass, barefoot. It’s Pentecost — the day Christians remember the coming of the Holy Spirit. I learned this year that walking outside in the morning dew is an old Christian Pentecost tradition, connected to the scriptural and theological association between the Holy Spirit and the dewfall. The sun was shining over the misty Ozarks, and I felt thankful for God’s presence, even during hard seasons.

It was a rough week, but we made it. I’m very ready for today’s sabbath rest and reset it always provides.

“Earth her joy confesses, clothing her for spring; All fresh gifts returned with her returning King.”

St. Venantius Fortunatus

The week began with our Mother’s Day celebration. After Mass, we went with our mom to Big Rock Gardens and Produce in Lockwood. We had heard it was a good, semi-local place to buy plants, and we weren’t disappointed. We plan to detail our visit in a stand-alone-post, but suffice to say — we were impressed with their selection, and we quickly found everything we needed.

We came home and planted the new flowers in the flower bed we made last week. Since the month of May is dedicated to Mary in the Catholic Church, it felt like a fitting time to place and crown our new Mary statue. While we spoiled our own mother, we enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on Mary’s motherhood of Jesus and the Church (Revelation 12:17).

While we were at the nursery, we also picked up a couple hen-and-chicks. They always remind us of our Memaw. Bonnie-Jean repotted them on Monday, which felt fitting, since it was the third anniversary of her passing.

Our main focus this week was our garden. Most of our energy went to breaking up soil and weeding. It’s long and tedious but also satisfying. Our brothers joined in on Saturday. The guys doubled our progress, which was amazing.

When we weren’t working on the garden this week, we were busy with plenty of indoor tasks. We bottled the St. Paul Porter we started on our dad’s birthday in March. We had planned to bottle our cider on the same day, but we ended up short on bottles. Bottling the porter went smoothly — we think the beer is going to turn out well. We are hoping it will be ready to drink by Father’s Day. We ordered another box of bottles so we can finish up the cider in the next couple weeks.

We also did some meal prep for the following weeks. After our dad picked up a large Walmart grocery order in Bolivar, Grace and I prepped 36 pounds of chicken for grilling. We made seven different marinades (most from this blog post), poured them over the portioned frozen chicken, and put the bags in the freezer. We did this a lot when we were camping, but we had gotten out of the habit once we were moved into the bunkhouse. I have to say, the task was much easier in a kitchen with an actual sink.

We also celebrated two different Catholic feast days. Wednesday was the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, so we whipped up Portuguese food — chicken quarters, tomato rice, and green beans. For dessert, we tried milk tarts.

That was the only festivity we planned for the week, but when I woke up Friday, I realized it was the Feast of Saint Isadore. He is our youngest brother’s confirmation saint, and it seemed wrong to let the day go uncommemorated. Since it was raining, Grace and I decided to try our hand at some rosquillas de San Isidro — a sort of Spanish donut. The end result was more like a biscotti than what we would call a donut, but it was still tasty.

It was a productive, multifaceted week. We made lots of progress inside and outside, and we took time for some fun and celebration as well. On one particularly nice afternoon, we ladies spent some time sitting at our spring, soaking our feet in the cold, clear water. It was peaceful and restorative — states we have to be intentional about cultivating around here, with so much always going on. Next week will be as busy as always with the added concern of a possible surgery in our family. We are thankful for God’s continued blessing and presence in our lives — especially when things aren’t easy.

“I was sad one day and went for a walk; I sat in a field. A rabbit noticed my condition and came near. It often does not take more than that to help at times—to just be close to creatures who are so full of knowing, so full of love that they don't—chat, they just gaze with their marvelous understanding.”

St. John of the Cross

The week dawned sunny, and we all enjoyed how much cleaner everything looked after all the yard work we did last weekend. We still need to do more weed trimming down by the spring, but it is looking positively park-like already, with the blooming wild roses and trimmed grass. Bonnie-Jean has been treating our young weeping willow trees with neem since caterpillars were bothering them, and they are leafing back out and looking pretty again.

On Monday, we spent time packing away some of our winter gear. We ordered some vacuum storage bags to shrink things, making them fit better in totes. We still have a few more loads of coats to wash before we start on all the winter blankets, but it felt good to get most of it packed up.

It was cold and rainy on Tuesday, so we didn’t start any big outdoor projects. Instead, we finally hung up the curtains in our living room. It helped having our dad home, as his height and wingspan made it a lot easier for him to hang the high curtain brackets. Grace cleaned windows, and I spent hours ironing.

That evening, we whipped up some Cinco de Mayo treats — enchiladas, paella, and all the fixings. For dessert, my nieces helped me make a tres leches cake.

While we worked on curtains inside, Bonnie-Jean headed up the monumental task of repotting our seedlings. Our sister-in-law Erin and her kids helped. Our seedlings have really struggled this year, and we all blame the potting soil we chose. The day ended up being downright cold, but they persevered.

The weather was better on Wednesday, though it was still delightfully cool. My dad looked over the covered porch plans I’ve been working on. I always like getting a second opinion on plans for the bunkhouse, and he had a few thoughts that were helpful. After that, Dad and I put the metal roof on the outdoor shower. We had wanted to leave it open to the sky, but due to the location of windows on the bunkhouse, we decided to roof the shower for privacy. In the end, I’m glad — it will protect the fixtures from too much sun exposure or hail damage.

On Thursday, I set up the drip system on the one-third of the garden that’s planted. I decided to set up the system differently this year, adding more couplers to make it almost modular.

While I worked in the vegetable garden, Grace and Bonnie-Jean worked on the flower garden we are starting along the dry creek bed. I joined the flower garden effort on Friday. Eventually, we want to make flower beds around the wild phlox growing there already. There was a pile of very large rocks nearby that we decided to repurpose into a grotto-type feature. We have a statue of the Virgin Mary we plan to put there. My nieces and I worked on these rocks for a couple hours while Grace and Bonnie-Jean were busy with other tasks (weed trimming and window screen repair). After lunch, they brought their muscle and helped move some of the largest rocks into place. We finished the area on Saturday — adding the final rock border, bringing in soil, and removing dead trees and vines. We also adhered our Mary statue to a cement paver to make it heavier and less likely to blow over in the heavy winds we get around here.

While we finished up the flower bed on Friday, our brother Jeremiah started digging piers for our new deck roof. Since the deck is floating, we want to anchor the cover to actual piers. It’s going to be a tricky process, since two of the piers will have to be under the deck itself. Jeremiah has headed up this project and volunteered to do the digging.

It was a lovely week, with both weather and progress that boosted the group morale around here. I think a lot of the joy had to do with our flower beds and the luxury it is to work on something beautiful for its own sake. We’ve been in survival mode for so long, we’ve taken very little time to work on landscaping — aside from trying to keep outdoor spaces from being a jungle. Of course, the bunkhouse is still a construction zone. There are still piles of tarped lumber out front. Making our homestead aesthetically pleasing will be a long, multi-stage process. Still, we have started on our little corner, and we are all motivated to keep up the process.

“My brother birds, you should greatly praise your Creator, and love Him always. He gave you feathers to wear, wings to fly, and whatever you need.”

St. Francis of Assisi

Along with our green beans, we put our okra seedlings out this week. Bonnie-Jean, with our sister-in-law Erin and her daughters, prepped the soil for both the beans and the okra earlier in the week. They pulled weeds, removed rocks, and added compost. As of this week, about a third of our garden is prepped for the year, which is better than the last couple years. Bonnie-Jean also repotted our tomato seedings.

As the growing season has set in, Grace spent hours almost every morning running our weed trimmer. She mowed an impressive swath of the bunkhouse site. When our brother Levi got home from work most days, he took a turn with the trimmer as well. On Saturday, Levi tackled our spring area. While he ran the trimmer and brush cutter, my sisters and nieces pulled watercress out of the creek. We already had one watercress cleaning earlier this year, but it came back quickly. The wild roses along the bank have been blooming abundantly, but it was hard to appreciate them fully with all the weeds.

We also started cleaning out around a patch of wild phlox near the bunkhouse. We enjoy the phlox every year, though it is usually surrounded by bramble. This year, we plan to make the area into a flower bed, enclosing the phlox and adding additional flowers.

While Bonnie-Jean and Grace worked in the garden and yard, my dad and I finished some bunkhouse projects. On Tuesday, we installed the final flood light on the southwest corner of the bunkhouse, completing the circuit and making the other flood light finally functional. We had been waiting to get all the siding up to install the light. It was such a treat to be able to flip a switch and see nearly to the tree line at night.

We were just finishing the light installation when our phones started sounding alarms for a severe thunderstorm warning and destructive hail. I’d never seen a warning like that before, but the details were as bleak as the title — softball-size hail had been reported from this storm. We all ran around stashing our tools and putting our plants under the deck. We made it inside just before the storm hit — but we only got some little pea sized hail and rain, for which we were thankful. The record setting storm wreaked havoc in the surrounding area, with many homes and vehicles damaged. It was one of a series of strong storms that hit over the first days of the week, some of which brought high winds and tornado warnings. It was the first time we used our tornado shelter in nearly two years. When the weather cleared up on Wednesday, I was ready.

On Wednesday, we started the day with some feast day baking — lady fingers, in honor of St. Catherine of Sienna. After all, St. Catherine is famous for pointing out errors in high places — including those of a Pope. None of us had ever made lady fingers before, and the process of whipping both the egg whites and yokes separately was unique. The cookies came together quickly, and they baked up with a nice texture — crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. They were good, though a bit eggy for my taste. Next time, we plan to use them for a trifle or serve them with pudding.

We made a lot of progress on our outdoor shower this week. I helped my dad finish installing our outdoor shower fixture. We cut and mitered boards to hide the plumbing, then installed the fixture itself. On Saturday, our brother Jeremiah joined us as we started on the enclosure for the shower. We opted to use leftover and reclaimed materials from our various projects. We broke down old portions of the exterior tent frame, and we used leftover house siding boards. We didn’t quite finish — we need to add metal to the roof, make a gate, and create a floor of some sort (gravel or decking). Still, we got to a place that the outdoor shower is useable for the time being. With eleven people in the bunkhouse, a second shower will immediately improve our quality of life.

It was a well-rounded and productive week. The weather was idyllic, and the woods more green each day. We all made time for lots of walks to the spring to soak in the beauty. As I’ve mentioned before, now that we are living in the bunkhouse, we have to be intentional about taking small moments to savor the springtime. Tent-living forced us outdoors all day, and we spent hours sitting in the woods, doing bookwork on laptops surrounded by birdsong and green trees. We have much less built-in exercise than we used to as well — finishing work simply isn’t as active as framing was most days. Hence, we’ve been intentional about walking more, taking small breaks for the quarter-mile loop to the spring and back. The small moments are good checks in the routine, moments to be nourished by God’s glory in creation. I’m thankful for those moments, the way I’m thankful for the time I spent in our garden this week. There’s just nothing like green growing things, be they okra sprouts or wild pecan trees.

The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:12, NRSV-CE

I have always loved ladybugs. Until today, I never knew the origin of their name. The coccinellidae beetle was first christened by Catholic farmers as “ladybirds,” not for their feminine charm, but rather in honor of Our Lady Mary. Folklore says, when these farmers’ crops suffered an infestation of aphids, they directed their prayers to Mary for relief. The farmers viewed these aphid eating beetles as an answer to their prayers to Mary. In Catholic tradition, the ladybug’s red shell and seven black spots represent Mary’s cloak and seven sorrows.

Today is May, the month dedicated to Mary in the liturgical calendar. May this and every ladybug sighting this month be a reminder to pray like the farmers!

Of course, the tent is gone now. Three years later, just a couple feet away from where I slept in the tent, I woke up in the bunkhouse we built from the ground up, from plans that began with sketching on graph paper. The bunkhouse still needs trim in many places, and it very much needs more shelving — but it’s a cozy, livable space. After so many years of dreaming, we actually did it. And there is still so much more to do.

On Monday, we worked on our outdoor shower. All eleven people in our family have been using the one shower in the bunkhouse — a situation that gets especially chaotic on Sunday mornings when everyone is getting ready for church. Back when we planned this bunkhouse, we knew we wanted two showers. Due to space and budget, we planned all along to have an outdoor option. This will be ideal after long workdays outside when people are so dirty, they really don’t want to come in the house without cleaning up first.

We are starting by mounting the shower fixture to the side of our house, as we are anxious to have access to warm water outdoors for bathing dogs and washing extra-dirty laundry. We had been using our old point-of-use propane water heater, but it finally broke last week. It took some creativity to decide how to enclose the unsightly shower plumbing externally. We also added a little spigot beneath the hot and cold water lines. This will be nice for filling buckets with warm water, but more importantly, it will allow us to easily drain the system before freezing weather arrives.

On Tuesday, it was also time for my dad to move the beer we made on his birthday to it’s secondary fermenter. It was a simple process to siphon the brew from one carboy to another. I cleaned the used carboy. Then, since the carboy was already sanitized, Grace and I decided to go ahead and mix up the cherry cider kit we picked up a few weeks ago. Instead of using sugar, we always use honey as a more natural option. It came together so easily, we were finished within the hour. It was fermenting nicely by the next morning.

Early in the week, Bonnie-Jean prepped our seed potatoes for planting. The red seed potatoes were smaller, so she left them alone. Our brother Levi had picked up some larger russets locally, and Bonnie cut these into appropriately sized chunks. We let the cuts dry and scar for a couple days. While they dried, she and our nieces prepared the soil. They opened up our garden compost ring that we stopped using last year and mixed it well. They incorporated several buckets into the potato area. On Wednesday, we finally got the potatoes into the ground.

Grace and our brother Levi spent time in the garden this week as well, working on repairing our trellises from last year. We had always intended to reinforce the trellises when we first built them, but we didn’t ever get around to it. Winter had left them all in sad shape. As of this week, most are repaired and ready to go.

We also finished our exterior siding this week. We worked on some of it with our dad on Wednesday, then we finished up on Saturday with our brother Jeremiah. The last step was a bit complex, as it involved uninstalling and reinstalling our Starlink internet set-up. While we were at it, Jeremiah also installed an outdoor Wi-Fi booster and security camera. Of course, we still need to add trim — but after so many months, it feels so good to have the siding finished.

Along with other homestead projects, we’ve been washing all of our winter work gear this week — insulated bibs, etc. We always try to dry everything we can on the line, and thankfully, the weather has been cooperating.

On Thursday, we celebrated the Feast of St. George, who is remembered for slaying a dragon. Catholics understand the story symbolically, of course, as we know from history that St. George was a Roman soldier who was martyred under Diocletian. Still, I can’t help loving the fact that St. George has a well known fairytale version of his life. May we all be so blessed someday! Since St. George is the patron saint of England, we celebrated his feast day with cottage pie and Victoria sponge cake (the red in white colors appropriately reflecting St. George’s flag).

It was a very busy week, and our homestead anniversary left me feeling thoughtful. Remembering how far we’ve come was good for me, as I have been feeling frustrated with the slowness of our progress lately. As humans, it’s so easy to get bogged down in the details, to focus on all the little things not getting done instead of being thankful for the things that are. Talking about the excitement and gratitude we had back at the beginning was both convicting and encouraging. We had so much joy just being out in the country again, after years of working toward that goal. Life is still hard, though, and all humans have their struggles — their personal crosses to bear. Our homestead anniversary was a much needed call to reorient my thoughts on gratitude. Things aren’t perfect. Some days are downright difficult. But, this is a good life.

“Sometimes hidden from me
in daily custom and in trust,
so that I live by you unaware
as by the beating of my heart,
suddenly you flare in my sight,
a wild rose blooming at the edge
of thicket, grace and light
where yesterday was only shade,
and once more I am blessed, choosing
again what I chose before”

Wendell Berry

The storms all tended to roll in late, making for some late nights as are phones and weather radios kept alerting us to severe storms in the area. The late nights led to later, sleepy mornings. Coupled with the seasonal allergies that hit this week, none of us felt like our best selves physically most days. Bonnie-Jean and I both dealt with rounds of migraines.

Along with springtime comes turkey season. Our brother Jeremiah got his blind set up in his favorite hunting spot on our property. The guys in our family got a couple turkeys last year, and they are hoping this year is even better.

Even though we weren’t our best selves, we made progress every day. It was too wet to work in the garden as much as last week, but we made a little headway. I continued to work on repairing trellises. My sisters and nieces continued weeding rows and last year’s herb bed. We were tickled to see that both the oregano and mint are growing back. I reseeded our start trays, filling in any squares that hadn’t grown. We bought seed potatoes and intended to plant them Friday, but the ground was so wet we decided to wait until next week.

Grace and our brother Levi have both spent hours every day running the weed trimmer and brush cutter, trying to keep the grass down around the bunkhouse and clear brush around the garden. They’ve also been trimming around wild edibles we have on our homestead, including wild plum, elderberry, and blackberry. To the same end, Levi and our dad worked on the tractor yesterday. They are still working on replacing the seals on our ‘52 Ferguson TO-30.

On Thursday, we remembered our Memaw with a sugarplum cake. Our grandma always asked for a prune cake on her birthday, and we always made her one if she was visiting around this time of year.

Yesterday, Grace and I helped our brother Jeremiah work on siding, almost finishing the remainder of our bunkhouse. The weather was cool and sunny — you couldn’t ask for better.

The rest of our time this week was spent on spring cleaning and bookwork. It felt less productive than some weeks, but we still worked hard daily and made our homestead better. When I wasn’t feeling well one day, I got caught up on some computer work I’ve been putting off. The Baboni dog door we installed last summer is falling apart — the flaps are falling off, and it’s rusting inside and out. It was an expensive metal door (costing nearly 300 dollars), so I contacted the company and told them what was going on. We don’t even let the dogs use the door all the time, as it lets in heat, cold, and flies. Often, we just keep it closed. To my surprise, the company apologized and offered to send a new door. So, that was a win.

Despite it not being the best week health-wise, I’m thankful for what we accomplished. We have lots of mild weather to look forward to next week, and I’m hoping we can take advantage of it. I hope we can plant our root vegetables and maybe our green beans. I’d like to finish siding the bunkhouse. We have all the parts for our outdoor shower now, so we can install the plumbing for that this week. And of course, if weather allows, I’d love to start spraying the urethane on our kitchen shelving. There is so much to do — which is always oddly exhilarating.

“Prayer is to our soul what rain is to the soil.”

St. John Vianney

We had a belated birthday celebration for Bonnie-Jean on Easter Monday. We sisters had an actual day off, which rarely happens. We started the day by making our first ever batch of European-style fermented butter. Bonnie had seen several Instagram Reels on how the butter is made, and it looked so simple, we decided to try it. We mixed a quart of heavy cream with a half cup of yogurt in a mason jar last Saturday morning, leaving it out at room temperature until Sunday night. We chilled it at that point, then whipped it until it became butter on Monday morning. The recipe called for salt, but we skipped this as Bonnie sometimes prefers unsalted butter. The result was delicious — sweet, creamy butter with the slightest tang. We served the butter on homemade sourdough bread with some cherry jam we whipped up last week. It was quite the treat.

We spent the rest of the day watching TV and snacking on a somewhat redneck Easter charcuterie spread.

On Tuesday, we started in on some spring cleaning. Our new curtains and curtain rods arrived in the mail, but we don’t want to put them up on dirty windows. We also did some reorganizing: we cleaned off our lighted plant shelf so we could start our seeds. We had been storing appliances on the shelf over the winter, and we had to do some shuffling around to find them a new home. We managed the task, however, and dispersed things so efficiently, the house doesn’t look any more cluttered than it did before. While most of us cleaned, our dad helped Bonnie-Jean and then Grace install trim in our loft windows. Our new curtain rods install on the trim, so we needed the windows finished.

Tuesday evening, we planted six flats of seeds — each containing 72 seedlings. There is one flat of tomatoes (four varieties), one of peppers (three varieties), and another of okra (all one variety — some Clemson Spineless we had leftover from last year). We planted one flat of herbs — two varieties of basil and some cilantro. Lastly, we have two flats of flowers — two types of zinnias along with cosmos and marigolds. We kept the flats damp, and by the weekend, we had little zinnias and cosmos popping up.

For the next couple days, we started our mornings in the garden. I worked on repairing trellises that winter left a bit worse for wear. My sisters and nieces worked on breaking up the soil and prepping rows for new plants.

Grace and I worked a bit on our shelves, though we are still dealing with finish issues. After we tried adding additional stain to a couple boards, we made the decision to sand several down and start over, which was rather discouraging. Still, the weather was lovely — and our dogs kept us company.

On the bright side, we think we found a wild plum patch growing just beyond our garden. We could be wrong, but the fluffy white trees certainly look like wild plum trees. Grace did some brush cutting and weed eating in the area so that we can keep an eye on the trees and see if they fruit this summer.

Speaking of fruit trees, we also started spraying our apples with a fungus prevention routine. Our niece Chloe took initiative, asking when we needed to start spraying the new leaves. We had issues with cedar apple rust last year, and we are hoping this year will be better. We started the trees on a baking soda routine that we hope will make a difference. Bonnie-Jean also pruned the persimmon tree we found last year.

It was the most outdoorsy week we’ve had in awhile, and it was good for our souls. It was such a delight to get started in our garden again, to feel the dirt between our fingers and beneath our toes. It felt good to be so immersed in life itself, to put on hats and overalls and still get a bit sunburned. Missouri’s last frost date is less than two weeks away, and I’m already counting how many things can be started in the ground by the end of the month. This week felt like a new beginning, as if the year is finally starting for real. We are all here for it.

“Earth her joy confesses, clothing her for spring;
All fresh gifts returned with her returning King.
Blooms in every meadow, leaves on every bow,
Speak His sorrow ended, hail His triumph now:
‘Welcome, happy morning!’ age to age shall say.”

St. Venantius Fortunatus

We ate green food for Maundy Thursday, and we attended a service at our Parish. Our brother Levi’s kids had their feet washed, which was very special.

On Good Friday, I made hot cross buns. It’s been a family tradition for years, but this year the whole process took on special significance.

On Saturday, we spent most of the day cooking. In the evening, our family attended our first Easter Vigil service. We were all welcomed into the Catholic Church. Levi’s kids were baptized. Then they, along with those of us already baptized, received the sacrament of confirmation. Finally, we all celebrated the Eucharist. It was a precious service that we will all remember forever.

After the service, we attended a reception. We were humbled to be showered with gifts from our sponsors and parish family.

Today truly felt like a celebration. It was one of the most special Easters we’ve ever had. This afternoon, we had our family egg hunt. Jeremiah hid eggs all over the property, for kids and grownups alike. We all hiked around finding them geo-cache style using an app he built.

We finished the day with ham, potato salad, and carrot cake. We were exhausted and satisfied. God has been so good to our family.

“‘Tis the spring of souls today;
Christ hath burst His prison,
and from three days' sleep in death
as a sun hath risen;
all the winter of our sins,
long and dark, is flying
from His light, to whom we give
laud and praise undying.”

St. John of Damascus (8th Century), English version by John Mason Neale