Harvest Time

Saturday the sun was shining bright, yet the weather was nice and cool- perfect for our harvesting day!
After breakfast was over and daily chores were finished, we headed to the barnyard to butcher thirteen roosters who had grown to fryer size. They were waiting nicely in our "chicken tractors."

The dirty deed being done, we plucked the roosters and finished the process, finally cooling them off in ice cold water, before storing them in the freezer.

While Rachel and Rhonda finished cleaning and cutting the chickens into fryer pieces, Mark and Amanda, our resident bee keepers, started to harvest the honey that the bees had stored all summer. Mark donned his bee suit and they set off. With only two active hives, and without a centrifuge, they scraped the comb and honey from the frames rather than uncapping and spinning it.

All went well except for two stings received by Amanda- one on the end of her nose and one on her ear. Concentrating on scraping the last two frames, she didn't think about removing the stinger. Needless to say, her face swelled considerably. When stung, always remember to remove the stinger as quickly as possible.

Sadly this year was dry, so we harvested only a little over a gallon of honey. Hopefully next year's weather will cooperate more so that the bees can have lots of flowers to visit. Home-grown honey tastes so good! Maybe this winter we will enjoy a little cornbread, butter, and honey! Yum! Yum!

A Birthday Visitor!

Providence Prairie welcomed a young man on August 31, who was celebrating his first birthday! Riley, his mom Tina, and his grandma Terry all came to tour Providence Prairie to celebrate his birthday. The barnyard was alive waiting to welcome their visitor!

Happy Birthday Riley!

Work and Play

Saturday was filled with many activities and lots of work. In the morning after our hearty breakfast, Trey left the farmstead early to travel north to the Centralia area to tune three pianos. Dishes being cleaned up, and chili started for the homeschool meeting we were going to later that evening, Mark and Amanda headed out to clean up some old unused electric fence.
It was in their plans to move Dolly and Rio, using the fence they cleaned up to extend her fence. Fresh grass was soon added to her menu. She enjoyed munching as Rio ran as fast as his little legs could carry him to the delight of all. Maggie was enjoying herself as she watched everything from a distance. She is a good dog, helping round up the sheep and protect the animals.

The pigs are growing quickly. The little one has grown so much since she first arrived at Providence Prairie. They thoroughly enjoy the slop they receive every morning, making themselves such a mess!

We are drying off Cinnamon and Buttermilk, as their bellies are growing and they need a rest from milking before having babies. Buttermilk let us know just what she thought of that!

Saturday evening, we traversed north to Piopolis to the Tennyson's home for the annual Fall Homeschool Meeting. We had 51 in attendance! After the chili supper and presentations by several of the children, we played music and sang while the rain poured down outside. A good time was had by all.

Storms are A'Brewin'

The weather has cooled off by several degrees today. Although the humidity is still rather high, you can tell that fall is on its way. Arriving soon will be cool, crisp days, yet still full of warm sunshine as the leaves change into brilliant colors!

Trey finished the chicken house yesterday. It is complete from gates and ramps to gutters and doors. All in all, it is a work well done. The rabbitry on the front houses some of our New Zealand breedstock.

Adorning the outside of the building, is a rustic sign that Rachel painted advertising our "Farm Fresh Eggs."

The Rhode Island Reds are enjoying the garden. We opened the area up so that they could run in and scratch to their heart's content. The bugs and insects are running for cover- much to no avail!

Trey and Mark worked on the Ford 8N this evening, overhauling the hydraulic system.

They were enjoying a moment in mechanics together as they contemplated the next move to make.

The clouds began to build as we proceeded with the evening farm chores. We have had several light rains off and on for a few days, but this storm that was a'brewin' looked like it would last for a while. It is yet to get here, but it is on its way.

The sun outlined the storm clouds in the west with pure gold. It truly was a sight to behold!

Gracing the sky in the east, we beheld a small rainbow, reminding us of God's promise to never flood the earth again! What a wonderful way to end our day.

Pitter-Patter From Under the New Porch

It was such a joy to sit beneath our porch this afternoon and read a book while the rain poured all around.

Over the last couple of weeks, we busily worked on the new porch addition to the cabin. Roofing the porch was part of the job too and we kept ourselves quite busy getting that finished. It was hard, hot, backbreaking work, but the completed project was worth every minute that we toiled. Rhonda cut shingle sets, while those on the roof divided into shingling teams. Amanda handed shingles to Mark while Rachel handed to Trey. After several mornings and evenings of work, the roofing project was complete and very satisfying. We have the ceiling yet to install and trim work to complete, as well as siding on the cabin, but the project is well under way.

It is so gratifying to know that in future downpours that come to Providence Prairie, we can stay dry sitting outside, watching the rain fall, listening to the pitter-patter from under the new porch roof!

King of the Haystack

Southern Illinois has a hay shortage this year due to the drought, so we decided to get our dibs in early and purchase some hay to feed the animals over winter. It was a hot, hard job unloading all the hay, but was well worth the labor.


The goats and sheep were excited to nibble on the hay through the fence and did a thorough job of getting in the way. Hot and sticky, we retired to the house, knowing our animals would be well fed this winter.

The Great Round-up

About two weeks ago, Trey proceeded down to the goat barn to start early morning chores when he came upon an unexpected visitor in our miniature horse's paddock. It was a rather large black animal who seemed like a giant against our frightened mini, Dolly and her baby mule, Rio. Our visitor happened to be our neighbor's runaway Angus cow whom she had been chasing for two days. We called her and she came over to assess the situation. Little did we know at the time that an adventure was about to commence.




She arrived on her four-wheeler with her granddaughter riding a horse. They planned to drive the cow back to their house on a trail that crossed fields, woods, and creeks, as they only lived about three miles away. She said that cows were generally habitual enough to follow a trail, but we found out that this heifer was an exception to that rule.


Trey and Amanda volunteered to help our neighbor out, and after driving the stubborn cow for about an hour on a wild goose chase (or should we say wild "cow" chase) Trey headed back to Providence Prairie to clean up and prepare to tune a piano. Amanda decided to stay and help, chasing the cow for another couple hours through nasty green-briar and thick honeysuckle, as it had veered off the path. After many miles on foot, the cow finally arrived close to its destination and the great round-up came to a close, ending with the cool refreshment of ice cold water. What a day!