Lucinda's Big Day!!

Finally it's Lucinda's wedding day. She's been talking about getting married since she was 6! Lucinda's husband, Johnathan, is pretty nice and friendly. Not every boy Lucinda's brought home was that kind.

Wedding days are so much fun. We take the day off from most of our normal chores on the farm to celebrate. Getting ready for the wedding does take a lot of time and work though.  I was in charge of baking the cake and finding fresh flowers.  The cake part was easy.  The flowers were a different story. 

On the prairie there are a lot of beautiful types of flowers and tall grass.  But now there isn't nearly as much as there used to be, because of the cattle and our crops. Plus it is fall so alot of flowers look dead. It was hard to help find flowers that looked fairly alive.I had to ride my horse Blue out a few miles and find some beautiful yellow blossoms for Lucinda to hold. 

We had the wedding in the gathering area.  I am glad it was a clear, cool day.  If it rained, we would have had to move it to the smaller barn.  Lucinda looked so pretty, I loved it! I had an awesome time with Mama, Papa and my brothers. Lucinda (and me) have been waiting for this day for a long time!  I am glad we were able to have the perfect yellow flowers from the prairie to make it so beautiful!

Cotton Time!

Now that the wheat is all gathered in, Papa, my brothers and the workers have been busy preparing the land for our cotton crops.  They added another area this year for the cotton crop.  That is a lot of cotton!  I love the soft feel of the cotton once it has been cleaned.  I don't like to have to clean it though.  It can be very prickly and makes my fingers bleed. 

Cotton Fields on the Penn Family Farm, drawn by Hayley M.

Hunting

My brothers just came back from a long hunting trip and they shot 3 bison!!  Each time they go looking to hunt bison for our food, it is taking longer and longer to find the herds.  Papa says it is because of all the new farms on the prairie.  The animals are going farther away. We have had to start eating more small wild animals and animals from our farm, instead of the yummy bison.  I am so happy they found bison!!

Laurra's favorite treat to eat - Texas Bison!!  Drawn by Hayley M.

Harvest Time

Finally it's time to harvest the wheat crop. Andrew is sick so I got to help harvest. It's much more fun than sitting all day doing housework, sewing and cooking over the fire. I like to be outside and hear the birds and see the prairie flowers in the distance. The golden wheat is pretty, but the prairie tallgrass is still my favorite!


The new plow Papa got this year works so much better than our old one on this rich prairie land.  When we first got here and started planting, Papa said he didn't know it would be so hard to plow the land, the soil is much thicker than it looks.  But now that we have been here a few years, we understand the land better and are able to plant more wheat and cotton.

Picture of Plow at the Penn Farmstead

Papa said there are so many people coming to Texas, that next season we will hire people to help plant and harvest on some of our unused prairie that is west of the barn.  With our new plow and new workers, we will be able to plant three times as many crops! The land will look very different.  Our little family farm has grown so much since we moved here! 

Sign at Penn Family Farm, picture taken by Hayley M.