Wild Heart on the Prairie (A Prairie Heritage, Book 2) by Vikki Kestell Page B
Authors: Vikki Kestell
Ads: Link
chickens
and their house, one that would not so easily be blown down by a storm.
The six surviving chicks, at around eight weeks, were fully
feathered and beginning to act and sound like grown chickens. Elli started teaching
Kristen and Sigrün how to feed and water the chickens. Later, God willing, they
would gather eggs, too.
After days of dedicated labor, the soddy was ready to move
into. Jan and Karl hitched the two loaded wagons, put the table and benches on
them, and drove the wagons to the soddy.
Jan unpacked Elli’s cookstove and reassembled it. It was a lovely
thing, a gift from her parents before Jan and Elli left for America.
Elli ran her hands over it, admiring her pretty new stove with its colorful
tiled doors and enameled handles.
They placed the stove outside the soddy’s front door. The
women would cook outside during the heat of the summer. When the weather cooled,
they would bring the stove inside. It would easily heat the two rooms of the
soddy/dugout.
Jan placed an empty crate against the soddy and hinged its
lid. He placed oilcloth over the lid and tacked the cloth all around the lid so
that the edges would drape down the sides. Here the fuel Kristen and Sigrün
gathered daily would stay dry.
The men unloaded and opened trunks and crates. The men and
the women selected items to keep out and those to be repacked. The women asked Jan
and Karl to stack a few of the empty boxes in the kitchen to use as cupboards,
as they had seen in Henrik and Abigael’s home.
Karl and Jan unpacked and set up the two iron bedsteads and
built simple frames from wooden packing crates for the children’s beds. Elli
and Amalie placed the new mattresses stuffed with hay upon the beds and covered
them with linens they had brought from home.
Jan whittled pegs and hammered them into the walls wherever
asked to. The women unpacked clothes and kitchenware, hanging them on the pegs.
Jan hung the two guns from pegs high up on the soddy’s wall next to the door.
Karl brought in a trunk packed with their clothes and placed
it in the dugout room. Jan did the same, placing their trunk next to their bed.
Then they moved the table and benches into the soddy’s common area.
They had slept in the soddy three nights when another storm
rolled through. It was nothing like the one they had survived huddling under
the wagons. Still, as they ate a quiet dinner around their table, they felt
blessed to be inside, protected from the winds and rain.
When lightning sizzled particularly close to them, Amalie
sighed and looked around, comforted. “I didn’t think I could live in a dirt
house, but I must be honest. Until I had nowhere to run from a storm except
under a wagon, I think I could not appreciate this. Today I am grateful to God
for this dirt house.”
~~**~~
Chapter 11
It was nearing the end of summer. Life for the Thoresens had
settled into something of a routine. Jan and Karl had planted a few fields and harvested
the early corn patch; a second field of corn was ripening quickly. Elli and
Amalie were feeding their families from the green garden and canning or drying
all they could from its bounty.
Søren milked Molly twice every day. She was a good producer;
they drank all the milk they wanted and still shared some with the Andersons; the women made butter and cheese with what was left over.
Abigael had her baby, another boy, and Amalie grew rounder
as her pregnancy progressed. A neighbor from farther west, Norvald Bruntrüllsen
and his son, Ivan, drove over to make their acquaintance.
“I am sorry we did not come to meet you earlier,” he
apologized. “This spring I had decided to break sod on another field. I know
you have found how long this takes.”
The men talked crops for an hour. Søren, delighted to see
another boy his age, showed Ivan everything the small beginnings of their farm
had to offer. Ivan was impressed with their pigs.
The boar was coming into his size, and it was considerable.
The sow was not
and their house, one that would not so easily be blown down by a storm.
The six surviving chicks, at around eight weeks, were fully
feathered and beginning to act and sound like grown chickens. Elli started teaching
Kristen and Sigrün how to feed and water the chickens. Later, God willing, they
would gather eggs, too.
After days of dedicated labor, the soddy was ready to move
into. Jan and Karl hitched the two loaded wagons, put the table and benches on
them, and drove the wagons to the soddy.
Jan unpacked Elli’s cookstove and reassembled it. It was a lovely
thing, a gift from her parents before Jan and Elli left for America.
Elli ran her hands over it, admiring her pretty new stove with its colorful
tiled doors and enameled handles.
They placed the stove outside the soddy’s front door. The
women would cook outside during the heat of the summer. When the weather cooled,
they would bring the stove inside. It would easily heat the two rooms of the
soddy/dugout.
Jan placed an empty crate against the soddy and hinged its
lid. He placed oilcloth over the lid and tacked the cloth all around the lid so
that the edges would drape down the sides. Here the fuel Kristen and Sigrün
gathered daily would stay dry.
The men unloaded and opened trunks and crates. The men and
the women selected items to keep out and those to be repacked. The women asked Jan
and Karl to stack a few of the empty boxes in the kitchen to use as cupboards,
as they had seen in Henrik and Abigael’s home.
Karl and Jan unpacked and set up the two iron bedsteads and
built simple frames from wooden packing crates for the children’s beds. Elli
and Amalie placed the new mattresses stuffed with hay upon the beds and covered
them with linens they had brought from home.
Jan whittled pegs and hammered them into the walls wherever
asked to. The women unpacked clothes and kitchenware, hanging them on the pegs.
Jan hung the two guns from pegs high up on the soddy’s wall next to the door.
Karl brought in a trunk packed with their clothes and placed
it in the dugout room. Jan did the same, placing their trunk next to their bed.
Then they moved the table and benches into the soddy’s common area.
They had slept in the soddy three nights when another storm
rolled through. It was nothing like the one they had survived huddling under
the wagons. Still, as they ate a quiet dinner around their table, they felt
blessed to be inside, protected from the winds and rain.
When lightning sizzled particularly close to them, Amalie
sighed and looked around, comforted. “I didn’t think I could live in a dirt
house, but I must be honest. Until I had nowhere to run from a storm except
under a wagon, I think I could not appreciate this. Today I am grateful to God
for this dirt house.”
~~**~~
Chapter 11
It was nearing the end of summer. Life for the Thoresens had
settled into something of a routine. Jan and Karl had planted a few fields and harvested
the early corn patch; a second field of corn was ripening quickly. Elli and
Amalie were feeding their families from the green garden and canning or drying
all they could from its bounty.
Søren milked Molly twice every day. She was a good producer;
they drank all the milk they wanted and still shared some with the Andersons; the women made butter and cheese with what was left over.
Abigael had her baby, another boy, and Amalie grew rounder
as her pregnancy progressed. A neighbor from farther west, Norvald Bruntrüllsen
and his son, Ivan, drove over to make their acquaintance.
“I am sorry we did not come to meet you earlier,” he
apologized. “This spring I had decided to break sod on another field. I know
you have found how long this takes.”
The men talked crops for an hour. Søren, delighted to see
another boy his age, showed Ivan everything the small beginnings of their farm
had to offer. Ivan was impressed with their pigs.
The boar was coming into his size, and it was considerable.
The sow was not
Similar Books
