A Beautiful and Blessed Autumn

We have been blessed by a beautiful colorful autumn this year.  The last few years have been so wet and cool that there wasn't much color.  A guest on our property said:wherever you look it looks like a postcard. 

Potato Harvest

We completed our potato harvest last week. We harvested red,white and gold potatoes. It was a good harvest but not as plentiful as last year due to our drought.  Lots of sisters came to help in the garden. 

 

 AN ABUNDANT HARVEST We are now in the process of harvesting our garden and the harvest is abundant.  We have been eating tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, green beans, garlic onions, sweet potatoes, kale, lettuce, spinach, watermelon, cantaloupe and more.  We have put up gallon of tomato products.  We praise the Lord for such an abundance.  Tomorrow we harvest our potato crop.

Sr. Madeleine is in charge of our garden.

Sr. Madeleine

Beautiful Summer, Beautiful Garden

We are experiencing a hot and dry summer.  The garden produce seem to love it.  We have been harvesting beets, swiss chard, radishes,cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini and the first cherry tomatoes are coming in.  Once the roma tomatoes start coming we will be processing pots and pots of spaghetti sauce.  We already have green beans in the freezer.

 The scarecrow is there to scare away the foxes from the chicken house.

Fixing things up!

We discovered that the floor in our bell tower had rotted out and one of our bells had been damaged.  We can't salvage the bell but workmen are working to replace the floor and put flashings in the bell tower to prevent this from happening again.


We also had a broken pipe in our septic tank and unbelievably the workmen had the whole thing repaired and the road fixed in one day.

SPRING at MISSISSIPPI ABBEY

 Spring is here in full force.  The potatoes have been planted for this year.  We are still eating the potatoes we harvested last year.  They should last until June.

The tomato plants that we started from seed are being hardened off before they are planted in the garden.











The birds have returned including our favorites, the Baltimore oriole!

 



 We are also living with the realities of the covid-19 virus.  Iowa has been under a stay home order since March.  We don't feel it too much as we don't go out much but it has been challenging getting food and making doctors' appointments.
We are keeping health care workers, people who are sick, and those who are isolated or at home with young children very much in prayer these days.

Sr. Harriet's First Profession of Vows

Yesterday, Sunday February 23rd, Sr. Harriet made her first profession at Chapter before Sunday Mass.  Sr. Gail read from the Rule of St. Benedict, M. Rebecca gave a talk for Sr. Harriet's profession.  Sr. Harriet read and signed her profession schedule and then received the black scapular and leather belt of a professed sister.  At dinner we celebrated with Sr. Harriet and had a very nice meal.

Sr. Gail

M. Rebecca reading her talk

Sr. Harriet reading her profession schedule

Signing her profession schedule

Clothed with the black scapular and leather belt

Sr. Anna (junior director) and Sr. Harriet

Opening a gift at dinner

Sr. Nettie Gamble's Silver Jubilee

On January 25, the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, our Sr. Nettie celebrated 25 years as a professed Cistercian nun.  We had a special celebration of the Eucharist with Fr. David Bauch  of New Melleray Abbey celebrating.  He gave a wonderful sermon, reminding us that our religion is a person, Jesus and that we have all that we need to follow him and  bring him more fully into the world as did persons like Dorothy Day and Mother Teresa.

After the Eucharist we had a celebratory dinner with the community.  Sr. Nettie shared on the most important events in her monastic life.  Blessings on the next 25 years, Sr. Nettie!