Chapter 10

Joseph POV

The days following our handfasting were busy. Emily worked with Mum to ensure the garden would produce the vegetables we would need to harvest before winter. It was important to us to produce as much as we could ourselves, so that we didn’t rely on the mercantile at Fort Pierre. By the middle of May, they had planted most of the vegetables we would need to sustain us through the winter.

Each evening, Emily would share with me the things they were planting. She explained that while she knew about gardening, it was different here due to the weather. Here in the Dakota Territory, our winters last well into April and we have to wait for the last frost before we start planting. Her eyes would light up anytime she talked about all she was learning from my Mum and it made my heart glad. The two of them get on so well.

They had planted lettuce, cabbage, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, and even some melons. Mum explained that they would plant potatoes and onions closer