Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Thursday Ramble . . .

 

I am working on sprucing up my front porch.  Here is my new addition - a wooden porch sign.



As promised, here is my other "chicken scratch" patterned hot pad. 

 Grated Zote soap melting in a pot with water.

 The finished laundry detergent.

...made another 5 gallon bucket of laundry detergent.  Making this myself has been one of our (many) best decisions - much cheaper, better on our septic, and better for our health.

Last fall, I froze my abundance of green peppers.  For some, I put them ziploc freezer bags, and for others I used glass canning jars.

The results? Well, the bags worked out perfect.  I was trying to see if I could avoid plastic bags, but they work better than the jars.  If you freeze in canning jars, line a piece of something between the rim and lid.  Air gets in there and you have a large build up of ice on your peppers.

Remember the woodpecker's nest?

Baby and Momma have come out of their nest today.  I heard a bunch of noise, and went out to check.  Mom flew over the house, and baby flew out of the nest.  Seconds after this photo, baby flew off too.

I had to laugh today.  Yesterday, while I was in my room, I heard noise just outside the doors (to outside).  Today, in that same area, is an egg one of the chickens left behind.  Right on my patio of all places.

Sickness updates:  Three of us were down yesterday by bedtime.  One went back to school, but I will be going back to bed after the last one is on her bed.  This virus is nasty this time around.  Each of us have had different symptoms.

I spent most of my day in the rocker on the porch.  Our power went out due to a car accident up the highway.  When our power goes out, we lose running water (no pump, no cooking, no anything).  It was so windy, there was no way I was going to use my grill.  We waited it out, and those who were not sick hand peanut butter sandwiches and pears.  Thankfully, it came on just before 9pm.  

We were concerned about the goat going into labor in the barn, without a light.  Our camping lanterns need new batteries.  I did dig out a string of battery operated lights.  Those are staying handy until Peanut delivers.

I better get off here before the "clean police" here catch me putting my germs on the keyboard....

10 comments:

GrannyAnnie said...

I am so sorry you all have this nasty virus (and nasty is an understatement). It seems to be ravaging everywhere. I do hope you all get over it quickly. I, and members of my family have had it. It also hit some of my animals and has been a nightmare!

I love your hot pad. I forgot all about being able to cross stitch on gingham.

I make my own laundry soap, too, but I quit using Zote when I learned more about its ingredients. Besides the good ingredients, it also contains fragrance, dyes, and optical brighteners. Optical brighteners survive waste water treatments, escape into our rivers, streams, lakes, etc., are toxic for the fish, plants and animals, accumulating in their bodies, and has been detected in women's breast milk. Optical brighteners cause skin sensitivities/irritations and even asthma, and a host of other ills. They work by making our clothes have the illusion of being clean. Under UV detectors, they make clothes really glow, easily picking up hunters and military (neither is at all good). It does clean well, but it has some scary stuff in it.

simplicityinthemaking said...

Hope you are feeling better soon. Glad you get to use your porch now. It is so windy and March like here. Trying to get gardening pre-work done but the wind defeats any headway I make.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Anna, what soap do you use in place of zote? I stopped using Fels Naptha due to chemicals too.

Candy C. said...

I like your new porch sign and the chicken scratch embroidery! :)
Sorry about the virus making the rounds. We have been lucky so far this year (knock on wood).
We are without water when we lose power too. It's a pain for sure!

Sam I Am...... said...

So sorry to hear you've all been sick. It's a busy time but actually Spring is the flu season as opposed to Winter which most people think is flu season.
Love your sign...did u make it? And your cross stitch is so pretty on the red gingham.
Is that a woodpecker? It looks more like a female cardinal or a junko? But what do I know? LOL! Your chicken left you a present...she likes you! TTYL!

Unknown said...

Cute sign, did you make it? Take some Vitamin D, ongoing, great for preventing infectons, and good for your bones and teeth!

Unknown said...

I used double plastic bags for freezing my home grown nectarines, worked great!

Unknown said...

Has anyone tried ivory soap instead?

GrannyAnnie said...

I have never used Ivory Soap for laundry soap, but I have heard others say that it worked pretty good. I have used up some old bars of Jergen's and it worked really well.

Kristina, did you get my last comment on here? It wasn't necessary to post it, but I was just making sure my answer to your question came through.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Anna,
I did not see a comment regarding the soap you use. I checked all comments and it's not there.