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~

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Gettin' Dirty (again) ~ Hippity Hop.....

As hard as I try to sleep in on the weekends, I am not successful. My routine of early rising has got the best of me.  Maybe it's time to break out the evening Valerian root tea now?



Although the garden is still very wet, yesterday was a "now or never" moment.  I spent mid-morning pulling more plants.  Hubby will only have to drive the garden cart around to pickup my piles of plants and weeds.  


I also got more rosemary cut to dry.  With the recent rain, my herb garden still looks pretty good.


 I cut more spearmint for tea making.


I also cut more thyme.  We go through a lot of thyme here.

I was so tired from the garden last night I did not deep clean one itty bitty thing.  That's okay too.  I woke up today with a bit of a stuffy nose and the sniffles, so I hope it doesn't slow me down. 



It's time to get out the homemade vapor-rub and check winter supplies for such illnesses.  I do need to re-stock the honey and make elixir this weekend.  I am down to my last 1/4 cup of honey right now, and I use to for just about everything.  In fact, I used it for making the Holy Basil cookies the other day too. 

I'm making progress on my garden.  I have a few more plants in the biggest garden, then I need to move on to the squash patch.  Hubby has to work 2nd shift both today and tomorrow, so he'll need to get busy early before he even goes to work.  the yard never got mowed due to rain, so that's on the top of the list, along with weed wacking.  

In anticipation of corn fields being harvested any day, I did most of my laundry yesterday.  I hope this nice weather holds out a bit longer, as we still have outside work to finish.  I want to finish weeding the flower beds too.  They are looking very nice this fall, and still flourishing with color.

One last note for today:


Emma at Just Having a Yarn, invited me to join Sustainablemum.


What am I working on?

 Well, all sorts of things.  I'm working on our winter preparations, cleaning out the gardens, putting flower pots away, splitting wood, and so forth.  As for handiwork, I am making handmade Christmas ornaments.....

(Go to S.C.R.A.P. to see how I made these)

I am also working on a craft project for my mother, cleaning and organizing my bedroom, and deep cleaning before snow falls.  I'm writing short stories as well.

How does my work differ from others?

  What makes me different, is what I haven't tried yet, or accomplished yet.  My work is different everyday.  It changes each season as well.  We strive for a self-sufficient and healthy lifestyle, so I try not to rely on buying so much from the grocery store.  Electronics are at a minimum, and I don't use a "smart" phone.   We do almost all of our home and vehicle repairs ourselves (or with family), and raise animals for dairy, meat and eggs, and try to utilize every bit of everything (no waste).  I don't like to have Christmas time so commercialized, so I try to make all my gifts by hand or homemade goods.  In other words, I avoid electronics when possible (distractions), and avoid "conveniences" that can end up making me sick or cost us more money.  It's about making things work with what we have, or going without.  It's about keeping things simple, yet prepared.  And providing healthy food.

Why do I create what I do?

 As far as creating and caring for our large vegetable garden, I do it because it's much healthier for us, costs less, and saves us trips to the doctor.  I feel electronics can destroy a family, so I strive to create a good home, and a family that stays positive.  I plant flowers every year.  They bring beauty to the homestead, and that beauty can be brought inside too.  I think I get the gardening "bug" from my Grandma on my Dad's side, but my other Grandma did grow spearmint, tomatoes, popcorn and other things too.

As far as creating handiwork, I think I get that from both of my Grandmothers.  I just enjoy it.  Grandma (Dad's side) made all of her clothing.  She's the one who created the egg carton jewelry.  I still have one of her egg carton lamp shades too.  She'd make something out of nothing.  I love to recycle items into something useful like she did.  Grandma (Mom's side) painted alot, and both her and Grandpa painted ceramics and sold them from their home.  Then there is Mom who crocheted and did much sewing.  I remember her sewing our barbie clothes.

As for creating in the kitchen, I think I get that from my mother.  I can remember Sunday dinners when Dad was finally off work and home. There were big meal days.  She'd also bake up a storm of cookies and candies at Christmas.  She'd save up many of them for our big New Year's Eve party at home.  I still remember running about the house banging on pots and pans with her wooden spoons.  Some spoons we actually broke.  But anyway, those cookies were spread over the table with decorations and once with floating candles.  Now I bake up a storm of holiday cookies, but I do love to create in the kitchen year-round.

As for my writing, I've been writing since grade school.  I remember sitting at our old school desk in our "game" room, and writing poem after poem after poem.  I would staple them together to make a book, ha ha!  I think the urge to write comes from reading so much.  I am told that my Grandma on my mother's side took a book with her everywhere, including reading while standing in lines at the bank. 

 
How does my creative process work?

Ever since I started working on our self-sufficiency lifestyle, being more frugal, and healthier, I think my creative process goes by the seasons. Before that I worked a full-time job, cared for young children on my own, and just tried to get through the work week.  There was no time for any handiwork whatsoever.  I can't remember it even being on my mind during those times.  I went from "city girl" to "country girl" and that made a huge difference in how my creative process buzzed. 

Where before I had maybe one or two tomato plants in a flower bed, I can now grow (and plant) anything I want for our family.  We can raise farm animals, and we now have so many more possibilities on our homestead than we did living in the city.

When I met Hubby, things changed.  I had more time to create.  When the kids were in elementary school, I'd do more volunteering in their classrooms.  Each Christmas, I'd try to sign up for a class party.  I would make treats and handmade ornaments for each student, and wrap each ornament for them.  One year I cross-stitched each students name on cross-stitch material, then cut and glued them to tiny Christmas stockings, edged with rick-rack.  

Now, because of the change of responsibilities, chores, and necessary preparations, each season puts my energy into a different gear, and I dive right into it.  The kids definitely don't encourage the gardening, but one day they will realize how important it is (was).

Those were some tough, but fun, questions.

Inviting A Home Grown Journal and Corn in My Coffee Pot

2 comments:

Willow said...

I admire your stamina and self sufficiency .
You do sound as busy as the bees on my Cosmos .
I do hope you take a little time for yourself every now and then , you deserve it.

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

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