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~

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Random Tidbits


Remember when I posted that we'd have a few "dry days?"  Well that same day (yesterday) we had thunderstorms roll in after 4:30pm.   The weather seems to have it's own mind these days.

Today, the sky is cloud covered, but I am heading out to pick peas and berries.   The sun should arrive today.

Here is our progress on just the cauliflower/broccoli/cabbage/brussel sprout garden.  First day weeding it:



A bit of progress, but you can see the bottoms turned brown after weeding.  Here is the second day of weeding:


You can see the girls got almost to the end of the broccoli, but there is still more weeds to pull out.  Hopefully, it will only take one more day.  I had trouble getting a photo, as the humidity was steaming up my camera lens.  I'll admit, this was the first full day of the younger two helping me in the garden.  They can talk a mile-a-minute too.  I worked in the onions, hot peppers and tomatoes, and had to walk over to make sure they were making progress with all that chatter.

Most of the conversation was Youngest praying for a rain shower to cool her off, and asking "why can't you just buy this stuff?"  Ha ha ha!  


After we all came inside, and washed up, we tackled what inside work we could get done before dinner time.  I put out a new red/white and blue dishcloth, that doubles as a doily (4 ply cotton yarn).  I may dig through my stash and see if I have any matching yarn left to make cup coasters to match.


I cut more fresh flowers from the garden.  Flowers always cheer me up.  We got another knob put on a kitchen cupboard door, and will get a pull put on a drawer today.
 

I am almost finished with this dishcloth.  I got a bit of porch time with Hubby.

Today our 15 year-old turned sweet 16.  She's celebrating it twice this year. Once with us, then again with her friends next month.  This kiddo entered the world at 10 lb. 14 oz.  Hard to believe that all those years have flown by.  

She asked for her own box of Koala Crisp cereal (a non-gmo/organic brand), so that is one thing she got.  She also asked for Mexican Chicken for her birthday dinner.  I have not made that dish for almost 15 years it seems.  I had to dig out my recipe book and find it.  I will be needing to make homemade chicken soup and celery (condensed) for this meal, and buying non-gmo tortilla chips.  It is good, but it takes so many "cans" of soup, I haven't thought to make it again.  I guess I'll be busy in the kitchen later today.


I joked to Hubby once, that we should increase our rhubarb patch, and try out wine making (like we need more work, right?).  I had found a recipe of course that motivated that.


Hubby and I tried our first  rhubarb wine, to test it out.  This one is made locally, not far from us, and is pretty good too.  However, after a long day in the garden, then in the house, I am not in favor of entering the wine making business (just yet).

8 comments:

Sandra said...

The garden looks wonderful!
Children grow up so fast-Happy Birthday!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Thanks Sandra, we have a lot more garden to weed, but the bounty is worth the work. The kids are growing up way too fast, that's for sure.

Mama Pea said...

What a weeding job you have had to tackle. Good thing you have helpers to assist you. (Although it's been my experience that sometimes listening to and supervising the helpers takes more time than the actual weeding!) We talk all the time about getting into wine making. Having an abundance of our own berries, it seems the only logical thing to do. We've even been collecting the equipment we need for it, but so far it hasn't seen much action sitting on a shelf in the basement. Just another thing that we want to do "when we have the time!"

Your red, white and blue coaster makes me think I should put out some 4th of July decorations soon or the holiday will be come and gone!

Kim said...

Happy Birthday to the "Sweet 16". They do grow up so fast. It won't be long till you will be down sizing the gardens with fewer mouths to feed. Then you can reapproach the wine theory.

Susan said...

Your weeding is going better than mine! I made rhubarb wine last year and, after six months, it wasn't bad. Then I forgot about it and tried it after a year. Meh. Hope you get to dry out soon!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, you can make wine from pears too. We have trees, but last year we didn't get pears. That's a good idea to collect things early, while you think about it. Just maybe we'll all get to making some. And yes, watching over the girls takes time, but they did pretty good. They are picking berries for me too, so I let them have today off. Too wet out there yet.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Kim, I was just thinking that downsizing will be in our future. The garden anyway. We'll have more room for sweet corn and other items too.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Susan, it was too wet to weed today. After inspecting things, I see one zucchini plant is dying off. It's turning brown, but still has baby size zucchini on it. Bummed, but I'll take what I get this year.