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~

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Flower Fail ~ Tiger ~ Eggs! ~ Preserving

It's been pretty humid here.  As you can see I can't get great photos due to the lens fogging up.  My zinnias did not do well this year, and I planted almost all my seeds.  These should be double the height.  Only three more areas came up, and all have stunted growth due to lack of rain.  I'll have to see if I still have the person's name who gifted me her Michigan seeds.  I had been saving them year after year, but this year I won't have much to save.  I have zero zinnia color in the very front of the house.  Kind of depressing, but it's been too hot to sit out there anyway.   I do love the color in my garden. Maybe next year it'll be nice and bright.

I went to check on the laundry status yesterday, and found Tiger sleeping peacefully in the hamper.  Ha ha!  I didn't have the heart to wake him up, so I did the laundry later.



I finally got my first Buff Orpington egg.   I didn't expect them until maybe next month. 

Here you see 96 broccoli heads growing.  Thankfully that last rain got them going.  I'm going to need more ice soon, ha ha!

The rain also brought on more zucchini.  I was so afraid I did not plant enough (six mounds, and a few in each came up, and one died already).  We also ate zucchini linguine with walnuts for dinner, have added them to breakfast egg scrambles, shredded some for freezing, and plan to make crab cakes soon (allrecipes has a recipe that does not even have crab in them).  My yellow squash is just now flowering.

The tomatoes are not even showing signs of red yet, so thankfully I have access to purchasing organic romas (not my favorite thing to do, but want salsa restocked).

I better get this posted. I'm late getting out to the garden.  I'm picking beans again, and then watering every single thing. There is no sign of rain until maybe Friday or Saturday.  I need to get a chicken in the roaster too.  I am trying to clean out my freezer and we had a few home raised meat birds still in it.  Do you think I'll have time to make homemade tortillas today?  I plan on making chicken tacos.  That's the plan anyway.  Plans, as I have learned, change often this time of year.  Maybe we'll have chicken and a few vegetables tonight and tacos tomorrow.  

4 comments:

Mama Pea said...

Ninety-six broccoli plants?! I cannot even imagine. You're gonna need a freezer just for broccoli!

I know our meals and my cooking really suffers this time of year. It's so hard to find the time (okay, take the time) to prepare the meals I like to. Couldn't you use a clone of yourself right now? One for the garden jobs and one for the harvest processing, baking and cooking jobs? In some ways, it seems like it must have been easier in "the old days" when a mother and grandmother (or perhaps maiden aunt) were living in the same house together.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, I agree on extra hands. I had the kids helping make dinner last night, so I could manage getting other small jobs done.

Dawn said...

If your freezers are anything like ours as soon as I make a space it gets filled up again, my Zinna's have not done well this year, too much rain and not enough of the sunny stuff.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Dawn, you are right about freezer space. I'm filling it up now with more beans and broccoli.