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, June 21, 2017

Strawberries, Peas, Wild Black Raspberries and Weeds

My mother wants to know why she hasn't heard from me.  You probably laughed at that, right?

And here is why.  Grab a cup of your favorite beverage....it's sort of, kind of, a long post.  Or come back when you need an excuse to just sit for a spell.

Aside from that mess of a barn we have to clean up (felled tree #2 is still on the ground too)...

We picked up 4 quarts of fresh strawberries.  We used to pick up 12, but we are well stocked with strawberry jam right now. Thankful for that too.  Even if I have miss-counted, we have more than enough of the other fruit jams.  And we are needing to stock up less with the shrinking household.



Three quarts went into the freezer, and 1 quart went into a fresh strawberry pie for Father's Day.


I may go back to pick more up.  We don't get enough from our own garden just yet.  Raised beds are getting a re-model next year (or this fall) anyway.



It's pea time too.  Snap peas are picked daily, and now the shell peas are on too.  Can't wait to enjoy them for dinner now.

I blanch and freeze what we don't eat fresh.  I string them all and wash them.

Then cut them into 1 inch pieces or so.  

I then toss them into a "deep fry" utensil with a handle.  The 1 lbs. 13 oz. filled this utensil when I was done.  The deep fry (just a metal strainer but large and can withstand hot water) is placed into a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes, then into a bowl of ice water for 2 minutes.  Drained, bagged and tagged.  Into the freezer they go.  We use these for stir-fry dishes with rice, soups, and casseroles.


My ladies and their stud muffin man got all the strawberry tops.  Boy were they excited for that treat.


We had a guest visitor while enjoying the porch at breakfast one morning.  We left him there.  He is stalking the field mice, moles, and other critters.  


Speaking of breakfast, I picked two more spears of asparagus on the 19th, so I whipped up a frittata and put them in it.  It may be the end of asparagus this season, but I've said that before.

Also pictured - broad leaf plantain.  I went out and picked a lot more, so that filled the dehydrator again.  Some will be processed into poultices as well.  

 The radishes are still providing, and these will be going into the freezer for making radish and garlic scape spread in the future.  More scapes went into the freezer too.


The wild black raspberries are ready to pick, however it will take a lot of pickin' to get jam made.  These teeny tiny tots are only 1 cm or smaller this season.  We'll need more rain to plump them up.  Or go without jam this summer.  Hubby said, it's not worth the picking.


The herbs are flourishing again too.  So the dehydrator is running with a load of thyme.


The oregano, is being washed and tied to hang, until the thyme is is dry. 

There has been another rabbit sighting.  Let's just say I'm getting out a book on butchering, and looking for YouTube videos.  My vegetarian daughter has encouraged me, so I'm taking the lead on this.  King, aka the rabbit dog, alerts me when he sees one.  He's very good at it too.  He spotted one way out in the north field last night.  We of course ignored that one, but when he spots one in the tomatoes or the other vegetable garden, this lady will be on it.

The barn clean up will have to wait until fall.  It's a stinkin' mess.  Three hens get out of their run fence and get into the barn and have torn up the straw everywhere.  Every day.  So I'm closing the barn doors, and hope they all go out the run to get some sun.  Not to mention they poo'd everywhere too.  So...we may be starting on that new chicken coop with the barn down now.  Who knows.  This has been a very good year for us to get big jobs done so far.  We even got our back-stop built too, but we'll need to move it.  Hubby and his nephew didn't walk down to get a view of a clear shot from the trees, and well, the trees come out in the line of view.  It'll need moved about 20 feet to the east. Then we can shoot long range.  Free of trees.

Anyway, the tomato patch far out, needs some glass bottles and pie bangers.  I have one pie pan to put out there so far, and that is the only garden we've had more problems with rabbits. So far, they have stayed out of the main garden area (surrounded with glass bottles, pie pans tied to fences, and the scarecrow).

The weeds are flourishing as well.  I'll be busy for sure. Did I mention we'll be busy, ha ha ha ha, ho ho ho, he he he......deliriously busy.

Meanwhile, my library books are late and not read.

4 comments:

Mama Pea said...

This is the time of year when you hear "well, you can't do everything" around our house with regularity. Your garden crops are a couple/few weeks ahead of mine. Mine could also use some sunshine so they start showing some GROWTH! Our cool, wet month of June is making me very impatient!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, did you see what went down? The big barn. See older post. I am super excited to get that cleaned up too. Busy, busy.

Mama Pea said...

Yes, I did see the video of the big barn going down. And gave a big cheer as it hit the ground! What a load off your mind and a really big item to cross off your list.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, both of us were grinning ear to ear. We still can't stop grinning. So glad it's down.