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~

Friday, June 22, 2018

Random Tidbits

Our youngest daughter's medication was pretty strong, but did not break up the phlegm for her either.  The tea I mentioned earlier worked like a charm for her, and she admitted to feeling much better in 2 days of drinking it.  She actually came downstairs and asked me to make it again.

I took some plantain leaves and aloe, and made up some sunburn relief to have on hand.  We typically do not get burned, but sometimes it happens.  I wanted to give this a try and see how well it works.




Just cut up 1/2 cup of plantain leaves and run it through a food processor with 1/2 cup aloe. Strain, squeeze and pour into ice cube trays.

Porch time came to a halt about 3pm.  The farmer started spraying his poison in the worst wind of the day, and it was blowing directly towards our place (grr!).  You'd think he'd use common courtesy and spray that garbage later when the wind lets up.  Good thing we were leaving. 

We drove up to see the kids new apartment.  They made dinner for us - organic boxed mac n' cheese.  We brought along some watermelon too.  We got to see all 3 dogs.  Funny how things work out, but our "Vet Tech in training" daughter's car wouldn't start so Hubby helped her with that.  She'll be buying a new battery today, and she'll not be paying us what she owes on her phone  bill.  It'll be interesting if she catches up on the bill.  As for our 18, almost 19 year-old, she landed a second job yesterday. Good for her.  

When we got home, we sat on the porch, but only for a few minutes.  The farmer was still spraying and it was blowing once again towards us.  Sigh...

Rain arrives today.  It'll be indoor work today.  Have a wonderful weekend.

6 comments:

Mama Pea said...

We left a beautiful place in Illinois so many years ago to move here to "no man's land" in northern Minnesota because there was a huge commercial vegetable farm close to us. They sprayed poisons all growing season and the planes turned over our property. Sometimes we could see the fumes of the spray falling on us. All the wells in the area were testing unfit to drink because of pollution. For our own health (literally) we had to leave. I'm wondering if a lot of the sicknesses your family deals with could be directly related to the poisons beings sprayed so close to you.

Susan said...

There ought to be a law against that - that kind of action is endangering your well-being! I am relieved that the farmer who leases the field next to me got out of the dairy business. He would spray Round-Up on the field when he was switching from hay to corn. I asked him to use something less lethal and his answer was, "Oh, don't worry. Monsanto says it goes 'away' in 30 days." I told him the 'away' was my water table. Can you plant a living barrier between the field and you? Some sort of fast-growing tree or bush?

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, all the farms out here have drainage systems, so it drains into the river. Hubby and I have been talking about the cons of living where we do. It's definitely an issue with the spraying. I didn't think they sprayed corn as much as soy beans, but they are. Ugh.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Susan, we have trees on all sides but the front . I do have a long strip of hedge type flowering stuff to block it there, but not the front porch (sadly). I am pretty sure there is a law in our state about wind and spraying. I brought it up to Hubby and he said no one will enforce it with the farmers, and the farmers could care less.

Rain said...

That sucks that your porch time was spoiled. I hope his poison doesn't infiltrate your garden. Funny you mentioned mac and cheese. We used to love Kraft Dinner, but omg the heartburn of it all...plus our palates have changed over the years and all we taste is cardboard now. But tonight I'm making a homemade stovetop mac and cheese with some corn on the cob. I can't wait!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Rain, I typically make a stove top mac n' cheese, but lately I've been baking it. The kids buy organic boxed because they are on a budget. I've been teaching them how to make it homemade though.