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~

Showing posts with label Pioneer Living. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pioneer Living. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

How I Re-Seasoned My Cast Iron Pan

A few asked how I restored my cast iron skillet, so this post is about that.

It's been a long time since I had to restore cast iron, but I did some research online.  Never soak your cast iron more than 8 hours (some Youtube videos I found said to soak overnight, do not do that).

I placed the pan in a large tote big enough to fit it.  I had the larger skillet so I used a plastic tote.





I filled the tote 50/50 with water and white (5% acidity) vinegar.  The vinegar helps loosen the rust (if you pan is rusty like the one I was given).  Completely cover the pan with this mix.  I soaked my pan about one hour, then tested it with the scrubber, and soaked about a half hour more.  

You'll have to wash out your tub or sink after soaking. There will be a residue of rust left behind.  I washed my tote outside, using the water hose.

I have read that you can scrub the rust off with a waded up ball of foil, scrubbie, or steel wool.



I had a few of these on hand, and it worked great.  Heavy Duty Scour Pad (found at the Dollar Tree or your local Wal-mart etc).  You can cut these in 4 smaller pieces to make your supply last longer.

Using Mesh Food Bags - Scrap Article (this may work as well, but you'll ruin the yarn portion of the scrubbie).  If you have food mesh bags, I'd just use that to scrub off the rust, but I think the thicker one I used worked better.


Once the rust is removed, I completely dried the pan.  I then oiled the pan with a canola oil (what I had on hand, or use vegetable oil).  If you read the instructions from Lodge company themselves, they say to use the spray type, but I suggest you do not.  That leaves a weird coating.

I placed a piece of foil in the lower rack to catch any oil that may drip off.  I read you can set your oven from 450 to 500°F.  I set mine at 450°F.  I place the cast iron pan on the other rack above it, and upside down.




You may want to do this on a day when you can open your windows.  You will get a (smoke) fog in the house from the oil baking on the pan if you do not.  It may depend on the oil you use, but for me it smoked up the house a bit.

I heated the pan for one hour, turned off the oven, and let it completely cool inside the oven.  I also re-oiled it after it cooled.

I hope this helps.  

Thursday, April 30, 2020

How to dehydrate Garlic and make Minced Garlic


Peel several cloves of garlic.  You will need a garlic mincer to do this.


Line the dehydrator trays with parchment paper.


Using the garlic mincer, mince the garlic onto the parchment paper.  I use the tip of a knife to spread the garlic out.

Using the directions in your dehydrator guide book, dehydrate the minced garlic until crisp.  Once done, simply scrap the dried garlic off and store in an airtight glass jar.


The color will change as it dries.

Note:  I use this in my canned cowboy candy and any recipe that calls for minced (dry) garlic.

Friday, April 26, 2019

Wild Violet Jelly

The process of this spring jelly is so intriguing.  It starts out the color of this (above).

Wild Violet Jelly
2 cups freshly picked wild violets
2 cups of water, boiled

Place violets in a quart canning jar and pour boiling water over it.  Seal with the canning lid, allow to cool, and refrigerate overnight.

Day 2
Strain the violets from the liquid and add juice of one lemon or 3 Tbsp. of organic/non-gmo lemon juice.  Pour liquid into a steel pan and add 1 pkg. powdered pectin and bring to a boil.

Add:  4 cups of sugar, bring to a boil and boil 1 minute.

Power into sterilized jars, wipe rims, add lids and rims and place in canner pot to boil for 15 minutes.  (1/2 inch head space) Cool for 24 hours.

Yield:  approx. 4 - 1/2 pint jars or 8 4oz. jars.
(3rd time I made this, I squeezed the liquid from the violets, getting 1 more 1/2 pint jar of jelly.

Note:  I break this up into 2 days, since it takes a bit of time to pick all those violets.  You can just let the violets sit for a few hours, but I feel you get a better flavor and color if it sits over night (or up to 24 hours).

It ends up this color, and the house smells amazing.  I doubt I'll get enough violets to can this again, but I do have a good supply of jellies and jams.



Wild Violet Jelly makes a wonderful gift, so if you are already stock piled with jelly, gift it.  It's very pretty and tastes great!

I'm so thankful I picked them when I did.  Rain is coming, and possible snow this weekend.  Yes, I said snow.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Harvesting Black Walnuts

 Yesterday's sunrise.  Just beautiful!

I took some time to pick up two five gallon buckets of our black walnuts.  They have pretty much fallen in the last few days here.  In fact, they were falling on me as I picked them up.  Black walnuts contain more protein than English walnuts and have a stronger flavor.


The hulling and rinsing process is underway, but these will need to dry in the sun.  (click on "read more" to see the remainder of the post).

Friday, July 24, 2015

Goodbye Garden

I thought the garden we planted two years ago, was the worst year, but I'm starting to feel it's this year's garden.  This photo was taken on July 17th.  Yesterday, I checked them, and they are still wet, and gone to rot.

Warning:  This is a reality post.  The reality that self-sufficient/homesteading life is not always "peaches and cream." 

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Declaring it Porch Time

That's it.  I'm declaring it is spring now, which means "porch time" and my furniture is coming out of storage.  Even if I have to drag it out on the sled.


The wood pile tells me so.  I should I say lack of a wood pile.  I did not even shovel the snow yesterday.  It is going to melt very soon anyway, and the scent on those sheets is so wonderful - natural "medication" for a good night's sleep.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Storm Prep ~ Second "Pop Test"

Sunday was a full work day here - wood pellets restocked, wood cut, split and stacked, animal feed restocked, and  chicken coop cleaned.  Water jugs were also filled. Around here any type of storm can cut out our electricity, and we have yet to buy our generator.  That's next on the preparedness list.

Tonight we are re-securing the snow fence, in anticipation of bad wind, rain and maybe snow.  We may even have a white Christmas this year.

Although they are talking about "storms" they are also saying it is not the worst storm to come through.  So we are praying for good travel weather for friends and family.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Catching up ~ Basic Collard Greens


Wednesday seemed like my "Monday" cleaning day.  I had a long list of to-do's, and we were out of chicken and goat feed to top it off.  As well as vinegar, a much needed agent for cleaning.  That meant two trips in two directions, or asking Hubby to help with the feed pick up.

Before I could put pork chops in the crock pot,

Saturday, November 1, 2014

National Novel Writing Month ~ Recovery Room ~ My Herbal Journal


Today, I start writing a novel in one month.  It's National Novel Writing Month.  I've been participating in this for a few years now.  One day, one of these quick, fired up novels, will make it to print.  

Of course this month long writing does not suggest preparing ahead, so am starting with a blank slate this morning.

Friday, October 31, 2014

Fall Ends ~ Blueberry Millet Muffins

Yesterday morning there was a layer of fog over the fields.  Kind of pretty and perfect for a Halloween-ie type photo.



 
Walking to the mailbox I discovered

Monday, September 29, 2014

Weekend Fun ~ Back to the Grind


We earned two free nights at the campground.  Not knowing how the weather will be in October, we decided to go.  We still came home during the daytime (some of it anyway) to get work completed.


We enjoyed the campfire again, on quiet cool evenings.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Soda Pop Jelly ~ "Pop Test"


The nail polish on my nails is no longer there.  I'm back to the garden and more preserving again.  It will be a treat when I get the next break, but wood splitting is about to take over too.

Hubby and I were at the Farmer's market a while back, and he told me he wanted to buy "Root beer" jelly.  I looked at him and cringed.  I really should be roasting more pie pumpkins, pulling more out of the garden, and so forth.  I knew he wanted me to make it vs. him buy it, so I did.  

Well, I decided that if I made this, that there would be a consolation prize for me.  Hm.  Maybe a new purse perhaps?  I'll have to think on that and get back with Hubby on that "prize" but I needed to make the jelly first. 




The first challenge was . . .

Friday, September 5, 2014

Corn Cob Syrup ~ More Tomatoes




I did not go looking for this recipe.  I found it in a library book - Pearls of Wisdom, Tops, Shortcuts, and Recipes from a Country Home, by Deborah S. Tukua, who adapted their recipe from Countryside Magazine.  The actual color is more of a amber brown than the color it shows in the photo.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Gettin' Dirty ~ Hubby's Birthday


Sunday was a race against the weather.  Sporadic rain was expected, so we worked fast.  The garden looks small in the photo, but in the way, way back you can see Hubby is tilling up more space for more garden.  It's big.  We will be putting up another fence for the pinto beans and cucumbers this year.  Hubby's co-worker tried a fence for his cucumbers, and said it saves a ton of garden space to plant more of other garden goodies.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Clothesline Shoveled


Although I am still coughing a bit, I donned my winter coat and boots, and finally shoveled out the clothesline.  As most folks driving by will turn their head, I had a nice time getting fresh air, listening to the birds sing, and enjoying the sunshine.  However, I probably should have stayed inside.

Friday, August 30, 2013

Dehydrating Garlic ~ Making Garlic Powder


Dehydrating garlic was next on my list of "to-do's," and to make garlic powder from my home grown garlic.  Some of my followers have probably already made homemade garlic powder, so forgive me if it's a boring post.  This is a first time for me.

We were gifted garlic two years ago, and planted all of them in the garden in the fall.  I dug them up the next season, and repeated that for one more year, expanding our harvest this year.  

Sunday, June 23, 2013

If He Had Said...

If Hubby had said to me, "let's not grow a garden this year" I would have said "okay."  Then I would have secretly done the "hallelujah" dance when he wasn't looking.  Honestly, I think he feels the same way this year.

Seriously.  Look what's next - wild black raspberries.  I decided to skip making mulberry jam.  The birds are too quick for me, and the pie pans in the tree are not working in my  favor.

I admit it.  I have garden burn-out syndrome this year.  And it has just begun.  I think it's the 95° heat index, and the humidity. 

Mom sent me an e-mail sharing her "Snapdragon" days.  It starts out with a nice photo of snapdragons in a garden.  Then it gets funny, with a turtle looking haggard.  I laughed my bum off. It said, "Part of me has snapped, and part of me is draggin." Ha ha ha ha!

We're allowed to feel that way.  Or should I be saying "shame on me?"

It's going to be another "scorcher" today.  I think I'll stay indoors and torture myself by paying bills versus the heat outside.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Tuesday Can't Go Fast Enough ~ Baby Goat Gets a Name


As you can tell by my blogpost title, there are two of us who dread this week and next - driver's education classes. 

Monday, March 18, 2013

Always Something. . .


We ran into "snags" with the goat fencing.  We could not drive t-posts, due to cement around the foundation, so we nailed up 2 x4's against the barn and then ran the fencing out.  However, once we started getting on a "roll" we ran into needing another tool.

My 16 year-old finished putting up some last boards, to keep the stalls baby safe, and started moving her supplies last night.  She finally finished about 9:00pm.  

Do you see that little gal on the outside of the pen?  That little escape artist got through the boards.  My daughter had to go back out after dinner, and put metal fencing all around the stall. 

We still need to board up the "birthing" stall that is on the very right, and then the outside (temporary) fencing (back of the stall).  Thank goodness the barn has a small animal door that slides, that we took advantage of, and the fencing will be directly on the outside of that door.

After that we have a motion sensored light fixture that will be mounted on the barn too.  And possibly a predator light.  We get a lot of rats, weasels, raccoons, hawks, owls, and what not. If you have bought such a light, and have a review, I'd love to hear it.


We woke up today to freezing rain and a layer of ice everywhere.  School is closed today as well.  I have yet to find out if driver's education closed. Even the community college closed.

The weather man got the weather wrong yesterday.  Brrr!  When we all came in about dinner time (Hubby, myself, our 16 and 13 year-old daughters), my cough had already returned.  So did the congestion and runny nose.  The chance to sleep in today, was a wonderful surprise.  

Our 13 year-old is back from her class trip, and I am sure she is enjoying the chance to rest up this morning as well.  Her feet are still swollen from all the walking they did.

A Year of Quotes:
"Setting a goal is not the main thing.  It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan."
    ~ Tom Landry
   

 

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Sunday

It's Sunday and we already have a busy "work" day (I detest work on Sunday, but this "stuff" must get done....once and for all).

Have you ever had a job that needed to be completed, and it just kept dragging out?  And out?  And out?  And you never thought it would get finished?

The goat stalls, in the other barn, are one of those jobs.

Every time there is a day to work.....something is needed, something breaks, or the drill battery dies.  Or there is some kind of interruption that stalls the job.  And then there is the weather.

Today is the day, I want this job finished.  Say a prayer

We still have to move temporary fencing, build new fencing, and so forth.  


The reality of self-sufficiency, is that it takes investment.  Including time.    We don't have hired hands, and hubby works outside the home full-time.   And the other reality is, is that I have very little time, even as a stay-at-home Mom.  There are no "days off" for me.  Or for Hubby.