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~

Saturday, February 10, 2018

The Crocheted Flower Cup/Mug Coaster Story




I used to participate, year long, with a local Farmer's Market.  We'd sell items every month, but as the years have gone by, kids have moved out, dairy goats were re-homed, and well, I got very very busy with my garden.  And we stopped making goat's milk soap.  I stopped selling jellies and jams.  However, I still crocheted and knitted.

At the beginning of our adventures, I wanted to have an item that filled a basket, and sold for $1.00 each.  I decided to make cup coasters with scraps of cotton yarn, and make them like flowers.

These sold every time we set up at the market.  Women loved them especially.  I was complimented on the colors and how fun they were to have.

Friday, February 9, 2018

The Best Soup Beans Ever ~ Holy Basil Question

I'm not from the south, and my husband has family that is from (and still lives) in the south.  I have been under pressure to get some real soup beans made, and I did. 

I'm back to share how I made mine.

They are what I call a "Home Grown Recipe" as it can be completely homegrown, other than the tiny bit of brown sugar I used.  Although I may attempt this with sorghum molasses in place of brown sugar, but Hubby may say "don't mess with this recipe!"  We have been growing pinto beans for a few years now, but we don't grow enough I think.  Anyway, here is how I made them, and Hubby absolutely raved over them.  I am pretty sure I got the "southern" part of it down right.

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Donation Blanket ~ Lentil-Swiss Chard Soup

The fundraiser folks have asked for donations to auction off.  Hubby wants to make something from barn wood, and of course my donation will be crocheted.  We are strapped for cash, so we can't spend money to create either.


Like a crazy fool, I took on this project, and have been crocheting like a mad woman (putting all other  projects on hold).   This is how much of it I've been able to do in 4 days.  It's wider than the photo shows, but get the idea of how many rows it will take.  And colors.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Getting Back in my Groove ~ Garden Planning

Tuesday was my first day back to regular exercise and back to a full day of house chores.  Did I want to exercise?  Nope, but I did, and I actually felt great while doing it.


The weather here has been cold, and frozen.  We continue to get more snow, which melts, and re-freezes.  It makes driving anywhere a true challenge.  We had very bright sunshine early in the day, but by dinner time it was all cloud cover.

I dug out all my seeds, seed catalogs, and my "garden list" for this year.  Then it dawned on me.  Where are my radish seeds I saved?

Well, little ol' me, accidentally forgot about them.  I left them in the pods (on the dead plants), in baskets in the garage all winter.  Oops.  I'm told that if they are not moldy, they should be good, so that's what I'm doing today.  However, I don't remember which basket is which type (ha ha ha!).  I guess I'll just mark them radish #1 and radish #2 and find out after I plant them.  I have a good guess though.


Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Quiet Kitchen Capers ~ Garlic-Honey Glazed Carrots


The house needed to be quiet yesterday, but dinner needed prepped too.  I spent my hours in the kitchen (making more dirty dishes, ha ha!)

First up?

Homemade sausage patties, for breakfast sandwiches for the next few days.  I used 1 lb. for Sunday breakfast, and saved the other pound for patties.

Next up?

Monday, February 5, 2018

Snow ~ Cold Temps ~ Random Tidbits

Saturday Hubby and I tackled the 2nd felled tree we left sit (bad decision).  It was frozen to the ground, but we managed to free up enough to fill the back of the pick up.

The only downside, I woke up Sunday with a rash on the backs of my calves, and I can't figure out if those limbs had poison ivy or not.  I was covered up fairly good, so I hope it's not.  I had jeans, work boots, long carhartts, a carhartt coat, short cowl, hat, work gloves etc.  The best I figure, it that it's a "heat" rash from all those layers.  I don't have any poison ivy cream, so I first tried chickweed salve.  It took the itch out, but didn't seem to help dry it up.  Today, I applied a heavy layer of calendula cream on.  Time will tell.

I don't give up that easy either.  I have back up ideas in line if that cream doesn't do anything - dandelion poultices, organic aloe vera gel, etc.

Saturday, February 3, 2018

. . . from the handiwork journal ~ The Finished List

There is an advantage of a few days of resting and bed time.




. . . in preparation for the next craft show, I thought it would be good to get a few sets of heart cup/mug coasters crocheted.