Pioneer Woman at Heart

  First year to infuse dandelion flower oil (wild dandelions from our own homestead).  First year to make our own dandelion salve.  It's in trial period.  We have both used it and so far really like it, but we'll have one more person testing it out for me.  I'm getting so much better at keeping notes this year. I used an assortment of vessels, as that is what I had on hand.  I love the smaller tins for travel, or to give as gifts.  I just ran out of tins and used whatever glass jars I still had in my herbal supplies. I already have a new "first" time salve to make next spring as well.   The rain is finally done (at least we hope so), but the wind blew right in last night.  Good grief.  Maybe it will dry up the soggy ground, but our nights are to dip to the 40's.  Fall weather can be so iffy in our area. Dandelion Salve   ©  September 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I have a few cones of black cotton yarn, and of course I am limited to ideas on using the 100% cotton yarn in that color.  Our little town started a "boo" basket giveaway (basket of random holiday themed items for Halloween), and I thought I could add a few of my own homemade items to the baskets. The baskets are randomly placed at doorways in town, and was started by a local woman. So....here is my "do something good" for someone (even though I am in the midst of a project for someone else, ha ha!).   I came up with a few ways to use the black cotton yarn to add to these baskets.   How many ways did I find a way to use the color black?   First up, I found a free pattern online for these cute spider cup coasters.  I used white for the eyes. The pattern is online with The Caffeinated Snail.  It was a perfect pattern to use the black yarn. A second pattern I found useful, was from  Pretty Darn Adorable (also online), and called Easy...

  Pushing myself to be more responsible with my time, I had read about Five Minute Friday, from another blog (My Shasta Home), and felt drawn to participate.  Not my usual post, and in the future, I may be creating a different platform for my writing (short story, novel writing etc.)   I am late in publishing the five minutes to write (with a one word prompt), but you are getting the post now.  Lucky you. First things first, I started to spend way too much time on the internet with social media scrolling.  Not posting, but scrolling.  You know how so much there can influence us right?  The latest and greatest way to organize, new books to read, herbal tea recipes and such?  Don't get me started on recipes.  I am a recipe hoarder, and have really cut that back.  However, I still woke up groggy and the scrolling was with my morning coffee.   I bought myself a devotional while out on a weekend getaway.  It's title is "D...

The rain brought us more bell peppers, and Anaheim peppers.  I picked these in my pajamas. I wanted to use some for breakfast.  More rain is in the forecast, with heavy downfalls predicted.  Possibly rain for the next three days.  Tomato plants are starting to die off, but we still have some tomatoes.  It's iffy on how many tomatoes we'll still get or how long they will last thru this rainy weekend. Goldenrod was harvested, and more calendula.  What am I making?  Goldenrod tincture, drying goldenrod for tea, drying calendula for infusing in oil, and drying some for tea or for making eye compresses.  I also started a sage tincture.   One bloom from the new Pacific Beauty Calendula I planted.  The others have not yet bloomed.  I planted several types this year, not only for medicinal reasons, but to add beauty to the flower beds as well. Believe it or not, we finally made fresh salsa.  We just got three more jalapenos from o...

Adventures from the last few months, but today's date for countdown.   The store visit was not even planned.  It was a spur of the moment, driving by, kind of stop, and I did not know they had a room for Christmas items either.  I fell in love with the little wooden sign and the necklace.  Yes, I splurged on myself.    Yep.  I added a few more ornaments to our tree ornament collection, and they were picked out by my husband this time.  Cracker Barrel for the win for these. Now, on to a new recipe tried . . . Thelma Lou's Finger Sandwiches.  First recipe to try from this gifted cookbook.  Different for sure, but we liked them.  Simple ingredients, and most people will have them on hand.  I guess it all depends on the type of bread used, but next time I will add more garlic.  The recipe called for garlic "salt" and onion "salt" so I adapted by converting it to salt separate and the seasonings separate, but it reminded u...

  Instead of roasting the most recent picking of Anaheim peppers (and it was a rather large harvest), I decided to simply dice and freeze the same way I freeze bell peppers. I am not the only one who bought bell pepper plants from a reputable green house this season, and ended up with something completely different.  I have spoken to more people who ended up with banana peppers or other peppers instead of bell peppers.  I'm starting to wonder if these green houses get their seeds from the same sources.   Either way, I am taking advantage of these surprise Anaheim peppers.  I also cooked dinner for the first time in a several weeks (yep, Hubby did the grilling etc. or we ate sandwiches) of canning.  It felt great to get a good few days of a break, get the kitchen back in order, and take a breath.  Not to mention wash the laundry, sweep and mop floors, and pay bills. I made a crockpot pumpkin chili.  Sounds complicated or not very tasty, but it...