Pioneer Woman at Heart

Daylilies Forget-Me-Nots Foxglove

The last day of school was May 25th. Yesterday I had to keep telling the kids to spend less time on the computer.  We took a trip to the library and my youngest daughter brought home this book: She has already gotten out the air-dry clay, and made herself a Golden Amulet.   There is a "T" for Tiger her cat.  Real amulets typically had animals such as lions, elephants and crocodiles - warding off bad spirits.   She's having more fun today, and building an African Savanna.  Meanwhile, my 12 year-old daughter is baking a cake and making homemade butter cream frosting.  The deal was that she had to wash her dishes and put them away. As for the rest, one is caring for her goats and upkeeping the barn, while her brother sleeps on the sofa.  He's been sick the last few days and is scheduled for work.   The two younger girls also set up a "hair salon" in the living room.  They are giving me "do's" as part of their "spa" day.  Th...

 Unloaded 50 bales of grass hay.

This has been growing at the edge of a few barns.  I'm pretty sure is wild burdock.  The stalks are short and the leaves have hairs.  Either way, if it is burdock I can't do much with it.  We are all allergic to ragweed (just by the touch also).  I read that burdock is in that particular family of plants.

Our newest baby chicks have grown.  They are starting to get a bit of the outdoors.  They seem to be adjusting and soon we be put out with the other hens.

While sitting outside the other night, looking out at the back of the property, I looked at all that wild growing red clover. "I wonder if the pioneers made anything out of clover?" I asked the kids.  Their response?  Laughter and head nodding.

from the homesteading/gardening journals. . .   Picked white and red clovers for making jelly.  Canned white clover jelly.

 (photo taken by my 15 year-old daughter) Saturday's day at the Farmer's Market was a flop.  We sold two items (that basically paid our cost to be there) in 4 hours.  No profit. The goat's milk soap did not sell at all, as I was very very surprised.  We did not sell any jelly either. We sold one wine cork key chain and one pot holder set (crocheted). I kind of figured we'd have days like these, but boy it was hot day too.  Big bummer to the kids.  This was our second time selling at the Farmer's Market.  It seems that most people only want food or plants. We'll give it another try next month.

Although I did not take my camera yesterday, I was fortunate to see a hawk just yards from me.  It flew out of the field nearly causing me to crash, but stayed long enough to allow me to share the countryside with him/her.  I later saw a red-headed wood pecker when I stopped at the bridge and looked over into the creek. I also saw another red-winged blackbird and more robins. When I got home, I happened to look up in the trees while putting more laundry out on the line. I saw this brightly colored bird.  I ran into the house and grabbed my camera and got one photo. I only got the backside, but boy it was pretty.  The bright orange caught my eye. I've never seen a bird like this one.

I had to look over my stash of current library books, and write down the titles to re-order them again. I love getting a bunch of different types of books and seeing what I would like to read. I'm reading "Sarah Ann" and love it so far.  I've learned that when she was a child she mixed with items to dye with - used rusty nails, vinegar and alum to create a purple.   I learn a lot from books.   I've learned that the pioneer women hand sewed buckshot into their skirt hems to help hold them down in the wind. I always wondered how they kept them down. I don't have as much time to read anymore and wish I did.  I just watched a 1 hour webinar on stress management (required by our health insurance or we pay higher prices).  It mentioned putting a time slot for just me, but I have no idea how.  I'd have to let cleaning go, at least until school is out.  However, until then, I have been adding flowers to the front and back porch. One of...

Yesterday was a typical "homesteading" day. Woke up and got kiddos off to school.  Laundry is usually out before kids are off to school, but rain was predicted (and we only ended up with a drizzle). My son and I cleaned up the dishes, did house chores, and I checked the gardens.  Breakfast was farm fresh eggs scrambled in green peppers (grown here and frozen), onions and spinach. 

It looks like we may get some thunderstorms here today.  I'm glad.  We need some rain.  It's great for the garden too. I'm also glad I finished up the laundry yesterday.  My son also helped me clean out the rose bush flower bed.

On Mother's Day, my 20 year-old son, cleaned everything off this patio.  It's what we call the back, only it's kind of the backside of the house.  It's big enough that some day we can screen in a portion of it. You can see the grass is looking terrible alongside the rock flower bed.  That's because we had to dig and dig to find the septic tank.  It's just now growing back in. Anyway, my son swept it all off and got out all of the furniture we still had.  He cleaned off cushions and I helped wash off table tops. It's not "fancy" furniture, but you know our family motto.  We've been using this stuff for probably 5 years now.  Thanks to my wonderful Uncle, I have a new umbrella for the table.  Ours broke a few years ago.  The orange looking pots have seeds planted in them, and behind the table is a large rose bush I planted (moved it from under the kitchen sink).  Each week I figure out a way to make it peaceful and look nice....

I've been taking a bit of morning time to watch the birds on our property.  Every now and then I am able to get somewhat of a good photo.  I have seen a red-winged blackbird only once, and did not have my camera.

  If you think I have found strange and interesting recipes over the years.....we now made coffee jelly. It's actually pretty good. 

Yesterday morning, I saw Jasper (one of the house cats) sitting on top of the wood stove.  I didn't dawn on me that something might be in it at the time.  I thought he was just chasing spiders (which he loves to do). Later, closer to noon, the dogs barked at a noise coming from the stove's chimney.  I heard it too.   I went and asked my son to check it.  He opened the damper and then closed the stove door again.  A little later, I heard scratching noises at the glass door on the stove. My son opened it and a bird flew out.  The crazy woman that I am....pulled a blanket over my head and ran around after it with a broom.  We opened the door, but it kept flying from window to window to get out.  Poor thing.  Funny part is, is that the house cats were all napping at that point.  They missed the "show." I didn't have to go far to do bird watching, ha ha ha!

Hmmm. We can't figure out what happened to one of our rooster's tail feathers.  It somewhat looks as if a person cut them off with scissors. We are pretty sure it wasn't the other rooster.  Sparta is afraid of Mazda now, and typically runs away from him.  I wonder if the goats got a bite out it?  A few are growing back already, but it sure looks suspicious to us.  We did some research and people actually steal rooster feathers to put in their hair.  We've had the dogs bark at 3am, two nights in a row, but saw nothing.  Next time, I'll be taking a flashlight to the chicken barn, just to be sure.

This is Tiger's new "hang out."  We can typically find him sitting here almost every day. The recycled wood pellet bags come in handy for new baby chicks.  The sides of the cages are covered to keep curious cats out. 

I'm sharing a recipe I found in a magazine recently. 

....planted a Colorado Blue Spruce seedling, purchased cumin seeds to grow again, and planted two new apple trees. ...planted more lettuce, radishes, beets, carrots, Swiss chard, and spinach.  Rain is coming so we will till and plant more after that. ...planted several zinnia seeds.

I love my skirts!  I used to wear them every day, but over the years gained some weight.  Now that I'm back to the gym, and watching what I put into my body, I'm back into a few of my skirts.

I dug out my

The pioneers used sage to treat mouth sores and sore throats, so I picked some sage from my herb garden, and made a hot cup of sage tea.   If it worked for them, it has to work for my own sore throat. I did some more research, and found out that a compress of sage tea can be used on the forehead for treating a migraine too.  This is very useful information for us. I am concerned about my sage plants.  Only one has a few new leaves, and the other has zero.  If they both don't do well next month, I will need to re-plant new sage plants this year.  It's been a very useful herb in my garden for seasoning food, and now for medicinal purposes. In my quest to use natural remedies, I have ordered several books from the library again. 

I spoke to an herbalist last year about allergies.  She recommended Allergy Easer oil, and simply inhaling it.  At the time I was sick with all that yucky stuff, and told her I'd be back to buy it.  However, I never did.  I went on-line and found it in a roll-on.  Since the inhaling of the oils is meant for ages 12 and up, I figured the roll-on would be much safer for my 10 year-old also. After a few weeks of using it, we are thrilled with it.  Waking up coughing, throats sore and sinus drainage, we simply roll on the natural allergy remedy and soon we feel better. I'm not posting to sell this product, but simply letting others know it exists.  For us it works.  I do plan on buying the oil also (for myself).  Then I can keep a small vile in my pocket and use it anywhere.  My 10 year-old has hi-jacked my roll-on and keeps it with her. I'm thrilled I don't have to buy boxes and boxes of allergy medications anymore.  I'm al...

from the homesteading journal . . . We started tilling up the garden.  Martha is getting a new look this year.  She's getting a new hat, shirt, apron, and even gloves this year.   (First Day Home) I picked up our new chicks.  We now have five baby araucanas.  They are so cute!  I planted about 27 pounds of potatoes, and about 130 yellow onions.   Planted the peas and two types of heirloom lettuce also.   from the family journal . . .   After buying my 10 year-old a new pair of dish gloves, she went bonkers and cleaned just about everything, including my master bathroom.   She rolled up towels and washcloths and tied them with pretty purple yarn.  She made me a "room" key and left me a note on the bathroom sink.    I may have to keep extra pairs on hand (ha ha ha!).  Another stray cat has found our home.  After keeping him in a dog cage for a few hours, he decided we were not...