Pioneer Woman at Heart

Remember my van?  It's been in parking mode since last February, getting many repairs including new head gaskets (second time).  Well, it's still sitting in the driveway.  It needs a computer now. Hubby says it needs this other part before I can drive it. Today, my son's car needs the repair job.  Thankfully, he can drive the ol' farm truck to work.  Part of the hardware that holds up the gas tank basically disintegrated on his car.  Yikes!   The trouble with self repairs, is finding the time to get the job done.  However, I'd rather buy a part (and wait patiently) than spend $800.00 of my husband's (and mine) hard earned income to pay for repairs.  I'd rather take another getaway instead.  Sounds selfish, but really it's not selfish.  We both deserve it. Frustration with Public School For the second year in a row, the 8th grade class is sending kids off on a Washington, D.C. trip.  The cost?  $600.00 per k...

It's a Long Road to a Tomato, by Keith Stewart This book is full of essays, about a man who quit his job to become a farmer.  Very interesting to read.  He even kept track of the types of birds he found on his farm (and listed them in this book). Tomatoland by Barry Estabrook According to author Barry Estrabrook, many of our out-of- season tomatoes come from Florida.  I found this book extremely interesting.  The author points out that tomatoes are "picked green" and "artificially gassed with ethylene in warehouses until they acquire the rosy-red skin tones of a ripe tomato."   This author writes a very important book regarding how are foods are not the same as they were back in the 1960's.  For example, he states that our commercial, store purchased tomatoes contain "fourteen times as much sodium" today as they did back in the 60's.   If you are getting tired of those tomatoes in your garden, be sure to read this book.  Yo...

In the process of slowly cleaning clutter, in between gardening and stocking up, I created a way to preserve the letters my 10 year-old daughter writes to me.  Over the years, she has written me many letters.  I tend to put a note in the kid's lunches when I can, and add a small piece of candy.  In the process of that, she started to write me letters and put them all over the house.  In the past she'd pop popcorn, and put a "treat" down inside the bowl.  We'd enjoy the popcorn, and she would pretend to be surprised when we got to the "treat" at the bottom. Each of my kids have a unique personality, and I just could not throw these notes away. I purchased an inexpensive photo album with the pages that peel back.  I inserted the letters so I can re-read them like a book. For the cover, I mixed 50/50 of white glue and decoupage, and covered the front with a piece of scrapbooking paper.  I don't scrap book very much, but do journalin...

The grass is still wet from the rains we got yesterday, but I picked a lot of tomatoes.  I canned peach salsa, but actually had to buy jalapeno peppers from a produce stand. I won't be updating the canning stats today, as my computer virus protections is blocking a Trogan when I click on "layout" on blogger.  I hope they fix that soon. I picked enough broccoli to blanch and freeze another quart bag.  Our buckling is not selling, so he's at the vet today.  He'll be a wether and trained with a harness, and hopefully still sell. Today, I am yearning for "island time" - no worries, no hurries. Hubby and I continue to enjoy the photos we took, and hope to get another "escape" in, before winter arrives.

Saturday, my husband took me away for a one night Island get-a-way.  Look what I found!  This very cute trailer night light.  This one will remind of the most absolute, best ever, getaway we've taken so far. More photos are posted on my Flickr Photostream for you to view.  I'll be loading a few more later today.

Well, if you have been wondering where I've been..... I canned a second new recipe for salsa.  I canned 4 pints of Fiesta Salsa .  This is delicious too.  I found the recipe on-line.  In place of the chili pepper, I used green pepper, and used 1/2 cup combined jalapeno and cayenne peppers.  Yum!  There are many recipes on that site if you are seeking for recipes for canning or for other tomato recipes. I canned another 3 1/2 quarts of seasoned tomato sauce.  This is tedious work - chopping 23 pounds of tomatoes.  Thanks to my sauce maker, I don't have to peel, remove seeds, etc. prior to heating it all up first. I dehydrated another quart jar of potatoes, some kale and Parmesan cheese. I canned 4 half pints of homemade ketchup.  This took another 10 lbs. of tomatoes. I canned another 4 half pints of Pepper Jelly (a mix of green peppers jalapeno and cayenne peppers). I finally dug up some of the sweet potatoes, but still hav...

I have to share the funniest thing that happened on our camping trip.  It was the first morning there.  I got up about 6:30am and asked if anyone needed to visit the toilets.  My 10 year-old said she did. I exited the camper.  As soon as my daughter stepped off the camper step, the camper fell backwards, and the front end was up in the air. We first screamed in shock, then tried to hold our laughter and not pee our pants.  I whispered to my daughter, "we gotta go, I can't stay and help him (laughing hysterically)." Hubby and my 13 year-old were in the back bed.  Very calmly we hear my husband's voice from the camper, "uh, I think someone forgot to put the jacks in." More laughter. Ha ha ha ha!  The back bumper was catching the back end, but we were lucky.  While we were at the toilets, not far from the camper, we watched it slowly go back down, as my hubby walked forward to straighten the camper again.  Once we got it all set ...

Hubby and I finally took off to go camping.  It was a very much needed break from "life." While camping the first night, my youngest daughter cut this comic from the paper we were reading. We all got a good chuckle out of it....."sounds just like you Mom," the kids said.  Day 1 of teaching the younger two to fish.  This wasn't the best location either. We had not camped all year, and my 10 year-old could not resist to build and eat a triple-decker s'more. Every meal was cooked over the campfire, and we loved it. The girls enjoyed their marshmallow madness, hot chocolate both mornings.  We had very nice cool sleeping weather.  This was our Sunday morning breakfast - cinnamon bread dipped in egg for a delicious french toast, sausage patties and hash browns that were browned with our garden onion and green pepper.  Yum! This was one of our dinners - organic chicken breasts, and garden potatoes with onion and butte...

I got 3 1/2 quarts of Seasoned Tomato Sauce canned. Dug up the last of the carrots and froze two bags of them.  It's not much, but more than I froze last year.  I'll need to plant more next year.     Canned 7 more pints of beets and 5 half pints of Pear Jam.

This little guy was rescued yesterday.  I was up at 4:00am and could not sleep.  When I went to the kitchen, I could hear this high pitched meow coming from the very front window.  I tried to see which cat it was, using a flashlight, but could not.  I did see our barn cat Tim, so I thought maybe it was him.   Later that afternoon, the kids came running, saying "you gotta come see this."  My son said, "I thought I heard something this morning." We, at first glance, thought it may be blind, or have an eye injury the way he held his head to the side.  Once we got him in the cat carrier we saw that he may have been hurt by someone tossing him out their car window, while driving by.  He was underneath a large evergreen that is not far off the road.  It makes me sick that people do this to animals. It's a poor photo, but you can see the little guy is hurt.  My son was able to drive him to the Humane Society for a $30.00 d...

I received more surprise mail.  This book was gifted to me from Michelle, at Michelle's Little Piece of Heaven.   Thanks Michele!  We are having fun looking through it and picking out new recipes to try. Thunderstorms are rolling in, so my post is short, but I am freezing more tomatoes and blueberries today.

If you are wondering if I've been keeping up with my own family as well as items to sell, I have on some things, but not so much on jelly and jam.  We go through many jars during the winter, due to kids packing school lunches.    I canned 2 batches (6 pints and 4 1/2) pints of blueberry jelly, but that's not enough for my family for the winter.  These jars will be gone all too soon.  I am told now, that they prefer blueberry over grape. This year I was lucky to get 20 lbs. of blueberries this late.  They are out mid-July around here, and next year I will have to be more prepared.  We really need double that amount.  I blanched and froze 3 quart bags of tomatoes, with the help of my 15 year-old.  Canned 20 - 1/2 pint jars of Peach Jam. Canned 4 more pints of Sweet Pickle Relish. Canned 6 pints of our first canned salsa. The last two years I have made "fridge" salsa. This recipe was the Jalapeno Salsa recip...

I'm posting early today.  Hubby brought home another 10 lb. box of blueberries and a box of peaches.  I'll be busy for sure. Here's an update on our journey to being self-sufficient.  Each year it gets better.   In the last 3 1/2 years we have really gained progress with self-sufficiency.  It does require some investments, but those pay off.  So far this year, with making our own soap with our goat's milk, have not had to buy any bars of soap (and have used it to make homemade laundry detergent also). We have not purchased dishwasher detergent either, and I am proud that we have reduced those chemicals and costs. We have not had to buy any onions or potatoes this year.  Last year we did.   We went all winter using green peppers we froze versus buying them from the store. When we are low on eggs, we do without.   We have cut down the cost of buying organic milk by having the goat's, and have drastically cut down the trips to...

I have had a few requests for the knitted dishcloth pattern.  I sell these at the Farmer's Market and our family store site (new site under construction). I've adjusted it to the size that I like, but you can do the same as well. Note: for dishcloth I knit to 52 on my needle, for a larger dishcloth or washcloth, knit 72

This recipe was very good.  I like the fact it did not contain mayonnaise in it.  I also read that the combination of the organic cider and raw honey work together to benefit one's health.