Pioneer Woman at Heart

This orb weaver is hanging out at the old water trough I use for planting flowers in.  My son is enjoying the presence of it, and loves feeding it bugs.  You have to admit, the coloring is pretty neat.  However, I won't be touching this one.  This orb weaver spider finally came back out for it's photo shoot. However, you can see that it is hanging upside down under the wrapped grass hopper.  I was not about to get any closer to try and photograph the other side.  Eww!  This spider was the one that almost ended up in my hair while I was picking tomatoes.

I put an S.O.S. out to my mother.  We are badly in need of some hedge apples.  The spiders are everywhere.  In the kitchen, on the counter, in the bathtub, in the shower. Ugh. Here my son rescued us from this man eating female that was on my kitchen floor (shudder). The other day, while picking more tomatoes, I almost got my head into a orb weaver web.  That spider was ginormous!  Ugly too (shivers).  I went back out to take a photo, but it was gone, and no matter what I moved in the garden, it didn't come back out for it's photo shoot.

I have been contemplating whether or not to can barbeque sauce this year.   I put southern style ribs in the crock-pot and topped it with one canned jar of homemade grape jelly, and one jar of home canned ketchup.

My 10 year-old daughter stole this one off my shelf.  I guess my writing is influencing the kids more than I have realized. Hubby is reading these magazines. I am reading this book.  A book about how a pickle factory is taken over by a big city guy, trying to change the way of farming and make more money.  This is what my son is reading. This is what my 15 year-old daughter is reading.  With all her school work, she doesn't have time to read for fun. My 13 year-old isn't reading anything but the computer screen.....tsk, tsk.

With more watermelons in the garden, I decided to experiment with new recipes.  We grew heirloom watermelons, so they are full of seeds.

...the araucanas are now laying eggs, and they are a teal color (a slight combination of green and blue).

( Previously finished)

We are another step towards complete self-sufficiency.  I made liquid hand soap for the first time.  It's not really a necessity, as we have the handmade goat's milk bar soap.  However, it is useful to have at all the sinks.

My youngest daughter (10 years old) has been bitten by the baking bug.  She's been wanting to bake easy cookie recipes all the sudden. Yesterday, I allowed her to bake some, with the assistance of her older sister. As soon as these cookies were cooled, they dissappeared.  I asked her what she did with them. "I'm hiding them so they won't eat them all." Later in the afternoon, I saw her eating one.  Then later, another.   I asked her, "Did you hide those so you could eat them all?" "No." Just about dinner time, she was walking around the house trying to sell them to her sisters for $1.00 a piece.  Her brother was at work.  I got a giggle out of this. Her sister's were not paying for cookies, tackled her, and stole them from her. (giggles) In the end, everyone did get a few cookies.

Grab a cup of coffee or tea.  This blogpost is a bit long. The morning here today is cool, and so pleasant.  Rain is in the forecast.  I planted this Morning Glory from seed and it is just now blooming. The fall weather is bringing in blooms of all colors, including this purple.  I cannot tell you  the name of this flower without looking it up.  It's been moved from two houses and still growing strong.  The hummingbirds, butterflies and bees love these flowers. The kids wanted another party - Italian.  There is no way I can possibly whip up another successful party, with all that food in one night. 

Yesterday I finally got back out to the gardens.  I must have picked about 40 pounds of tomatoes, and this pot full of peppers, and one spaghetti squash.  I picked two types of green pepper, red pepper, cayenne, jalapeno and banana peppers. I picked a handful of strawberries.  They are growing so much better in my new raised beds this year. Yesterday I canned 3 1/2 more quarts of seasoned tomato sauce, using up about 23 pounds of those tomatoes I picked.   Today I will make another batch of taco sauce.  My family devoured another 1/2 pint jar the other day.   Today, I also need to freeze all those peppers you see in the pot, and freeze more tomatoes. I plan to set aside some banana peppers for an Italian treat that we have never tried.  In the back garden, where we planted the watermelon and baking heirloom pumpkins (and the last of the tomatoes and sweet potatoes when we ran out of room),  I noticed something has been e...

While cleaning around the house, I found this 1963 cookbook.  This sounded like a great way to have sandwiches on hand.  I may have to try this recipe yet.  Although I'd make my own dressing for this.  I love the fact I can use own, canned sweet pickle relish. Clean Sweep Updates:

Last weekend, hubby whisked me away again for a night away.  It was completely by surprise and completely at the last minute Friday.  We really enjoyed ourselves, and had some short, but well worth it, relaxation.  We brought some flowers along this time.  As parents, we are spending more (serious) time giving ourselves time away.  This stress stuff is serious and we are taking it seriously now more than ever. I think we relax so easily, due to the quiet surroundings, peaceful sounds of the waves, and the lack of clutter around us.  Not to mention lack of kids sniveling and arguing, and lack of electronics and noise pollution. This little strip of shops is basically downtown.  The island is only about 4.6 square miles.  Our favorite coffee on the island.  Mmmmm!  The owner bakes all the baked items herself. Our secluded retreat.  No people, no traffic, no nothing.  Just a few birds, waves and a few boats i...

The lighting was bad, but the second photo is much better on showing the true colors on this fabric. I'm fall cleaning in a big way right now.  I went through my fabric pieces and found this one.  It's a find from Goodwill and was only a dollar.  It's about 2 yards maybe and will soon be an apron.  Sometimes a farmgirl needs help from another farmgirl, and she'll soon be getting my fabric to sew me an apron.  Goodwill doesn't sell too many good deals anymore, not in our area anyway.  This was one more clutter item put to good use. I am completely out of laundry detergent, so I grated goat's milk soap is melting in a pot of water as I type.  I'll be starting the day with laundry and more fall cleaning.   I organized my cotton thread by using an accordion style, vintage wooden rack.  I found it at a garage sale for $.25!  Can't beat that. I thought I would need to add longer pegs, but the cones hang on these nicely....

My clothespins seem to disappear often around here.  We take some camping too.  The kids use them for wall tents (and me too).

Conversation between me and hubby: "Uh, honey? Did you know you can use a zucchini stalk like a recorder? You know like an instrument?" (Me) "Honey, you are just not normal." (hubby sighs and lowers his head with a smile, shaking his head from side to side) Crazy as it sounds, it's true.  If you still have zucchini in your garden give this a try.  According to this page in my book Log Cabin Cooking, Pioneer recipes and Food Lore" you can.  It's a ramble kind of day today.  Grab a cup of tea or coffee for this one. Yesterday I changed up my day.  I actually cooked dinner.  The family is so used to seeing me standing at the stove canning, or out in the garden.  I was not driving out for supplies, so I surfed the net for recipes.  Allrecipes is always a nice one.  I can search for recipes by the ingredients I have. I made Cheesy Sausage Zucchini Casserole , but changed some of the ingredients - used cream cheese and cottage cheese ...

...finished two crocheted flower dishcloths, and one large knitted dishcloth for my Aunt.  ...finished a small afghan.

Queen Latifah was spectacular last night.  She appeared prior to the opener of the Giants vs. Cowboys NFL game last night.  Sadly, both hubby and I fell asleep before the came was over.  Ha ha! I love this woman.  She is all about keeping life "real."  She's been a role model of mine for years now.  They couldn't have picked a better person to sing the national anthem. With copyright issues I did not add a photo of her, but you can google her name and read all about it.

At the end of last year's season, I invested in my dehydrator and this Marcato Pasta Maker.  It came with only one attachment, so I am using the above cut, for noodles.  Hopefully, by next season, I will have attachments for lasagna, ravioli, and more.

This is a cabinet that my husband built me several years ago.  I used it for books, but have removed them to store my canned goods.  We lack kitchen storage space, so my storage is now in my living room (no kidding). I even have more stored in a cupboard in another room.  I love this cabinet, so I may be building more of these for next season. I put more smaller jars in this one, after I took the photo, so it's pretty full this year.   Labor Day Updates: Hubby and I spent Labor Day working in the garden.  It was hot, humid, and uncomfortable.  Shortly after I dug up more potatoes, and he spread out manure, we had a short down pour.  After that, we had intermittent showers all afternoon and evening.   Hubby even helped me make a batch of seasoned tomato sauce, and wants to do it again.  I am forever thankful for his help.  I spent the evening hours crocheting winter scarves and writing a list for fall cl...

We had a Salsa Party, to taste all four of the salsa recipes I canned this year.  The Peach Salsa recipe used a small amount of honey. 

(canned 8-26-2011, last jar used 9/1/2012) We haven't been able to get a break this past week.  It seems that the Lord is blessing us in abundance, and all at the same time - eggs, tomatoes, peppers, pears, etc.

We discovered that pureed cucumber can be frozen and used for facial masks, for soap making, and for winter soups. For our facial mix, we peel and puree 1/2 cucumber, and add 1 Tbsp. of  plain yogurt.  These facials are wonderful, and once it's on our face, it's so refreshing. We haven't made soap with it yet.  However, now that I know I can freeze it for that purpose, I am stocking up on it.  We continue to stock up - every day.  It rained last night a bit and I am still getting more tomatoes. I've been so busy canning and freezing and dehydrating, that I forgot to call and get an appointment for the chimney to be swept.  I better do that next week. Hubby has a sore tooth, so I called and made him a dentist appointment. We have a bad habit of always putting the kids before us.  I hope it's not too late to save his tooth. My son dropped out of college for his own reasons.  He's a mature adult and was paying for it himself, and it was ...