Pioneer Woman at Heart

A few friends have been telling me to try husking the corn this way - boil with the husks on, then remove.  Of course this isn't a good way to do it for freezing it, but eating and otherwise.  I'll be honest, I'm sticking to the old fashioned way.  There was still hair on the corn, and I could not fit as many cobs in my largest pot with the husks on.

Sunday morning we were up at 5am, and couldn't sleep, so we backed the truck up in the driveway and put the new hitch on!  It's on finally, after not camping for a year and a half!!  I am so excited, but unfortunately school will be starting next month.  Here's hoping for some nice fall weekends. We celebrated our hard work with an afternoon motorcycle ride, and live entertainment and lunch on the patio (at the restaurant). Oh, I have a list of canning to get done, and we have already chalked off Friday from doing any work, so it'll be a busy week in the kitchen (and garden).

Friday started with a much more relaxing day.  Less to do, although the list is long.  I just chose to ignore most of it.  I had a bad night Thursday night, which involved a coughing fit.  I tend to go into panic mode when I even get a sniffle.  Thankfully, with Hubby's support and my essential diffuser, I made it through the night with some sleep.  I haven't been drinking my nettle tea for allergies and it was wham-bam experience.  I got side tracked from regular, natural allergy maintenance.  A tea infusion was waiting for me Friday morning though. Homemade hand foaming soap was refilled, along with a 5 gallon bucket of homemade laundry soap.  Thankfully we got some rain, so it was a non-gardening day. I did a few essential oil steams just to make sure I was not going to have another night of uncomfortable coughing.    Good gravy, what was I thinking when I wasn't making it this the past few weeks?  I guess hitting the ...

After waking up with a bit of a sore throat (allergies), I decided to take Thursday off from the garden (avoiding the grass), and get some inside work done.  I was up just before 5am and downed a cup of hot ginger tea before making good ol' organic coffee. It started as a beautiful day, but I was praying for rain too.  We need it badly.  We got rain too.  Twice during the day, but not enough.  We could use more. Even though I've been whooped by dinner time, dinner has still been getting made - homemade chicken alfredo and roasted rosemary asparagus.  The alfredo sauce has been posted before, but not the entire recipe.  We are just low on fruit.  The red raspberries need rain.  The blackberries are loaded, but not ripe to pick just yet. Homemade Alfredo Sauce 1/2 cup organic butter (or homemade) 2 cups (1 pint) organic/non-gmo whipping cream 4 oz.  organic cream cheese (or homemade ) 1/2 tsp. minced garlic * 1 tsp. homema...

I'm up at 5am this morning.  The corn is all done for the this season.  Well, sort of done.  It's been shucked, removed, and frozen finally. 70 cups so far this year, and I am saving a dozen for another reason this weekend. Tiger comes crying for an ear right when I starting slicing off the corn.  It shuts him up for just a while, until he begs for more.  Most of the cobs went to the chickens, but some went in the compost. I'm still putting up blueberries (20 lbs). Sliced a few cucumbers up for vinegar-cucumbers.  I typically use the recipe I posted years ago, but leave the oil out.  I was plum out of garlic (getting pulled soon), and had one dinky dill plant to use for it). New Recipe Tried - cucumber juice.  Delicious.  I just peeled and blended, strained the pulp, and added some organic lime juice and sugar to taste.  The juice would be pretty good to make cucumber margaritas with too.  The pulp was given...

When ever I read something new about a weed I harvest, I give it a try if I can.  The season for cleavers are over for us, but I wanted to share this. I made a tea with cleavers . I just made sort of an infusion in a pint canning jar, strained it and put it in the fridge.    Dip your washcloth into the tea and rinse your face with the tea solution at room temperature (or cold).  Cleavers at as a skin tightener, so in reality, reduces wrinkles and lifts up the skin naturally. Some people may have a bad reaction to this facial wash, so try a small area at first.  If you use fresh cleavers in you tea (not recommended for this), you have greater chance a having a skin reaction. I used this tea for 2 straight weeks and feel and see a difference.  I also used it cold on my face, and it felt great in the heat of summer.

Monday was not about the garden, it was about dropping another $200 for Youngest - school uniforms, photos etc.  It will still save us in the long run, but man.  School is not cheap.  That doesn't include her shoes, supplies and other necessary clothing.  They told us we'd spend only 1 hour there, but ended up spending 2 hours, and it was a 30 minute drive there and back.  We didn't get home until almost 2 pm. Rain was in the forecast again, but the weather man has been wrong this year.  So wrong.  We need more, so I was hoping they were right for a change.  We didn't get any, and it's in today's forecast too (slight chance). I had food to freeze, and a lot of it.  Despite rain and dry/hot weather, the cucumbers, zucchini and other stuff needed dealt with. Three bags (slightly short of 3 bushels) brought home.  We'll need a tractor to plant this much sweet corn in the future. The fun started.   Younge...

Can't purge books?  I found a sure fire way to do it, that's for sure.  Just empty the bookshelves completely, remove the shelves, dust, and start sorting through the books.  A rainy day helps too. Oh my.  I must have been one crazy Christmas lady back in the day.  I think I purged over 200 Christmas related books.  I had everything the Christmas Almanac, to the Treasury, kids books to Christmas related novels.  Yeah...my purge continues as I sort through them. I even had a book with Christmas recipes, crafts and traditions for around the world, ha ha! I actually found one that is now on the "read it" list right now. I bought it at a library book sale, and apparantly forgot I even had it. One book went to a family member on Hubby's side. Yeah, I was a crazy Christmas lady.  I ordered this book way back in the day, and never used it.  It has recipes too.  (this is only one double wide book shelf, not including my homesteadi...

Thursday evening, to honor my hard work in the garden, Hubby surprised me by not working overtime.  He took me on a ride on the Harley, ate at our favorite steak house (which has special motorcycle parking), and ended the evening with adult beverages on the porch. Friday I piddle-dinked around, sucked down coffee, moaned and groaned, complained, let out heavy sighs, wished I drank the beer and not the Crown Royal the night before, and contemplated.  I won.  Even though we have weeds to pull, I decided I didn't want to poke my eye out bending over the 4 foot grass and weeding the sweet potatoes.  Hubby volunteered to weed wack it down to where I could easily see the roots, so I took the day off, in hopes for rain.    There was a 50% chance of rain at 10am, and that motivated my decision (although I'm out there at 7am and done by 10am). By the way, the rain arrived, and may arrive again today. Oh, I had inside work to do, like make a batch of turkey-zu...

This was the sunrise a few mornings back.  It was absolutely stunning.  The photo doesn't show the pink it had, but it was beautiful. Guess who visits me about 7am every morning?  Look closer.  The chickadee was going in his/her nest.  Funny how it goes right in there, so close to me, and while I'm on the porch.  I now talk to the plant before watering it (ha ha!), just to make sure I don't drown it or have it fly out and scare the pants off of me. Well, it really must be Christmas in July.  I got another green egg.  Hm.  I only have 2 of those chickens in my clan, but I'll be happy to get any from them. After this year's debacle of a garden (weed fest), Hubby now wants to move to move the garden. No way I am moving it.  Where it's at, it's protected from the farm poison.  A tractor and bush hog are now at the very tippy top of the wish list, but the weather is still to blame.  We just have a lot of costly expe...

I drained another jar of 4 thieves vinegar.  It lasts a year in the fridge, so if I have the ingredients I'm making another jar during this hot, hot summer.  It's a blessing to have during winter when sickness runs rampant, and with one still in school, germs are a plenty. Un-burying the herb has started.  I'm about to mow down the carrots though. Upon pulling the tall weeds in the end of the herb garden, I noticed my green onions were killed off for the first time in all the years I had them. I have about 4-5 left, so this was a sad moment.  That end used to be packed with so many green onions, I'd have to pull some bulbs every two years.  The parsley is dry as a bone and the dirt is like concrete there too. Spent yesterday morning in the potatoes, and more to weed.  They look terrible. It's very iffy at this point if we'll get much of anything.  The potatoes will most likely have a post of their own soon.  What a mess. We seriousl...

To make homemade cake flour, simply remove 2 Tbsp. from each cup needed, and  then add 2 Tbsp. of organic non-gmo corn starch.   Sift many times before using. You can buy organic powdered sugar from health stores.  You need powdered sugar for this recipe. Serviceberry Drop Cookies ( recipe adapted form "How to Prepare Common Wild Foods" by Darcy Williamson) 1/2 cup organic butter, softened 1 1/3 cups organic powdered sugar 2 farm fresh eggs 1/2 tsp. homemade vanilla 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. cake flour (see instructions at top) 1/2 cup dried serviceberries Soak dried serviceberries in 1/2 cup boiling water for about 10 minutes.  Drain. Beat butter until creamy.  Slowly add sugar until it's fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time.  Add vanilla.  Gently add flour, and don't over mix.  Stir in serviceberries.  Drop onto cold cookie sheet, about 4 inches apart (about 1 tsp. size drops).  Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.  ...

The rain that was predicted at 11am, was pushed back to noon.  Then it was pushed to 1pm, and again to 3pm.  I was starting to wonder if we'd even get any (again).  Later I checked it again, and it was once again pushed back to 4pm.    Our oldest daughter stopped out for a visit, and it sprinkled long enough for her to run from the porch to her car to roll up her windows.   Mother Nature is really making me work my bum off this season.  Hi-ho-Hi-ho, it's off to water I go..... While putting my roast in the crocky yesterday morning, I realized I has zero mushroom soup in the freezer.  I tend to have a few cans of organic store bought soup, but there was none to be had.  In desperation (or you could call it creativity), I had one can of organic crimini mushrooms and onions (no shallots either).  I whipped up a batch and it was just as fantastic on our roast as the original mushroom soup recipe I use.

I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom today.  Sunday we fried.  It was 92°F with a heat index of 99°F.  We literally didn't go outside much at all.  Hubby and I hit the garden work first, but it was too hot and humid to be outside.  We even said no to a motorcycle ride to get ice cream.  It was that hot.  Today, rain is once again in the forecast, and we may actually get some this time.  It's to rain all day, so first on the to-do list is work on the green beans in the garden.  If I can resurrect the second row, we plan to mow down the last two and replant. On the breakfast plate. . . Eggs, toast with home canned jam, coffee The weather outside is . . . It's hot and humid, and we are praying we finally get rain. On my reading pile . . . Herbal books from the library. On the TV . . . McCleod's Daughters On the menu . . . -organic roast, carrots, potatoes and onion -stuffed shells, steamed broccoli -chicken ...

It's either too hot or too wet, and this is our reality.  This is a small side of the front porch flower bed.  I have trees growing in it, ha ha ha ha!    The mailbox flower bed.  Trees are growing there too, ha ha! If you look close enough, you'll see my roses in that weed field next to the house, and in front of that, across the sidewalk my weed packed herb garden.  I wasn't kidding when I said the weeds were so tall, I could see them out my windows. Another view of the herb garden.  Even the grass can't be caught up with, nor the trimming.  You should see my vegetable garden.  It looks like we are growing hay out here. On a good note.  I tried something new this year.  I took 5 geraniums inside over winter, and 3 survived.  Check out this one. . . The plants I kept out in the living room, near the wood stove over winter, did the best.  Sure saved money on buying annuals. This my friend...