Pioneer Woman at Heart

Baby yellow finch.  So happy to see that Mom and Dad had a baby.  I will have to keep an eye out for more. More blooms in the flower garden. My new addition to the flower bed is blooming wonderfully. I almost had a close up photo of a Boston Oriole, but by the time I got my gimmpie rear to get my camera, he/she flew off.  Hubby and I got to see it though while playing cards on the front porch last night.  That's about all I accomplished, other than watering everything.

We had another weekend retreat at our favorite island.  It was the best weekend ever.  We went alone this time.  We met more islanders and laughed and laughed and laughed.  Tried a Storm Cloud shot for the first time.  Hubby didn't like it so much, but I did.  Sort of on the sweet side. It was pretty busy on the island and the place we rent is now booked until mid August already.  Our friends that own it, have a machine that they set inside and put a timer on and it kills anything.  Sort of like what the UV machines do, but different. We were home early, unpacked, laundry started, lawn mowed, garden checked, catnip went into the dehydrator and potted plants watered. Sage went into another dehydrator.  It was hotter here than at the island (beautiful weather and nice breeze at the island). We have six acres, but not all is mowed.  Our old goat pasture looks like this now.  Hm.  Time to locate people to bring the goats ...

Pea picking is daily right now.  Shell peas are now on thanks to the goodness of rain. Oregano is abundant this year (unlike my thyme and rosemary), but I'll take anything this year.  I filled the dehydrator, and may do it once more. Although there are a lot of sugar snap pea recipes, I went with what I had - used homemade garlic scape pesto, tossed in pasta and snap peas, topped with grated Parmesan cheese.

Tuesday morning we finally got some of Mother Nature's medicine for the gardens.  It was very much welcomed. We also celebrated our one daughter's 21st birthday (she baked and frosted her own cake), and we celebrated it by going out to eat and buying her first adult drink. Daughter and I went to the "Big City" to get our licenses renewed.  Her renewal was easy, but because mine expired during this virus mess, I had to have all sorts of information brought with me.  I dug through paperwork and actually found every single thing I needed for my renewal.  It took us an hour to get through the process.  We timed it right, with only 17 people ahead of us, but a very long line behind us. We have purchased one car thankfully too.  However, we need 2 more to be completely functional, so we are car shopping for the daughter who turned 21. View from our front porch last evening.  

I had access to a car for a quick blink of the eye.  I ran into Wal-mart to get some items, and this is the area where crochet hooks and needles are sold.  The yarn is so slim.  See that shelf at the bottom of the photo?  Hardly any #10 cotton thread.  Literally nothing but one "I" hook left.  I needed an H and some needles for a gift for a family member. I am putting together an Emergency Crochet kit for her.  I found tape measures, but not the retractable ones (that section was slim as well.  I found pencils, notebook and scissors.  Good gravy on the shopping trip.  I am told I have to drive further out to find a fully stocked store.  Geeze o' pete.  I'm told that Wal-Mart stopped stocking anything that wasn't "essential" and to me crochet while stuck home is mentally essential.  Crazy times for sure. I came home and spent a while scrubbing my outdoor cushions with upholstery cleaner.  At least I was ...

We had a Father's Day cookout to go to yesterday.  It was nice to see family, but there were people there I didn't even know and we all sort of didn't mingle that much.  I talked to some, but not all.  It was also very hot outside. I also took a cold fruit salad (homemade, not store bought), but when I went inside it wasn't put out. When I asked about it, I was told that there was more dessert so mine wasn't needed basically.  So why bother making something I thought?   Why ask us to all bring a side dish?  I put it out anyway, and it was basically gone by the time we left.   We later went to test drive a car. My car is toast.  It will require a new engine.  So tired of the car situation, but hopefully it will change if we find one (need 2 more vehicles). Today I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. The weather . . . Well, it was to rain all day yesterday.  We got a 10 second rain shower.  Rain is in...

Saturday was a very productive day.  House was partially (finishing up today) power washed, we picked up my new treadmill and put the old one by the road (which was picked up within 10 minutes by someone driving by thankfully), more zinnias planted, a few more flowers planted, and a meal was baked for our friends (just had a heart attack) and made a cold strawberry pie for them too. Peas are starting to roll in.  I have enough to saute with some asparagus, and many more on the plants.

I thought I would share some new blooms in the flower gardens today.  Some are not looking great, while others are.  I'm sure it'll all look great after a dose of Mother Nature's rain water.

I added this journal to my bookshelf.  Now I can write down steps as I create new items without a pattern.  I have a few Christmas ornaments, and now another new item (nothing spectacular), but it will make it easy to write as I stitch too. Snap peas are coming on and I picked a handful for snacking.  Soon after this next rain, I should be eating some for meals and freezing some for meals.   Nothing new going on really.  I spent the entire day doing laundry, now that the washing machine has been fixed, but watered the heck out of the garden.  Weeding resumes today, along with lots of other things, including errands.  Hubby's work gave them today off (new day off for a "holiday" which most likely occurred due to today's crazy times). I hope to get some photos of my younger hens soon.  There is one that is almost all gray and she is absolutely gorgeous.  I have yet to introduce them to the older hens (still quite young to do that)....

Finally!  I made this delicious Garlic Scape-Radish Spread .  We love this, along with radish hashbrowns.  I really should plant 3 rows vs. 2.  Yummo. We are struggling with lack of rain again.  Weeding daily. Good news is coming (I hope) about a car for daughter, and a treadmill for me.  Hubby already installed the new washing machine part - laundry will be going strong today.  Woohoo to that! Oh, and that stray with kittens?  We now visibly see 3 kittens.  She had them under the house (oye) and now they are all out in the old barn rubble.  Hubby said he saw them playing in a tree.  Time will tell if there are more and when it's okay to trap them and find them all a new home.

The radishes are starting to develop.  Super excited to harvest even a little bit yesterday.  My first day back to reality was exhausting (with a capital "E").  Oh my.  I am weeding the beets and it's not fun.  I really hope we can build a few raised beds for parsnips and beets (and maybe carrots) next year.  It's such a pain in the butt to maintain. Sitting on the porch early evening, I watched a man walk from one end of the crop field across the road, to the other.  Not sure what he was doing, but when he reached the other side, he bent over to do something in one area.  He then walked all the way back.  Looking for arrow heads, planting marijuana seeds or picking something.  It was strange for sure. I brought in 10 eggs yesterday morning.  So excited to see that too.  Don't mind my Christmas towel.  I'm still waiting on the washing machine part.  Hopefully the part comes in today and Hubby won't ...

We took a hiatus from life and went to the island for the weekend.  Where we are off grid most of the time (love it that way too), and where it was the most normal of normal life.  Peaceful, no protesting,  no rioting, stores open, campground open, beaches open, golf cart rentals going, winery was absolutely packed (they put outside tables all over the property), live music at all our favorite stops, and beautiful scenery. It's not cheap to eat and drink over there however.  One glass of sangria at the winery is $7.00 and a pitcher $21.00.  We went out for Breakfast one morning and it cost us $70 for the 4 of us.  We packed a lot of food, so we ate at our rental and grilled.  We also brought our own adult beverage.  Breakfast out was biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs and a slice of watermelon (and the biscuits and gravy sadly were the worst we have ever had). We got to stay an extra night.  Oh darn, lol!  Winds wer...

Finally!  After 2 1/2 months, my pressure canner has arrived.  We are still waiting on about 3-4 more orders from months ago. I accidentally made the first batch Calendula (because I was reading my recipe.  I re-wrote it now, so I reads "Lemon Balm Oil" as well.  I have to put the lemon balm in tubes, so I can take them on motorcycle rides.  The slide trays work at home though.  Not sure where I got my recipe. \ Red bellied woodpecker? My feverfew bloomed for the first time ever! We got a 10 minute rain storm late evening.  Thankful for the rain.  However, all day they kept saying an all night threatening storm.  I stripped my porch, took hanging pots down etc.  Now I have to put it all back.  All for 10 minutes of rain.  No 70mph winds they kept saying we'd have.  Oh, and no tornadoes.