Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I was out of the garden by 8am.  It's mostly tilled, but today I need to weed and till.  Grass is up around some plants, but other than that, I'm keeping up with it.  I had to run to "the big" city" again.  I needed a new rack for my canner pot.  I searched for hours online, and only found them on ebay for $20.00.  I ended up going to Wal-mart and getting the pot and rack for $24.00.    I moseyed over to the meat to pick up something to grill, and wasn't shocked to see there was nearly nothing in the way of chicken.  Two packages literally (should have taken a photo), and thankfully all organic was available.  Same with the ground beef as well. I went to the hardware store and picked up paint for the living room and bathroom door and bathroom cabinet. Not the greatest photo, but I finally painted the beam in the kitchen ceiling.  It was truly a balancing act on the ladder, to avoid using a ton of paint tape.  My hus...

  This was my fitbit at 7pm  last night.  It was errand day, and not by choice.  I had to go to the "big city" for an estimate on the truck.  We may be getting a second estimate, because the first will not fix paint chips on the hood from the deer encounter.   Anyway, I took all my lists with me and landed at 5 stores!  I loaded online digital coupons before leaving the house.  Meijer had 20% off all ball canning supplies (you can check, but not sure how many days it's good for).  I picked up more canning lids for a great price, as things are not going well in this country, and wanted to be prepared.  Also, our Wal-mart had higher prices on canning lids than Meijer.  The 20% off was a great deal considering the times we are dealing with. At Home Depot (my last stop), I had to wait forever at the paint counter due to lack of employees.  It was a very long day. Meanwhile, our handy-man was gutting the entire smaller bathroom...

  I am constantly forgetting what day it is, with this miserable work schedule my husband has.   I'm definitely not running out of things to get done around here either.  I finally got some cabbage fermenting. By the way, have any of you canned sauerkraut? I just looked up one recipe in one canning book that requires 25# of cabbage.  I would cut that down, but would like anyone's feedback on how it tasted after canning it.  Any other small batch recipes too. I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. I will link up later when she posts. The weather . . .  -hot, humid and no rain in sight As I look outside my window. . . -grass is dying and the yards look terrible, but garden has been watered consistently.  I have another maple tree to plant, but have it in a bucket of water until we see we'll get some rain. Right now I am . . . Drinking coffee, trying to get enough energy to get my power shower. Thinking and pondering . . . I want to plan ...

I noticed when we stayed at the island the last time, she had black washcloths with the work "makeup" on them.  Genius.  I could just go to the store and buy black ones, but made one myself with cotton yarn to see if it would work well. I love this pattern, so we'll see how it goes and if the face makeup will stain on it or not.  I'm hoping it works vs. using my other lighter washcloths that do stain.  I don't wear makeup that often, but I am happy with this pattern, and they stitch up quickly. Thankfully my husband had Saturday off, however, he never took my bathroom door off the hinges for me.  It'll probably happen tonight.  We have a hired handy-man coming to help gut the bathroom (so happy for that). We finally picked up a new toilet for the bathroom, and wow the prices have really gone up.  $229.00 for one on sale!  Thankfully we had $140.00 in rebates from the kitchen floor repair. Three of the kids came over to have a lunch for Father's Da...

I have no idea why I never thought of this, or not ever heard of this, but somehow I learned about it the other day.  They are fruit bags you put over your tree fruit, to keep birds and bugs off of them.  I just covered a lot of apples, but may get the ladder out there and get more covered up.  I am also hanging garlic around the bottom of the branches to keep deer and raccoons out of trees.   I'll be sure to let you know if they work.  They even have bags for your grapes.  I may have to put our grapes in next year.  The last ones were ruined, and I can't remember why.  Maybe a drought and we just couldn't keep up?  Anyway, I learned something new.

In conversation with a professional in the financial business, I was told we are already in a recession regardless of what the news is saying or not saying.  I'll be honest, I am wondering if people will even have money to spend on craft shows this coming Christmas time.   Last night I made this sheet pan dinner, and it was very good.  The only thing I would add is a dressing for the chicken once it comes out of the oven. I'm thinking cherry-bourbon BBQ sauce or something.  Other than that the bacon grease made this dish very tasty.  A good recipe for bad times as well.  You can raise your meat birds, grow your own sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts, and raise the pig to render the lard for the cooking process.  I do have cast iron pans in case of a black out, and can cook over a campfire. I'm ready to start gutting the smaller bathroom, but our handyman told us, "I don't do weekends."  I guess if it works out, I'll get doing that on my own....

  The wild black raspberries are on early this year.  They are small, but tasty.   I have a lot of plantain in the flower beds, and I am happy to say I have a wild growing mullein plant again.  So happy for that. The heat if finally letting up a bit, but no sign of rain. My husband took the truck to work the other day, so he could get the gas can refilled.  A deer jumped out of the ditch and smashed into the side of the truck.  I'm still waiting on the collision repair guy to call so I can take the truck in for repairs. I sure hope it doesn't take a year to get an appointment. I finally baked us a chocolate angel food cake.  It's good and light, but there is not much chocolate flavor to it.  I don't get to make one very often, but it's a nice light dessert for this hot weather.

Woke up to 77°F at 6am.  It will be another hot one, but not in the 100's thankfully.  It will be in the 90's though. I didn't check the heat index yesterday.  I was too busy weeding the last of the tomatoes.  Our mower/handy man was mowing, and the mower broke down.  He spent the hottest part of the day fixing it.  I took him about 3 bottles of ice water and two popsicles to keep him cool.  Not a good time for the mower to stop working. I actually cooked dinner in the heat.  I had a brain moment, and normally cook chicken fajitas over the grill or stove top.  This time I baked it in the oven as a sheet pan dinner.  So much easier and tasted great!  We treated our handyman to some too. I feel like I have read the Self-reliance book before, but I double and triple checked my shelf.  I did not have it.  I have not had time to read either yet (other than flipping thru it to take a look-see).  I ordered the one on chicke...

Over about a year ago, I looked into buying a set of baking rings for English muffins.  I guess I just sort of forgot about it, as I had not baked some in a while.  The above photo is making the English muffins without the rings.  The dough would rise nicely, but spread outward and delicate to move from oil sprayed foil to the pan (as directed on the original recipe). I ordered myself a set and gave it a whirl.  Instead of using foil, I used parchment paper, cutting it into 8 squares.  I lightly oiled them and put the dough in the rings during the second rise.  I also oiled the inside of the rings. I then could pull off one at a time delicately, and boy did I get a thicker muffin.  Will do it this way from now on. I also used the rings to fry eggs for muffin sandwiches.  Works great!  You do need to oil the ring, but it makes eating the breakfast sandwich much easier.  Love my new kitchen gadget.

T he smaller tiller (runs on a battery) broke down after the 4th use.  It's going back.  We spent the entire Father's Day searching for a better one.  We finally found one, and it runs on "gulp" gas.  It was the last one they had and it was 1 hour from home. We finally bought a new tire for my wheelbarrow ($32.00!!!).  It's in the back of the truck, and guess who took the truck to work this morning.  Yeah...not sure yet why he didn't take his car, but the wheelbarrow will have to wait.  Again. We took Mom, Dad and my Uncle flowers.  Mom's cemetery is very close to Dad's, and surprisingly, the last flowers I took were still there (we had a bad storm recently). We stopped to buy more flowers for Grandma and Grandpa, but we could not find any in the stores.   Bluebell flew the coop yesterday.  I guess I'll be clipping her wing.  I cannot wait to build a better coop, but we have so much on our plate right now. Today I am ...

  Just a look-see at the oven area.  I still have to paint that wooden beam in the ceiling and half the ceiling, but I'm super happy with the results.  It's so much brighter! The weather is much cooler this morning, and I am thankful for that.  It will be another full blown day in the garden.  The larger tomato patch was finished yesterday.  We actually have tomatoes on the very first plant I put banana peel water on.  That area has been fully weeded and tilled.  Today I have to water every thing, including flower bed, herb garden, newly planted trees and potted flowers.  Then it's back out to weed the other garden. I'll admit, I was not ready to do all of this solo.  Coming in from the garden, downing some Haymaker's punch, and painting.  I have really slacked in the cooking department due to the garden work that needs done.

It's been a whirlwind week!  First Derecho, then 105°F heat index, followed by a hot week with the 90's.  I am trying my best to get out to the garden early, and tie up tomatoes in the dryer portions of the garden.  One area will take a few days to dry up enough to even walk into. My ladies have been getting treated with chipped ice.  It's been miserable, but glad that the heat is drying up the garden too. I sort of feel like I've been tossed into the food processor and the pause button is broke.  The schedule here has been overwhelming.  There is so much to do, and yet the honey-do list never gets checked off on his only day off.   My clothesline broke, so it's off the honey-do list and on my list now.  I was not a happy camper either.  It takes multiple trips outside to hang it all up, and then take it all down before it even dried.   I'm still painting in the kitchen.  Rome wasn't built in a day.  I just got my hus...

My flowers still look beautiful! The heat returns, and I am prepared this time.   I was out and back in by 8:30am, with a heat index of 89°F.  The tomatoes look better than the day before, but still way to wet to get in there to tie up plants. I will monitor my gardening time out in the sun, but have what's called "Nature's Gatorade." The recipe is from the Farmer's Almanac, but also online with Mother Earth News.   I cut the recipe down for a 1/2 gallon, and used molasses, and did not add extra brown sugar. On the handmade home front, I am so frustrated with this inflation.  Walmart raised their cotton cone yarn from $7.99 to $12.95, and never have the colors I need.  JoAnn's raised their price to $15.99.  I went online to check Michael's and they have them on clearance, and all are out of stock.  I ended up finding one color on Amazon for $10.95, but the only option for the other colors in stock were $14.99 and that was "on sale" as th...

I got a small batch of sweet cherry jam (reduced sugar) done.  I most likely won't make any more considering I had to buy the cherries.  Our cherry tree died for some reason, and I didn't have the time to plant one this spring.  Hopefully next year. I'm obsessed with these dip bowls by Pioneer Woman.  Love them for cracking eggs before adding them to a recipe. Breakfast - sweet potato hash (with an extra reg. potato because that is what I had), with eggs on top.  I added jalapeno for a kick and it was so good. It's been confirmed that we had a Derecho.  The area of Amish country around Berlin, OH had so much damage from the storms that they called a Level 3 and no one was allowed on the roads, to allow for cleaning up the debris.  Hotels, and motels closed, businesses closed due to the damage and power outages. I went out to the tomatoes, and I literally almost lost my boots in one patch, and could not get into the other at all.  It was under...

  Although I pushed all of our front porch furniture up to the house, I found it all in a pile this morning.  Thankfully, it  is all there and in good shape, but wet. We lost power, but woke up to power thankfully.  Many are still without power. We lost a few trees, and I will be checking the barns later after the rain quits (yes, more rain this morning after a night of storms). I slept thru my husband's alarms on his phone, and with the power out, I'm not sure he got his coffee this morning.  I see he also left his wallet behind.  I am praying he has enough gas to get home, or someone will let him borrow cash to fill up to get home.   Our backyard is full of branches and tree limbs, and tomato stakes are still standing, but will have to be re-pounded.   I will need to re-set the clocks on everything that lost power, especially the coffee pot.  My husband lives on that pre-set timer at 4:30am. Yesterday I could not find pickling lim...

My husband finally had Sunday off, but we pretty much spent it running around for errands, and for about the 3rd time (even though it was on the list) forgot the new tire for the wheelbarrow.  Sigh.   We successfully planted my flowers I bought 2 weeks ago, and weeded the lower front flower bed.  We also put a tarp down to extend one area of the flower bed, to make mowing much easier.  We will not plant there for 1-2 years, to make sure we kill off the grass. We tag-teamed and tilled the gardens, but the belt broke on the larger tiller.  We totally forgot to buy one when we were in town.  We did remember to buy a new filter for it though.  Oddly, it was still very wet out there, so I have not had to water anything but the grow bags and flowers.  The herb garden has the least amount of weeds right now. We finally both got haircuts, but I was so ready to cut my bangs myself.  Luckily, our daughter was working and had a time slot for both o...

  I've been running myself hard ever since my husband's crazy long hours/days started.  I should have known, that if I didn't be more careful, I would get sick.  I did.  I woke up sick today, hence the late post.  Thankfully, rain is on the way, but tilling will not be done today. When I went to the porch to get some fresh air, I found my husband had all of this delivered!  The best husband, and the best timing ever! Make sure to take care of yourself!

  I purchased this handheld vacuum sealer, due to the one recommended not being manufactured right now.  America's Test Kitchen recommended a different one, but after doing my research, found out it may not be made again.  The only issue I have is that the battery cover pops off easily.  I just put some duct tape over it.   The bags are more difficult to seal than a regular ziploc bag, but once sealed they work great. Update on these after almost a year of using them:  Now that it's just us too, I plan to put all what I freeze in one larger bag, and just take out what we need.  Other than corn, I think it will work great for us, and us on buying ziploc bags this year.