Garden ~ Tick Repellent Oil and other ramblings

The rain brought us some garden bounty! I froze 3 meals of green beans, and brought in cucumbers, zucchini and yellow squash. So happy for that.

The ticks are bad this year, so I made us some tick repellent oil.

The bathroom is still under construction. I'm trying to be patient, but....the new vanity light was installed. There was an issue with the shower base being un-level (fixed), and then there was the issue with studs and where the shower will need to go (getting fixed). The flooring and/or shower should be going up today or tomorrow. Then again we thought that last week.

Daughter K called. She isn't coming over today to clean the upstairs as planned. Sigh. One of her co-workers has covid, so she didn't want to take a chance coming here, considering.

The heat is returning, and today may be a very humid day as well. It's been too wet in the garden to weed, till, etc. I had to hose my boots off yesterday. Tomorrow will be worse, and there is a possibility of more rain.

I will be putting the last two sets of sun-blocking curtains in the upstairs this morning. The one long set I put up has really helped keep the heat out of the upstairs.

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Horsetail Salve ~ A "first" this Year

We purchased some horsetail salve to try last year. It is said to help with severely dry, cracked skin. My husband was the first to try it, with very, very dry and cracked hands from work. He loves it! He joked I could not have it back. I started the infused, horsetail oil the last part of March. Something I learned: horsetail is also called shavegrass. I infused horsetail in oil, and strained it. I then made horsetail salve. I remembered to label my jar with what oil(s) I used, so I can journal this all in my "Herbal Remedies" journal. I often forget to write the oil used. Now, the one we bought, has more in it than I put in ours, as far as ingredients (the purchased salve had lanolin, and aloe). We'll see if ours works just as good. I added the sage essential oil, and vitamin E oil. A "first" time experience for us this year. I bought the larger tins at a seed store in an Amish area last year. They a...

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Chit Chat

The pickings are slim right now, but we'll take anything we are blessed with. I made a salad and cleaned the beans. The rain will give us more for a meal in a day or so. The green beans are every so slowly coming on this season. I made a batch of homemade granola, and instead of my homemade vanilla extract, I used my homemade Christmas Spice Extract. It smelled so good in the oven, and while cooling. I picked some purslane, and am doing an experiment with it this time. Update soon. Chit Chat © August 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

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New Recipe Tried and other Bits

I tried a new granola recipe and boy it's good. First, it's a recipe from Mennonite Girls and Cook, and called "Backpack Snacks" online. It calls for granola, so I used my homemade granola that we love. Picture is the dry ingredients. Second, I pressed the final mixture into a 9 x 9, parchment lined baking dish instead of rolling it into balls. The color of these photos are all different, because of the time of day, and how dark the house was from the thick Canadian smoke that was still outside at the time. These cut very nicely, and were very good, straight from the refrigerator. It was hard to eat just one of them. I will be making this again, and switching out the peanuts with walnuts, and switching out the raisins with dates. Oh my! The binder is honey and peanut butter. These are perfect for your hiking days, camping, your grandkids, or just for snacks when you want one. The rain arrived thank goodness, and washed the smoke in...

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