Pioneer Woman at Heart

Bedding dried on the clothesline smells the absolute best! Birds chirping make you smile. Sunshine is medicine for the soul.   Enjoying it as much as I can.  Rain returns this weekend. The chicken coop was spring cleaned.  Man it needed it.   I was hoping we'd have them moved by now, but nope.  Anyway, they are happy ladies. Although a pine tree fell and slightly damaged the lilac bush, it has spring buds.  There is a lot of debris that needs cleaned up before the first mowing.  The main trees were cleaned up, but limbs and twigs remain. New recipe tried.  Einkorn banana muffins (recipe is from A modern Homestead online).  These muffins are basically a one bowl recipe if you sift your pre-measured flour (I used einkorn all-purpose flour) over the mashed bananas.  They use 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup.  They bake up very nicely and are very good.  I will be trying these with some added cinnamon/nutmeg maybe, and there ...

Today I am sharing how I made these delicious breakfast "bowls" by starting with sweet potatoes. The first time I made these, I used organic hannah sweet potatoes, and this second time I used locally grown sweet potatoes (which both were very good). Prepare fresh spinach, by cleaning it, and then slicing it.  Set aside.  I used two bundles of fresh spinach.  Set aside Prepare homemade cilantro-lime sauce. In a food processer, mix 2 full cups of cleaned organic (or home grown) cilantro and: -1/2 cup organic plain Greek yogurt (I have yet to use homemade for this), plus more to thicken to your taste -juice from one lime (not the bottled kind) -1 small can of organic salsa verde (or homemade), or about 14 Tbsp.  (cut the recipe in half to reduce the amount, but we really like the sauce on this breakfast dish) -2 cloves of garlic, minced -about 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper Process until smooth, and like I mentioned above, add extra yogurt to make your sauce as thick ...

  Mondays are always hard, as it's back to the grind, and no sleeping in.  I, however, took advantage of the day and the 60-some degree weather.  Laundry went on the line, I worked a bit in one of the vegetable gardens, and I did some indoor painting.  I also got some porch reading time in, and boy the weather was fantastic. I've learned in our area, that you need to just drop whatever you indoor plans are on good spring days, and get outside.  The weather has quickly turned to rain, thunderstorms, and high wind warnings. Breakfasts were finally decided on, and I pulled more frozen garden pumpkin puree from the freezer, along with some holiday diced ham we froze, and frozen garden grown bell peppers. Freezer meal planning progress . . . Meaning using the freezer items as a meal prep start. ( Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole :  The Real Food Dietitians online.  I had to put foil on top and bake longer, because the center was not cooked all the way). I...

We are greatly anticipating outdoor spring activities and garden prep.  Not to mention the finishing of the new coop.  I already have a plan in place for moving the chickens. We have friends that just sold their house, bought an RV and are living/traveling in the RV now.  I'll admit, it sounds interesting, and could imagine a life with a lot less taxes. I'm on the hunt for Arnica cream/lotion.  Sigh.  Just trying to avoid buying all the ingredients to make it.  If you know of a resource, be sure to comment.  By the way, I have tried to grow arnica here a few times, and with no success for some reason. We had unexpected guests all weekend, so I feel like we did not get much done around here.  We did manage to pick up a few bales of straw (at a high price), from a farm store for now.  We are having trouble locating a larger amount from a local farmer, for the chickens.  We've sent a few messages, so we are waiting for responses. ...

  We woke up to a windchill (feels like) 19°F this morning, and snow on the ground.  My poor green onions.  They were looking so grand, and now I'm concerned with any pear and apple blossoms (which I have yet to determine).  I'm hoping the fruit trees are behind, and will be bountiful this year.  I am sure the red raspberry and black berry bushes are okay, but now I'm concerned about my spring harvest of herbs.  Good gravy! Both of us hunkered in last night, as the sun disappeared, and the gray skies appeared.  The cold has not moved out just yet. Stay warm friends.  Looks like a perfect weekend for some popcorn, movies and handiwork.  Or some card playing and sipping hot tea. Our town's Easter egg hunt started this morning at dawn for ages 6 and up.  They will be freezing cold, and no, there is no sun today.  As of this post anyway.   Gosh, I remember doing an Easter egg hunt in our backyard, and there was a lot of snow, ...

  I finally finished the XL pot holder for us.  In  all of the years  of crocheting for craft shows, I never once made us one of these.  We now have one.  It's a pattern I created myself, using cotton yarn.  I added a loop on ours.  It's double thick, and fits under a 9 x 13 baking dish, or can be used for a baking pan, pizza pan or any baking ware that is larger.  I also made these for Christmas gifts one year. A pretty boring post for you today. Oh, I found two more UFO's (more unfinished crochet projects) in a basket, but those were taking apart, and will not be finished.  They were for craft shows, and I'm not doing those anymore.   Did my crafting bloggers know that JoAnn Fabrics filed chapter 11 bankruptcy?  Not sure if this means they will close any stores, but we are seeing more and more nearby (other) businesses closing this year. Update on my nettle tea infusions.  I had been making these for me, and specifi...

  We have discovered bulk, smoked bacon.  It is a drive for us, but the packages are packed with 150 slices of smoked bacon.  We do not own a smoker, so this was a nice discovery.  Did you know that smoked bacon loses it's fat when smoked?  It greatly reduces the amount of time to cook it as well.  On a side note, it is even more cost saving to cure, smoke and slice your own bacon with pork, if you have a smoker (so many instructions online for this). It costs a lot less to buy the bacon this way (bulk), and saves us so much money.  We will be stocking up on this, from now on.  We don't use bacon in every meal, but the savings are wonderful.   We are finding more and more ways to locate supplies at lower prices, organic herbs and other items when we do take the drive for supplies.  We are now incorporating the shopping trips with an outdoor hike/walk.  It's something new for us, but we are loving this new idea.  We are exp...

  The rain is slowly bringing the outdoors back to life, and we see more green again.  We have had snow flurries, which deterred me from harvesting any of those baby green onions coming up, but everything is brighter outside for spring. The Daffodils were blooming like crazy, and I would love to cut some to bring inside, but the snow just keeps on coming.  Not a lot, but enough to remind us that winter is still not over with. The rain is also giving us gifts from the Earth.  We have three wild growing mullein plants in the flower beds.  I need to dig them up to move them, so we can utilize them this year.  If I leave them in the flower beds, they will continue to replant in there, and the wild plants grow very tall.  We dehydrate this medicinal weed for tea. We took a drive to do some hiking.  I have to admit, that outdoor hiking uses more muscles than what you may use on a treadmill.  Good gravy we were happy sore, and have plans to get more...

  There is no method to figure out this winter weather madness. One day it's rain, cold and windy, the next snow and very cold, and the next? We were in the delightful 60's for about 3-4 days.  We actually hit the lower 70's one day. Thunderstorms rolled in next.   I took advantage of the better weather, and put the laundry on the clothesline.  It gets me outside, I get some extra physical movement, and a lower electricity bill.  A win all around. I saw my first Robin.  I actually saw several.  The mornings now start much darker, but as the sun rises, the birds are busy singing good morning to the world.  I took that photo through my window, and I do need to wash some more windows ha ha! I'm enjoying my nettle/oat straw tea infusions.  I serve them iced for us, and yes it tastes earthy, but very healthy at the same time.  The list for benefits of nettle alone is very long, and I am already seeing one benefit - healthier fingernails ...

  Last summer, the lentil sprouts I grew in the sprout jars did great.  However, this past month they would not sprout much at all.  I thought I had bought bad lentils, and refilled the jars with new lentils.  Again, it was a week and a half, and hardly any sprouts. I figured out what was hindering the germination - salt in the water softener hooked to our well water.  I didn't even think about it.  Apparently, the salt was shut off for watering the garden in the morning last year.  At the same time the sprouts were rinsed.  Makes sense.  No salt in the well water. Also, if your house is too cold in winter, it can also hinder your lentils from sprouting.  Humidity can play a part in sprouts vs. no sprouts as well. Another fact, is that our well water is freezing cold this time of year.  It's pretty cold year round, but during winter, it is very cold. I have to set water out to get to room temperature, just to water plants....

  (Snow!) Our weekend went way too fast.  We actually went out for breakfast with family, had a kiddo and her boyfriend over for a late lunch, and did not do a lick of work.  It rained Saturday, and snowed Sunday.  Sunday was more of one of those days you just wanted to curl up with a good book or movie and stay home. I also shared some of our bell pepper breakfast ideas with the kids, and by golly, I need to make these again soon.  I miss the stuffed ones for breakfast too.  Here I was telling my husband, we should take a year off from the garden and let it (and us) rest, but I miss those fresh bell peppers.  We could always hunt down a produce stand, but even people we know who have a stand, spray their garden. Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. I'll link up when she posts. The weather . . . It's still cold today, but we are to warm up this week for a bit, then cool back down again. Right now I am . . . Sipping coffee and posti...