The early morning weather here has been downright chilly. One morning it was 42 degrees. Flower beds have been weeded. The herb garden is next in line, but I do need to figure out what to do with all the rosemary plants I planted in the actual vegetable garden. I have not mastered keeping them alive all winter indoors. They will not survive the winter if left outside.
Did any of my blog writing followers locate a better "blog" platform online? Just curious if anyone is moving from blogger.
We picked another 6# of our cherry type tomatoes.
I made us tomato pesto (another "first" for this year for us). I plan to freeze more of this if we get more tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are the star of the garden this year.
Apple picking time has arrived. It will be all things apple for a while around here.
First up, I made us a new apple salad recipe. To be honest this could have been a "fancy" chicken salad by just adding chicken to it. It was very good however.
I'm still using my old sauce maker, but the trash flute continues to pop off due to the plastic tabs broken on it. I have yet to find another option for a stainless steel sauce maker.
Apples and Tomatoes Oh My! © September 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart
I do wish we had a root cellar for the apples, but we do not. I may be asking around to see if anyone I know can store them for us. Oh wait! We have zero like minded friends/family, so that would be a no on that. We are a dying breed.
These two were hanging around the property. We've seen then a few times, but thankfully, the chicken run is about done, so we can move them to a safer run (from predators).
I really have not had time to work on the current baby blanket, and a few weeks ago, I had to frog an entire row (one small mistake). It's still on the hook.
Reading took a back seat too. We have lots to do around here, but that is a good thing too.
We have discovered more local area walking trails, which we incorporate with trips to the hardware store or other outings. We have more to discover.
We've been super busy, but "busy" in a good way. We've had two reunions with family on my husband's side, and it's been very fun, enlightening and I am meeting people for the first time. One cousin of his was in from TX to help her sister, so we met her too. I will be staying in contact with them, and even met some extended family from Washington. One family member is not even that far from us (news to us), and we are so happy to be spending time with them all.
Although mornings here have been from 40's to 50's, we are in a drought, and the garden looks terrible. We are even approaching a warm up to days in the upper 80's, with a possibility of 90°F.
Apples and Tomatoes Oh My! © September 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart
Comments
I make my applesauce differently. I peel (because I buy them), core and chunk mine into a slow cooker. Cook for 3 - 4 hours, then puree (for baking and more) in the blender. Two batches gets me a full canner of applesauce pints.
I also make apple butter because I have a friend that loves it so, Christmas present. I take the applesauce, add a moderate amount of sugar and spices, and cook it down further in the slow cooker. The slow cooker prevents me from scorching the stuff and frees me up from the constant stirring on the stovetop. This gets canned in pints too.
We too are experiencing a drought. Again. My canning tomatoes are sadly dying. As a result, I bought two boxes of seconds at the farmers market because I was down to my last two quarts of tomato chunks. Even with the increased cost of seconds, it still pays, both taste and money wise, to can your own tomatoes.
rkrsrue.blogspot.com
I think there's both a free and paid version for wordpress. The free means you consent to ads. I've tried the free version but didn't find it friendlier to use than blogger.
Another consideration is the amount of photos you have. I think the free wordpress has limits for storage space of images. That's the biggest reason I haven't moved my 5 Acres blog to wordpress, I have way too many pics. (That information may be outdated, though, as it was years ago that I looked into it.)