"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Friday, October 17, 2025

Chilly ~ New Healthy Recipe Tried ~ Snack

 A chilly 36°F outside this morning, so it will be touch and go, if I am able to dehydrate more herbs or not.  

Speaking of herbs, I just learned that Thyme is an herb that promotes sleep.  I had no idea.  I know it's great as a medicinal tea for coughs and other ailments, but this was interesting information.

The cold weather has me doing much winter prep work, but there is much more to get done.


New recipe tried - Homemade Cherry Pie Energy Bars.  Recipe is free online by Mommypotamus.   I had to add a few extra medjool dates to get the mixture into a mixture that would press into bars. 

Note:  I lined an 8 x 8 pan and pressed it in, then flipped it out and cut into 8 bars. 

These were very good, easy to make and I may even cut them smaller next time.  Simply 4 ingredients to make them.  They contain organic dried cherries, organic medjool dates, organic almonds, and organic cinnamon.

Chilly ~ New Healthy Recipe Tried ~ Snack  ©  October 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Thursday, October 16, 2025

10 Weeks Until Christmas

We are experiencing cooler weather, but the rain is back.  Although we need the rain, it puts a halt on garden clean up, and fall herb garden dehydrating.    I may need more spice jars in the mean time.  

Two doctor appointments are off the calendar now.  We have found yet another new-to-us place to walk trails.  I pulled 10 summer tops from the closet, and about half are being donated.  Took 4 boxes of items to a thrift store, and passed one Christmas decoration on to a kiddo.

 I donated one Christmas book to a free little library.  I got to about page 60 and just could not read the rest (did not like it at all).  I forgot to take a photo of it, but that is one less Christmas book on my shelf.


Visited a flea market (indoor) and found a Christmas book display.  I ended up buying one book (gulp!).



Bought this "blind date with a Christmas book" at the "Christmas in October" event (see below) we went to.



Three new recipes for the holidays tried - ham and swiss cheese pinwheels (gulp - recipe called for puffed pastry).  We did not like them.  We really liked the one recipe with the homemade dough (and when baked can be frozen - Pigs in a Blanket).


Peanut butter bars - no bake, from AllRecipes.  I used organic ingredients and the peanut butter I used is homemade from a store in Amish country (peanuts), and it had tiny bits of peanuts in it.  

Very easy to make by the way.  I used dark chocolate for the top.  I wanted to not only try this for the holidays (much easier and quicker to make than traditional buckeyes), and for potlucks.

In trying new recipes, I finally used my miniature measuring do-hickey that I got free from doing an online Pampered Chef show way back in 2020.  Ha!  Best way to measure peanut butter by the Tablespoon.

I sent the rest of the bars to my husband's work, and asked for honest opinions.  These were not the super sweet peanut butter type treats, as the peanut butter I used was simply peanuts.

The results?  Well, first of all, we tasted it right after I pulled it from the refrigerator (and still cold).  We were both saying "meh" to it.  

I had pulled it from the fridge, cut it up and by the time it go to my husband's work, it was room temperature.  He said it was all gone in an hour or so.  He also said it is 100% better when it's room temperature.  Guess who has to make it again to try it again?  Yep.  Like I said though, it's very easy to make. 



Sunflower Seed Brittle.  A keeper recipe for sure!  Yum!
I found the recipe in a library book:  

Recipe from Gooseberry Patch Homemade Christmas.
ISBN:  978-1-6209-3443-2

Very easy to make and delicious, if you like sunflower seeds.  Not hard as a rock to eat, and hard to eat just one piece.



We went to a "Christmas in October" craft event (almost 300 vendors).  I bought one item for the advent gift project.  Would I go next year?  Maybe.  It was a lot of "stuff" I would not use.  It was a very nice set up to look for gifts however. 



Visited a very small Christmas Village that is locally owned, and all proceeds (100% according to the owner) go to Children's charities.  We laughed when we pulled in, as it is very very small, with very small buildings, but we both fell in love with it, bought some items, and plan to go back. It's only open in the late fall up until Christmas.  



Bought 4 more advent gifts for the advent project of mine.  One of the purchases ended up crockpot meal cookbooks from a thrift store.  I mean why not?  $1.50 for a book they may just need with their busy work schedules.


Another advent gift  - magazines from the dollar tree store.  I found one store that was still selling magazines for $1.25 each (almost all stores now have stopped selling magazines for $1.25, or stopped selling them all together). I found one on freezer meals, one pot meals and thrifty decorating for the kids.

Remember the crocheted cord keepers I crocheted for an advent gift?  The plastic snaps do not work for the cotton yarn. I am looking into metal snaps or snaps you sew on.  The plastic ones might work if you use a thinner yarn.  

Special purchases for the home?  Yep.  I bought a few decorations, one for outside, but we are still careful to buy what can easily be stored as well.

10 Weeks Until Christmas  ©  October 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Book Blanket ~ Lifting Books and Hooks ~ Garden Clean Up Starts

I finished this book, which I believe I was prompted to read by a blog here I follow (Far Side of Fifty maybe?).  It was good, but it took me forever to read, as it was canning season, and the days were long and tiresome.  The thought of lifting a book or hook was out of the question at the time.




Anyway, I crocheted a granny square to match the cover.  The colors in the square could have been done about a dozen different ways.  I just went with what colors I had in scrap balls. I'll try and get an updated photo of the actual blanket soon.  

Clinking my hot tea cup to yours, to books and hooks again.  I'm hopeful that it will be soon for myself too.  

The weather is pretty warm for fall right now.  We've been in the lower 70's and sunny.  We may even hit the 80's this coming weekend.  It's garden clean up season for us, and those days are hit or miss, with what's on the busier-than-normal fall schedule.


Rosemary plants were pulled out of the actual vegetable garden and placed in the dehydrator.  I have however, left two plants in the herb garden, considering the weather has been so warm, and rain is on the way.  


Thursday, October 9, 2025

Fall is Here

 It's officially "fall" here now.  Woke up to 40°F and boy it is very chilly.  The leaves are turning even more, and more are falling.  The tomatoes are done for the garden season too.

5 pints of Lemony-Basil Tomato Soup was canned.  I normally get about 2-3 batches canned, but not this year.  I am thankful for what we did get.  The cold weather has started to diminish the amount of herbs we are getting from the herb garden now.

There are other goals now that the tomatoes are all processed. We will need to pull everything left in the garden(s), and do other prep work to put them to "bed" for the season. 

I still have apples to process, but they are in the fridge for now.  I need to get caught up with other work and I have a strainer full of garden bell peppers to dice and freeze.

I totally forgot that I planted several rosemary plants inside the garden this year, so I will need to process those (have no plans to try for the umpteenth time to keep them alive all winter indoors).

I now have a container labeled "canning" that holds old towels, and hot pads, and one apron.  It is now where I will be keeping all those items involved with canning.  They will not be taking up space in my kitchen, and I can grab the container when needed.  If you have canned with tomatoes or anything that stains or splatters, you'd understand why I would only use the older items to can with.  

In the meantime, I am writing up a plan for winter.

Fall is Here  ©  October 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Rain ~ Spicy Barbeque Sauce

 We finally got rain!  So thankful for it.  There was a field fire near us the night before the rain arrived.   It's been so dry, and the field dust was causing upper respiratory issues for so many people (wind didn't help with that).


Spicy Barbeque Sauce was canned.  It takes a lot of ingredients, so it's not my favorite to can, but it is real ingredients.  Yes, it has brown sugar.  It's a canning recipe from Better Homes and Gardens, that we have been using for several years now.

Rain ~ Spicy Barbeque Sauce ©  October 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart


Monday, October 6, 2025

Heat Returns ~ Infused Honey ~ Barter

 The area farmers are taking out their crops, and the dust is as thick as fog around here.  My eyes burn when I work outside (trying to stay inside for that).  It's very dry, and very hot right now.  Temperatures are soaring to the upper 80's.  It was 88°F the other day and the heat continues.  If we are lucky, the rain will finally be here this week.  

We picked the very last of the tomatoes.  What is left on the plants are rotting before even ripening.  Very strange year overall.  We are thankful for what harvest we are getting.


Exhausted.  I, ha ha! Am. Exhausted.  Taking a few days off canning, and trying to catch up with cleaning, dusting, putting things away, errands, sweeping, dishes, and laundry......

My favorite morning reading, is called "Just Breathe" Devotions and Prayer for the Overwhelmed Heart (and I am loving all of them so far).

Friday, October 3, 2025

Cranapple Butter and tidbits

 One more "first" for me this year (something new to try/experience). . . 

Cranapple Butter ( A Ball Canning Recipe).  I read this is good to top your turkey at the holidays, but we plan to try it on toast too.  Why did I try it?  Well, we had more apples from our trees.  Yes, I could can apple pie filling, but it may still happen too.

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Wow! October is here already

 

Wow, the time has really flown by, and it would take a very long post to update every single thing.  Goodness. Thank you all for your advice on recent post question.