Pioneer Woman at Heart

  March was, not what I call "busy" for us, but adventurous, and filled with more of "living life" than doing all the "doing" stuff we do all day every day.  Warning:  Post is long today (gulp!).  Grab a cup of java or tea. "Busy" is sort of synonymous with negative vibes.  I mean, we still had medical appointments (some regular, some needed), hair appointments, husband's full time job, but only a few commitments.  However, we spent much of the month "enjoying" life  (maintaining balance).  I have not harvested much other than fresh grown green onions.  I do have some oil on order to restock homemade hand/body lotion. Not sure if I will re-stock our homemade lip balm just yet.  We have a plan to build one more item for the chicken castle (more on that later), and we plan to better landscape one flower bed. Planted:  Feverfew, Mullein, Radishes (two types), Beets Harvested: Green onions Purchased:  Seed potatoes On the "to-buy...

  The teaser 60-70°F days, we have been having, are bringing up sprouts of comfrey in my "weed" garden.  However, the rabbits (or something) is finding it tasty, so I best get to the hardware store and add more fencing to it.  We left a space, where we ran out of fencing last year, and completely forgot about it until this spring.   Comfrey is great to have on hand for medicinal needs, and yes, it is invasive, but the rabbits may keep it from getting too big, ha ha!   I make comfrey salve using this "weed" and I dehydrate it as well.  We've made numerous poultices with it over the years, and so glad I learned about it. Kitchen Down!   The current repairs are being done in the kitchen, so it is hindering any cooking or baking.  I will be glad when it is all done either way.  It's also helping push me to finish other projects in the mean time. I'm still planning a "coffee with me" meet up at our homestead, but not until we don't ...

  I freeze fresh ginger often, so that I have it on hand for all sorts of recipes, and it has worked out very nicely.  Many people do not know you can do this with fresh ginger root (we purchase organic). How I Freeze Ginger Root I wash the organic ginger root, dry it, wrap it a few times in plastic wrap, and store it inside a freezer bag.  I date each bag and the door of the freezer works best, or it may get lost in your freezer storage. Back to the dehydrated organic ginger root. We love herbal/herbal medicinal teas.  I dehydrated a small-ish bit of organic ginger root in May of 2025.  I have been using small bits of it for tea infusing and tea brewing.  It's worked out great, and continues to maintain it's flavor.  I will definitely keep dehydrated, organic ginger root a staple in my pantry. I will be using it to experiment with other recipes.  Considering the amount of power outages this year, I've decided a few more dehydrated (food, herbs, e...

                                                  In 2024 I made our first yarrow salve, after learning more about the herb.  I have a lot of it growing here, and have used it many ways.  I'd have to go look into my notes, but I believe I used olive oil, or sweet almond oil. I have, in the past, pulled off some fresh leaves and rubbed it on my arms in a quick pinch to ward off the mosquitos while gardening (will be added to our homemade bug spray), and I have used it many times for a bloody nose (who knew?).  I read, sometime about 2 years ago, that one can simply put the fresh leaves in their nose to stop a nose bleed (have not tired that, but read it somewhere on an herbal blog or book). I infused oil, and whipped up some salve in 2024, and the most use over the last two years, has been for a bloody nose brought on by dry heat indoors over wi...

  I just wanted to make a quick post to say I'm still here, and our winter is lingering, with teasers days in between.  I took this photo on a nicer day. I'm working on the writing project, with the deadline at the end of the month.  I forgot how much time was involved with such a project, so time is zipping by much too quickly in that sense. We've discovered two new-to-us health stores, and it's refreshing to know we can obtain some items I either cannot make or just don't have time to make (or make in large amounts for our use). A big thank you to Anne in the Kitchen ( Cooking and All that Jazz ), for sharing her list of spring "aims" that motivated us with a list of our own (already checking things off).  It's kept us focusing on new adventures, all-things-positive, and uplifting lifetime events. As "empty nesters" it's been a transition from kids around all the time to absolutely no kids.  The hardest part of the transition is to let ...

  Lima Bean Hummus (my recipe) 1 can of lima beans, drained and rinsed 2 cloves of garlic, minced (we used home grown)* 1/3 cup tahini (dry roasted seeds, but any tahini will work) 2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. real lemon juice (from a fresh lemon) 1/4 cup water 2 Tbsp. olive oil 1/4 tsp. salt Mix everything in a food processor until smooth.  Adjust salt and garlic if needed.  If you do not grow your own garlic, you may need to add more to adjust flavor. Our homegrown garlic is loaded with flavor. Lima Bean Hummus    ©  March 2026 by  Kristina  at  Pioneer  Woman at Heart

The recipe I use for our dry Fajita seasoning mix, is on my blog HERE .   I store the dry mix in a repurposed jar, and label it.  If you add the dehydrated onion  (especially if you make it yourself), you may want to store the jar in the door of your freezer.  The dehydrated onion can very easily absorb moisture (even in the cupboard), and the mix will become hard. Note:  We plan to add some home grown, dehydrated oregano to this mix next time it's made.  If we like it, I'll add it to the recipe, and how much we add to the recipe.  I almost feel it should contain some garlic powder too.  I've made notes on the original post. We use this dry seasoning mixture for chicken tacos too, but you could use dry taco seasoning as well.  We make that ourselves too. Homemade Fajita Seasoning (Dry Mix)   ©  March 2026 by  Kristina  at  Pioneer  Woman at Heart

  Not much to talk about with winter lingering.  Other than the weather, which is back and forth and all over the map lately.  We may actually leave the cold weather this week, and venture into the lower 70's.  However, the spring rains and thunderstorms come with it.  We have had a lot of foggy days lately too. I have been doing the boring refreshing spring cleaning.  We took a large load to donate (mostly clothing).  We are not even close to being done, but chipping away at getting it done before garden planting season. In the mix of this cleaning/purging and re-organizing, I now have two photo type projects to complete (but frees up space it was taking, and will put it all to a good use). On the zero purchasing this year list: -books (unless it's non-fiction, and absolutely needed), concentration will be on reading what we have (both of us).  I love, love love browsing used book sales, and stores, but no more this year until we have read throu...