Pioneer Woman at Heart

  August was a very full filled month.  Overall it was great.  I learned things, I tried new things, canning season started, Ketchup Sweet Pickle Relish (just a few photos to share)  processed a lot from the garden, dehydrated on cooler days, and wrote a lot.   The storms we got a few days ago, have taken out several more of our tomato plants. I have to admit, I have not read a lot lately, but I am getting some itty, bitty travel time on one book. It seems to be taking me forever, but I will finish it eventually.  I am loving the non-fiction book I'm currently reading as well.  Two pages a day is better than zero a day.  I also have two new devotionals I will share soon.  I just need to get a photo of them.  So yes, "fun" and "relaxation" are still in the our lives while canning season is in full swing.  Just not so much crochet, ha ha ha! I planted cilantro indoors, dug up more herbs and replanted in pots, and even started har...

  We are still waiting on our paste tomatoes to turn red, but in the meantime, we are getting ripe beef tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers etc.  We have only gotten about 3 jalapenos so far.  We are getting more Anaheim peppers (jokes on us).  We'll take it, ha ha!  These were planted in another garden area (they were marked as bell peppers at the green house). If you read about our hot pepper devastation, something ate the tops off all 80-some plants (possibly very small baby rabbits got into the fence).  We located a few more plants, but definitely not enough to can cowboy candy, nor can pickled jalapenos, nor have enough for many other recipes we can, but a few is better than none. We are getting some kale, collards and swiss chard, but not in the amounts I had hoped for.  I will plant them much earlier next year, but we plan to get busy with a fall planting too. Creamy Cucumber Salad.  The recipe is from Real Food Dietitians (on...

Things we learned gardening: Yes, you can learn something new, even after years and years of planting a garden.   I came up with an idea to keep cucumbers from spreading out all over the ground, making weeding a nightmare.   Let me back up a minute.  My husband insisted that we not plant anything whatsoever, that spreads out on a vine this year.  Between the squash bugs last year, and the tiresome weeding with vine-type plants (that spread out on the ground like spaghetti squash, pumpkins etc.), he did not want to deal with it this year. Bent on having cucumbers from the garden,  I suggested (and I came up with this on my own, not knowing it really is a way to grow these), that we use large tomato cages to grow our cucumbers.   The plants climb up and not outward. I can't believe not one gardener suggested this to us in the last 20 some years.  If they did, I did not pay attention.  We already have a plan to build cucumber trellises...

  Cherry tomatoes are selling for $5 a quart right now.  We planted a few plants this season.  However one of the plants were knocked all the way down in one of the recent storms here.  I re-staked it, but it's looking very iffy.  Regardless, we are getting cherry tomatoes thankfully. We have made roasted cherry tomato sauce in the past, but this year, I made us this . . . Cherry Tomato Salsa.  It was very good, and we will be making it more often during the garden season.  Making salsa from our home grown cherry tomatoes is a "first" time event for us this year. It is much like a Pico.   You need 1 1/2 pounds of cherry tomatoes.  Ours are somewhat larger, and very delicious this year. I put them in my food processor and pulsed them about 12-14 times.  The tomatoes were chunked, but not purreed. I also let them drain for 15 minutes with a pinch of salt.  To that in a bowl, I added fresh garlic, home grown jalapeno, freshly cut ...

  My first house plant propagation has been successful.  The plant has 3 roots right now, but I will let it grow a few more before I plant it. In the meantime, I have an old plant stand we already have, that will get a fresh coat of paint (weather permitted).  I will need to buy a new plant pot for it, but I love this plant.  It's easy to care for. One Easter, my Mom gifted each of us a plant instead of candy.  There was a very small plant store in town at the time, and she often visited it. Good memories.   I may start more for gifting a few friends, or maybe to even sell.  We do not have a "plant" store anymore.  The only place to buy houseplants is from our big box stores anymore. I can check this off our "first time" list, and smile that I was finally successful.  It helps too get tips from a friend that was growing her own propagated plant cuttings. First Plant Propagation ©  August 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart...

New salad recipe tried.  A white bean salad with garden cherry tomatoes and some chopped Red Russian kale.  There are many recipes for this type of recipe. I believe we added garden parsley and some feta cheese.  I am using our chive infused vinegars for many dressings as well.  I honestly cannot recall which recipe we actually used, but  there are many Mediterranean seasoned recipes online for this. New salad recipe tried.  I did not use every single ingredient, but pretty close.  We loved this just as I made it too, but next time we may just try adding avocado to it.  I used organic quinoa, our homegrown cucumbers, basil and green onions, local sweet corn, and the dressing was made with my home canned Blueberry-Basil Vinegar (instead of the sherry vinegar the recipe called for).  I sprinkled extra sunflower seeds on top of our salads, and we really liked it.  I also used one clove of freshly minced garlic in the dressing. The recipe is...

  We are getting more rain.  It's a muddy mess, and rain is too continue for the weekend.   Fresh purslane in a salad is my first way to add it to a meal, but to long term store it, I decided to try dehydrating it.  First, you need to pick the smallest, newest plants, as the stems will take longer to dehydrate. I also air-dried the cuttings a few days before adding them to my dehydrator.  Once they are completely dry, I ground them up into a powder, to add to any meal (soup, stew, eggs, sauces, dressings, smoothies, etc.). It is a new "first time" for us to try this way to store purslane.  Purslane contains high amounts of oxalates (according to my own research), so always do your own research when foraging. I'm wondering if purslane can be frozen, and then maybe added to a recipe with a food processer to add to egg dishes, soups and stews?  Just a thought. Purslane   ©  August 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

  We have been getting a lot of rain, thunderstorms, and even a very close to us tornado warning.  The last storm took down several of our tomato plants. You know that saying "if life gives you lemons...?" Well, life gave us mislabeled red bell peppers, and we ended up with Anaheim peppers.  Literally. In July of last year, I made homemade chili peppers from our home grown Anaheim peppers, and they were delicious.  They are very easy to make too. I made them again, but this time we are freezing them.  I just used my muffin pan to freeze 2 oz. portions, and then popped them out of the muffin paper (used parchment for this batch), and then placed them all in a freezer bag until I use them for meals. Did you know that when you drain a purchased  4 oz. can of diced chili beans, you end up with about 2.5 ounces of actual diced chili peppers? I just open my freezer bag of pre-frozen, 2 oz. chili peppers, thaw them, and add them to any meal I am wanting to use th...

  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

                          I had a request for the pattern instructions for the Christmas project I previously posted about (in the last blog post).  It is free online, and it's from Yarnspirations.  It's actually listed as a dishcloth pattern, but I'm gifting them as hot pads.  They are 100% cotton yarn.  The original pattern for the project, is called "Sailor's Knot Dishcloth Pattern."  It's found on Yarnspirations  online. (image source is from Yarnspirations) The original pattern is all white, but then they posted doing it with Christmas colors. Mod Green is no longer available for the green yarn for this, but they sell other green color options.  The pattern is a free printable pattern. Enjoy! Pattern Source ~ Christmas Crochet (in the previous post) ©  August 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I'm cramming a lot into one post for the end of July.   Gardening work has been in full motion, for veggies, herbs and flowers.  Despite cutting the planting down by almost half this year, we have had a lot to up-keep.  On top of all my regular chores and happenings, sweet corn is in season.  Oh boy, the work load has doubled, but happy to get it done this year.  Corn frozen.  Job done. If you did not read about it, we did not plant any squash at all this year, to kill off the squash bug.  However, we have not been able to locate many produce stands with yellow squash.  Zucchini is everywhere, but a lack of yellow squash.  Our adventures continue.  We did our very first local 4 mile bicycle ride.   After many years of having this on my "bucket" list, I grew our very first lemon.  It was delicious too. We have taken more camping trips to off set the work days, relax, and enjoy life.  I have brought home two...

  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...

  Sharing another crochet book blanket granny square I recently completed.  One more caught up, but they need attached to the actual blanket yet.  My husband picked this book out for me at a very small, and very fun book store last year.  It was a long book, and I would give it a 7 out of 10.  It was just too much every day drama in 480 pages for me.  It was a half-price book, and now I know why.  I am still thankful for my husband's love in supporting my reading habit though (he he). I made this salad again, but this time used organic kamut pasta.  I also used my homemade organic, chive blossom infused red wine vinegar in the dressing.  Next time I will swap the salt for my homemade jalapeno salt .  I will possibly add chicken next time as well.  It is missing cilantro, as my two plants went to seed, and my newly planted seeds have not grown large enough plants yet. Update:  In the evening this level went up to 796! ...

I finally got this granny square done.  I finished this book a while ago.  Yikes.  It was a good book though.  It was a blind date with a book gift to me. If you have not read about my crocheted book blanket, you can see my very first post about it, which was posted January 1st, of 2025 (click HERE to see it).  The last "end of the year" update was posted HERE .  I will try and get an updated photo in the next few months. Technically,  I crocheted the first granny square for my book blanket back in December of 2024.  Guess I better get some books read huh?  Thick smog is outside.  Canadian wild fire smoke is heavy.  Air quality is terrible.  It got up to 103 degrees yesterday, and it remains hot and very dry.  The grass is dying.   It's that dry. Thunderstorms may arrive in a few days.  We hope.  It will help water the gardens and cool us down a bit.  It will also get rid of the air smog. I'll admi...

  It's not hard to believe, that I had every single color of yarn to match this book cover.  I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10.  I'm still two crochet granny squares behind, but I'm not going to stress over it. The heat wave continues.  Not sure if our greens will survive this one or not. Crochet Book Blanket Granny Square   ©  July 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

I have not had much to blog about, and to be honest after looking over past posts, I really don't have much that is  new to post about.  Changes are being made here at the homestead, with more to come, and they are all good and productive.   Honestly, they are not wasted days either.   We are downsizing the kitchen table, and it will make it much easier to sweep and mop.   The upstairs is still in limbo (uncertainty) right now.  In reality, the summer times leaves little time for home repairs and such. We replanted what hot peppers would could buy, that were affordable and big enough.  Half of the green and wax beans were replanted and have sprouted.  The greens did terrible where I planted them this year.  I have replanted two of what I had seeds for.  We will not have arugula this year.  We are entering another heat wave, which makes garden season a bit tricky. The first zinnia seeds sprouted almost immediately, but...