Pioneer Woman at Heart

  After spending the hottest days here planting over 80 different hot pepper plants a few weeks ago, I went out to hoe the tomatoes and my heart sank.   To be honest, I wanted to throw up.  Gardeners would understand. Something got thru, or over the fence, and chewed the tops off of all the hot pepper plants.   Just chewed off the top and left it lay. I could sit and wonder all day (in anger, despair and frustration), but we don't know if it was a very small baby rabbit (never had this happen with the fence), or a squirrel or even rats (according to our google search inquiry).  Our fence on that garden is meant to keep rabbits and squirrels out.  However, our property butts up to woods that surround a tributary to a river, so it could be anything coming out of that area as well.  It's not deer.  We even have solar alarms around it, but not every single section is covered with an alarm. We now have two rolls of bendable  (very small ...

  A "first" time experience for us this year.  Cold infusion with our homegrown spearmint.  I have always brewed teas with fresh spearmint, and never even thought about a cold infusion.   I read, according to the Herbal Academy, that a cold infusion brings out a more crisp, cleaner, and sweeter mint tea.  Heating it brings out more bitterness.  Who knew?  I love learning new things. Spearmint Cold Infusion  ©  June 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

  The rain brought me some dandelions.  Flowers were picked and are drying.   Once dry, I will be infusing an oil with them. The rain brought us more asparagus.  So happy about this.  You can see the fencing that someone mangled while mowing.  Grr. I need to get that fixed, and I need to weed it. New recipe tried.  I had one last box of organic pasta to use, and made a salad with arugula.  We have never (believe it or not), had arugula before.  The only change I made, was that I added a drained and rinsed can of chickpeas to the pasta water and cooled them with the pasta.  Oh, I used olive oil vs. avocado oil in the dressing too.  Recipe is is a Mediterranean pasta with arugula and feta, from Peas and Crayons (online). We liked this recipe.  I have a small bit of organic arugula planted this year.  We will see if it grows well here. Garden work is keeping me fit this summer. I have discovered the scuttle hoe and love ...

  I am still getting a few stalks of asparagus, and now a few dandelions each day.  I picked one stalk of asparagus on June 8th, and so far that was the last.  Best year for it yet.  I continue to collect dandelion flowers. The heat is here now.  It was in the upper 90's yesterday and we finally got a good downpour to give the gardens a good dose of Mother Nature.   The heat will heat up even more over the next two days, so I am praying all the new plants and flowers/seeds will be handling it well.  Not sure it will happen, but the forecast is to be in the lower 100's over the next two days. Soon to be back on the crochet hook . . . I have had another request for these hand crocheted baby washcloths.  I was actually ready to retire the yarn, finish the current crochet project request, but will keep the yarn. It will be a nice all-summer project, that is light weight to work on, during hot days.  The yarn is cotton, 2 ply, and a discontin...

  Our yarrow is going to flower, so it is next in line for the dehydrator.   We have used our homemade yarrow salve many times, and it's definitely a keeper salve.   I've saved some to dry for tea, and other uses. I think it was last year, or the year before, where I found out that yarrow deters mosquitoes.  I added it to our homemade but spray. Speaking of bug bites, I went out one day while gardening, and forgot to use our bug spray.  I was got bitten by something that I never saw before.  Sort of like a fly, but different colors.  It left a bad red spot that was large.  My homemade plantain salve worked very well to treat the redness and swelling (works as a drawing salve).  Much easier to apply and re-apply than a poultice, but a poultice would work much faster. We planted more in the herb garden, but the rain has not arrived.  Yet.  Hopefully soon.  My green onions could use a good ol' dose of Mother Nature. Dehy...

Exciting news!  We have opened the blueberry-basil vinegar I canned last fall.  We love it.  It's perfect for salads!  I'm so glad I made the vinegar.  I have not yet drained the vinegars that are being infused with chive blossoms just yet, but those will also be used for salads and marinades this summer.  Yum! Joining Sandra today at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for today's Happy Homemaker.  Enjoy.  It's my last time participating in this. If you didn't see it until now, I did a spring clean on my blog, and so far love it.  What do you think? More organizing?  After using up some older note paper, I have splurged, and obtained a magnetic meal planner pad, with perforated grocery list that tears off.  Talk about getting organized.  Too often, I will sticky note the heck out of the kitchen with meal ideas, and then get so off track.  Not anymore. Has anyone noticed on blogger, that when you have a draft post in the works, an...

Pardon me, while I down coffee with the hopes to revive my tired self, and gather my scrupples.  One can easily forget the amount of physical labor it takes to plant a vegetable garden, until it's planting time again.  Wowzer.  Nothing like popping a few arnica capsules, after rubbing arnica salve into my knuckles and very sore hands, and all before heading to the garden.  Kicking myself for not dehydrating enough dandelions to make dandelion salve, but weather was against us this spring. Allergy season this year is the worst year ever.  My eyes feel like daggers stabbing them most days, and my nose is so dry, I have to use a spray with aloe to survive outdoor work.  The cotton wood is terrible, and looks like a fuzzy white blanket over the grass top.  Thank goodness for nettle tea for some relief.  However, it's not been enough.   One day we battled awful wind while gardening, and I developed a really bad earache.  I have not had a...

We purchased some horsetail salve to try last year.  It is said to help with severely dry, cracked skin.  My husband was the first to try it, with very, very dry and cracked hands from work. He loves it!  He joked I could not have it back.   I started the infused, horsetail oil the last part of March. Something I learned:   horsetail is also called shavegrass. I infused horsetail in oil, and strained it.  I then made horsetail salve.  I remembered to label my jar with what oil(s) I used, so I can journal this all in my "Herbal Remedies" journal.  I often forget to write the oil used. Now, the one we bought, has more in it than I put in ours, as far as ingredients (the purchased salve had lanolin, and aloe).  We'll see if ours works just as good.  I added the sage essential oil, and vitamin E oil. A "first" time experience for us this year.    I bought the larger tins at a seed store in an Amish area last year.  They a...

  Initially, I made this homemade onion butter (minus the fresh parsley, as our herb garden lacks it right now) to try on grilled fish, but we used it for grilling mixed vegetables.  Delicious!  We will be making it again soon, as we still want to try it on grilled walleye maybe. The recipe comes from this cookbook, which I obtained years ago.  I kept it for some reason, and I am glad I did not donate it.  We plan to grill more fish, and try more sauces, marinades and such. Homemade Onion Butter   ©  June 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart  

  A few of our lavender plants are ready to harvest to dehydrate some.  I also picked some to enjoy indoors, and placed them in a small vase. The dehydrated harvest will be used for a few things, but it all depends on how large the harvest is this year.  I did not dehydrate any last year. Dehydrating Lavender  ©  June 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart  

  Wild violet picking, back about a month ago or so, got me motivated to press some.  Why?  I have no clue, but I did.  The old fashioned way.  I pressed them between layers of waxed paper and heavy books. It also got me thinking, and I started looking into flower presses, that were small enough for hikers to take along in their backpacks.  I am still him-hawing that purchase.  They are small, and after measuring the wild violet leaves I pressed, I am not sure they would be big enough, and worth the purchase. Back to the creative bug that zapped my bonnet.  I decided to take the pressed wild violets, and leaves, and modge podge them to a cut piece of card stock.  The job of modge podge and delicate pressed flowers is a delicate job.  The flowers are very thin. I did two layers, and allowed it to dry each time.  I also have been very (and I mean very slowly) slowly purging some craft supplies I still had in my utility room.  The...

  I have borrowed many cookbooks from the library, in search for a good "burger sauce" recipe.  In the process, I decided on one recipe to make homemade aioli for the very first time ever. I used yolks from our ladies (fresh of course), and used garlic that we grew in the garden. The recipe called for "vegetable oil" but I only had organic canola, olive oil, and a few others.  I decided on canola. Not calorie free obviously, but homemade and fresh.  Boy it was delicious on burgers we grilled with mushrooms, onions and swiss cheese.  So good! I'm still on the hunt for a different burger recipe.  We once visited a restaurant (many years ago), that had a sauce they called Mama Mia sauce (house made).  We are still looking for a sauce similar to that taste, but glad I gave the library some business and was motivated to make the garlic aioli. The cookbook the recipe is from (photo above).  There are many different aioli recipes by the way.  It's b...

  I have strained the elderberry/hibiscus honey.  It wasn't hard to do, but sort of a messy process.  The color is the same as the one we purchased to try, and the taste is pretty good.  The benefits even better. I may or may not be infusing other honey flavors.  We love to use lemon infused honey in any salad dressing that calls for honey and fresh lemon juice.   Infused honey is very giftable too.   Infused Honey ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart  

  It's 45°F out this morning.  The rain may have quit for a while, but the cold nights remain.  May is that way most years.  It could rain, snow, be 90°F, or a drought.  You just never know. I could not believe I picked this yesterday.  My goodness.  What a grand year for our asparagus. It's been a very good month, although we still have a few days to go.  We would have liked to have more done, but sometimes we just have to look for the good in what we think is not good.  I often times, have to remind myself. The good?  Cleavers are still growing, as well as more asparagus coming up.  The herb garden is looking grand, although I do need warmer days to drop parsley seeds, basil and more.  Two cilantro plants, that self-seeded, are still doing pretty well. Cool May Nights ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart  

  My 20 year old garden sign gave me a chuckle.  It is sort of how we felt after all that rain here.  The sign is broken, and it will be replaced.   Flower beds are weeded, rose bushes trimmed and flowers planted.  Whew!    The vegetable garden?  Not planted.  It is still, even with this heat here, way too wet.  I managed to weed out the rhubarb plants, but I think I carried about a pound of wet mud on my muck boots out of the garden.   We are still getting a few straggler asparagus.  The rain God's gave us a lot more chive blossoms, so I started another chive vinegar, and this one is with organic red wine vinegar.  It'll be great for summer salads and more.  I think we use red wine vinegar more often, but we now have both infused with chives (white wine and red wine vinegar). There really is no excuse to be so far behind, but I finally (yes, finally) got all the last 11 granny squares sewn on to my crochet ...

  A blind date book gift, that I received from someone last December.  I'm finally opening it, and I have already used the pampering eye mask.  In fact, I've already been using the post-it page markers too.  I have no information about the book or author, but I did see it has a 3.88 rating from Goodreads.  I have yet to even open the book to read, but it fun opening it and all the goodies that came with it.  I'll be enjoying the tea soon too. No rain yesterday, nor today (so far), and no rain in sight, so we may be drying out.  The evenings are running about 49 degrees, so it's still cooler out some evenings. We enjoyed, what may have been the last of our asparagus harvest this season.  It's been a wonderful year for asparagus too.  There wasn't a large amount of the asparagus, so we grilled it with other vegetables. Other than the green onion, the herb garden is springing back to life with the recent rain.  Everything is growing in the ...

  The notorious wren is back.  She's not making a nest in the flower pot pictured above, but she picked the same location of a hanging flower basket for her nest again. The hummingbirds are back too.  I did not have a camera on hand, but they are enjoying the early blooms already. We just may get to dry out for a day, but after this morning's rain.  At least for a day or maybe even two, before it returns (again). There is always something good in everything.  Including frustrating times, or moments, like days and days of rainfall. I finished another book, tried another new treat recipe (more to try), and actually relaxed for once.  My husband grilled us the most delicious burgers too.  We had chopped up mushrooms and such, for camping, and they made the best swiss mushroom burgers I have ever had.  Speaking of which, it reminded me I still have homemade garlic scape butter in the freezer to use up too. I harvested more cleavers in between downpour...

Whelp.  It rained and rained and rained here.  We are getting a slight break this morning, but we are saturated.  Rain returns in a very short bit, and then off and on all day (again).  If we are lucky, the rain will stop come Monday.  Maybe.  Many area festivals are canceling, or have already canceled.  On the bright side, it's watering the new trees we planted, and flower bushes, but I do have one red raspberry plant to plant too. The Bad:  Our weekend camping trip was canceled.     It's not camping if we cannot have a campfire, go hiking or biking and/or campfire cook, or even go fishing.  Stuck in the camper would be zero fun (in our current camper anyway).   Yes, we we have an awning, but the rain was just too much, and our camper is small.  It's not a comfortable place to be when it's raining out.  In fact, we had more seating room in our 7 person pop-up camper than we do in our current hard sided camp...