Pioneer Woman at Heart

  The chicks are about 7 weeks old now, so they got a day of introduction to the hens.   They say your chicks should be as large as the smallest hen, before putting them in the coop together.  I had to laugh, as the hens were scared of the chicks and they were on the other side of the run fence ha ha! My potted comfrey is springing back to life. Updates with the garden(s): -planted about 100 cloves of garlic for spring planting (it was very difficult to locate organic garlic for spring planting too).  As some of you read, voles ate our entire 80 fall planted cloves, so we moved the grow bags this year. -started weeding the herb garden, and I will be digging up all the lemon balm and moving it to the water trough (hopefully I don't kill it, as I use it often, and I need to dig out some chives that moved their way to the green onions -started weeding the larger rose bed (this one is terrible) -asparagus is getting harvested Asparagus is up that we grew from seed l...

The news continues to warn us that if we are outside longer than 10 minutes, uncovered skin can get frost bite.  I'm not sure I can get to the barn, take care of the chickens and get back inside in 10 minutes.  I guess we'll be finding out.  My eyeballs are gonna hurt. Of course the Mom in me, took to calling some of the kids to be prepared for frozen pipes.  The apartment complex that two live in, has this problem. Barn kitty Aurora hanging out on the sofa with Jesse.  They all get along, even with Tiger.   To keep warm, I am cleaning and tidying and just organizing where it's needed.  The movement will help warm this gal. On the hooks: ...and getting marked off my "bucket list" for crochet/knit projects.  I am finally, finally getting these cup coasters off my list.  I think they are gorgeous, and can't wait to get them all made.  I've had this pattern on my list for a few years now, and this winter weather finally g...

Another creative week of stretching meals - used up the last two organic sweet potatoes I had on hand. I had green onions and dill in the herb garden, so I made us some creamy sweet potato salad.  Yum.  The dressing is half yogurt and half mayo.  We love this stuff.  Fish was pulled from the freezer (so thankful for that), and we still have veggies in the freezer from last year.   That bumper crop of green beans has been useful.  I still have a few servings of broccoli too.

Rain was in the forecast yesterday, so I decided to do a long workout, then go out and pick what I could, and return to the indoors.  I baked burger buns for a grill out dinner..... ....blanched and froze swiss chard....

I woke up with a hot cup of coffee, and sat down to read my email and discovered I was "notered" by Youngest Daughter. (The history of the "noters":  for years we exchanged uplifting notes.  I'd put them in their lunches, and Youngest loved to write me back often). Here is what I found in my email today:    " Soo I don't really have anything to write about but I love you mommy. You're amazing and you care for me and I love you. Also check facebook :) I couldn't help but brag about how amazing my mom is.. I love you. You do a lot for me and there should be more than one day of the year that I show my gratitude to you and how much I appreciate you, and of course the work you do for me. You are AMAZING. I love you. I love you times 10000000 Sent from my iPod= That just made my day start even better.  I did hack into Hubby's facebook to see what she posted too (Sigh....in a good way).   Lookie, lookie! (just trying to be funny...

Happy Valentine's Day! I wanted to make something useful for the kids this month - a little something to say "I love you."  I don't like to simply wait for February to tell them, so my challenge to myself is to tell them more often. I used scrap fabric to make these homemade cards (right), and old book pages (left) to create the envelope.  I used a fine-line black marker to make dashes around the scrap fabric heart (adhered with fusible web).  What's inside?

The snow did not arrive as the forecast predicted.  The wind came with a small bit of it, and that was it.  I had Saturday night and Sunday to do whatever I felt like - no demands, no errands, no schedule, pretending I had a few snow days. This morning we have a -9° wind chill.  The bitter cold has moved back in on us. Grab of cup of coffee or tea.  It's a long Monday morning ramble. . .