Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I have been making this homemade toner all year, and it is ridiculously easy to make.  It's great to use after a hot day of work outside, but overall I love it.   You simply add 2-3 dried flowers to your witch hazel (double distilled, organic), and let it sit overnight, then add the last ingredient.  I store mine in amber bottles, but it is very pretty in clear glass jar. The recipe is online, and it uses 3 ingredients - Butterfly Pea Flower and Witch hazel toner.  Thank goodness it is that easy to make, because the days here are ridiculously commited to one thing or another.  We had a few hours of one day to get supplies for the new coop.  I kid you not about this.... At Menards you walk to the way back to place your order for lumber, then take the paper all the way back up front and pay.  you then drive thru a gate and get your order yourself, and drive out as they check your order. We literally got to the register, and my husband could n...

  The laundry has dried so much faster with the heat wave.  I love our solar dryer.  Free!  Smells great!  I get exercise. Wild black raspberries are on now.  I'm picking daily, and will use them for simply eating or making fruit smoothies for a cold lunch.  The best part?  It's free!  I forage for them, and some plants have been planted closer to the house by birds.  If there is an abundance, I will freeze some, but the lack of rain and heat wave may say otherwise. I received some free merlot heirloom lettuce seeds, so we are trying something new with this heat index skyrocketing - planting lettuce indoors.  I'll let you know how it turns out, or if it does well.   I decided to plant two kinds of lettuce, and a tray of microgreens.  If it all does well for our meals, I'll start more later this week. The mulberries are also on the trees, but they are not all ripe yet.  I did get a mix of berries a few days ago th...

  Interesting info for anyone who crochets . . . I received a few different crochet tension rings, and have yet to give them a try.  I have heard of them, but have never used one.  Very interesting concept.  The ring holds the yarn tension as you crochet, vs. wrapping the yarn in between fingers or around your hand.   I never did get any comments on the best row counter.  I'm still looking into that.  As for the lack of posts?  Well, I'm busy weeding gardens.  However, yesterday I realized I forgot to trim back the lavender plants and they are already starting buds.  I believe I am too late this spring.  I will wait for blooms and maybe trim what I can after that.  The plants are becoming too big for the flower beds. We are slowly working on a plan to get the vegetable garden planted.   I'm glad to say, I am back to using our clothesline, but using it is hit or miss around here.  The rain comes and goes ofte...

  March rolled in quicker than I expected.  I had some goals for the end of February, and here we are at March. There seems to be a blogger participation plummet for whatever reasons.  So many blogs I used to follow, with such interesting and useful homesteading content (sometimes humorous), have left the blogging scene.  I get it for the most part.   It can be time consuming, and in winter the writing content can be very limited.  Things change for some as well. I mean, we used to raise dairy goats (Lamancha), and we stopped doing that years ago, so I do understand change.  Life changes constantly. I'm experiencing the humdrum of blogging.  I know spring is around the corner, but maybe like all the other blogs I used to read (and now don't post anymore),  I'm sort of falling off the blogging "thing" lately as well.   Maybe I am the one who needs a new change.  Although we are still undergoing home repairs, and staying bus...

  We had the most gorgeous 60°F day Wednesday.  It was also one of my most busiest days of the week for me as well.  Sheesh.  There were lots of dishes, more laundry, cleaning, cooking and so on.  I also started on the stairway clean up project.  It may take a month to finish, as I am fitting it in my cleaning schedule, as I have time for it. I finished dusting and cleaning all of the kitchen blinds and windows, and the valances were washed and put out on the line. It was so nice to open windows and let the fresh air flow for a day.  So intoxicating for the soul.  Winter can seem so long sometimes, and this day was welcomed by all. To focus on what's in the freezer and pantry. . . I made a batch of Einkorn pumpkin pancakes for us for breakfast, and more egg cups, as I had one more cup of cooked sage sausage to use.  I used thawed frozen pumpkin puree from last year's garden, for the pancakes.  Einkorn flour pancakes are the best.  ...

  The weather is all over the map.  We recently dipped to 35°F, and yesterday we hit 80°, but then rain moves back in later this week.  They predicted the next weekend to be very cold, and that changed quickly.  Friday they are saying we may hit the 80's in our area.  It's literally crazy weather. The Thanksgiving Cactus is blooming more blooms right now.  I will definitely be re-potting the plant.  It has more blooms this year than last year. We have been so busy with just about everything here lately.  The AC units have been put in in storage for winter, and we started back on the new coop (very slow going, always running into an issue). Heck, I still have to take down the hanging porch plants that have died off.    I am contemplating putting any Christmas lights outside this year.  They are sitting in the kitchen awaiting my decision.  I'm just not into it this year (yet), and I believe it's due to all the unfinished project...

  Our last 87°F day was yesterday.  Woke up to find one of my older hens has passed away.   We are on the downward slide to cooler weather, with a pretty chilly weekend coming up. Feeling a bit better, I took advantage of the heat, and washed bed covers, bedding and other laundry.  I mostly washed the large bed covers, so they could dry outside.  The bedding smelled so good too!   Someone else wanted to enjoy the sunshine. I even unpacked (and washed) our holiday bedding, which I forgot about, and had not used for 2-3 years or so.  I mentioned it to my husband, and he was all for using them the next few months. Okay, now on to other happenings here. . . I don't see the price of any culinary herbs and spices going down any time soon.  I am busy putting my herbs into storage for winter/spring. Bag Holding Hack:  Use a jar lifter to hold your freezer bag in place while you snip away or fill your bag.  I used a quart freezer b...

  Everything came to halt for a few days.  The truck is fixed now thankfully.  The car has been delivered to the repair man (local man we used before).  There is no extreme cleaning going on right now, nor painting. It's been impossible to focus on "one thing" and finish it, on a daily basis here.  Canning/freezing season is here, and with a bang.  I can't complain, but boy it's really putting me in a sour mood some days.   I hate that feeling of being overwhelmed.  I told my husband, I would gladly grow the garden and pay someone to can in.  He laughed.  Yeah, who has money for that, ha ha! I've been taking advantage of the good weather days, and ,keeping the electric bill down.  I'm am retiring those crocheted rag rugs.  They will be moved to the garage for when my husband needs something to lay on under a vehicle.   The rugs have lasted about 12-13 years, but have faded in color and are ready to move on to ano...