Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Showing posts with label Flower Garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flower Garden. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Garden ~ "Local" Adventure Day ~ Storm


I brought in more green and wax beans, but boy are they not as large as they should be.  Watering has been almost daily with this drought and heat index, it's so frustrating.

I put 1 1/2 cups of blackberries in the freezer too.  The green beans need cleaned and put in the freezer today.  Not sure how I'll have time for all my work today.

My 21 year-old knew that I have been having a very difficult time lately, so after diligent watering, and prepping dinner for 2 crock pots, she swooped me off to a day of fun.  However, we found several of the local shops closed on a Monday (and Tues).  That sort of put us in a depressed mood, but we located another town with a general store open and drove there for some local shopping.  Then....



We hit Adli's for some much needed adult beverages and picked up some hard root beers to try as well.

Returning home, I had to batten down the hatches for a storm rolling in.  First they said 75mph wind, then 60.  We took precautions, but all we got was a little bit of wind and a teensy bit of rain.  Urgh.  We need the rain badly here.

I'm totally done with the herb garden.  It's a hot mess of weeds.  Thyme died, parsley died, not sure if there is rosemary or any green onion in there or not....gonna dig the entire thing out and lay cardboard in, fill with dirt and completely start over.  It won't happen right now, but by fall I should have a start on it.

Flower beds are full of weeds (why they grow and nothing else is mind blowing).  Zinnias haven't bloomed but a few, gladys have died, with only one bloomed.  If there was a year I should not have planted flowers it would be this year.

As for my house cleaning.  It turned into a hurricane as fast as I had it cleaned the last time I washed 5 loads of dishes.  Don't even ask me about the dishwasher either. 

I offered a dozen ears of corn to some friends a few days ago.  The corn is still here.   Not sure what I will do with it, but that needs taken care of too.

If there was a day I wish there was 10 of me, it would be today. 


Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Garden Visitor ~ Glorious Rain ~ Canning Begins and other Tidbits

My garden visitor the other day, and oddly, orange and blue.  Those are the favorite colors of daughter's deceased boyfriend.




Monday we got a glorious pour down from the Rain Gods!  So happy to have that happen.  We were getting worried about the well and no rain lately.  However, in the morning, you could never tell it had rained (it's been that dry here).  Youngest was gifted a butterfly bush and a rose bush.  She planted both just before it rained.



I canned.  It was a half batch of hot pepper mustard sauce.  A success, even though splitting all the ingredients in half taxed my brain.  Thank goodness for google to make sure I was accurate.

In total, I have now lost 3 hens and 2 roosters.  Trap has been re-set, and only time will tell.

Somehow I scratched up two of my pairs of readers.  I ended up ordering some on Amazon.  I didn't want to go to the store and most likely I wouldn't find them.  The last trip to town I noticed (one store) they were all removed from the stand.  

My hair dryer blew up on me.  Not exciting news there, lol!  I most likely will order a new one online as well.  

It's a beautiful 68°F this morning, but will heat up to 90°F, so watering resumes.  I spent about 5 hours in the garden yesterday and brought in another 2.5# of green and wax beans.  I also had to tie up the tomato plants (thrilled they are looking great so far).

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Random Tidbits


Thanks to the only rain we have gotten, I have more new blooms at the homestead.  I am picking green beans almost every other day now. 

Well, the mask mandate is causing so much chaos in our county.  I simply shop in another county.  So sick of this stuff.  What will they come up with during the next 5 months to keep everyone fighting and dividing?  Who knows.  I'm glad I have my garden to keep me busy.  Our state is being watched by counties now, and have a level grid.  Our county was put in a level to put a mask mandate in place.  They only change status by the week as well.

Cases are escalating in our county daily.  I'm starting to wonder if it's not a virus and rather a bacteria now.  It won't be long before they close everyone again.

We have no plans to return to the island.  Three businesses have not closed to quarantine.  If campgrounds do not close this fall, we do have plans to go camping.

People are buying up all the ball canning lids.  Regular lids are so hard to find.  I'm having family check their Meijer stores for me, as other stores are out or highly inflated pricing.

Happy gardening to you all.  I'm about to go work in mine.  We have a cool morning, so I'm taking advantage of it.

I have to repair a hole in my chicken coop (again).  After one day of repair I set a live trap.  I caught a pretty old opossum who was the suspect.  He however, ripped another hole in the coop.  Building a new wireless coop has now been moved up on the to-do list.  We are just tired of the trouble with the wire, and I've spotted a raccoon last night too.

I found 3 boxes of lids with rims at our grocery store, but that's it so far. 


Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Photo shoot from the front porch




Baby yellow finch.  So happy to see that Mom and Dad had a baby.  I will have to keep an eye out for more.



More blooms in the flower garden.


My new addition to the flower bed is blooming wonderfully.

I almost had a close up photo of a Boston Oriole, but by the time I got my gimmpie rear to get my camera, he/she flew off.  Hubby and I got to see it though while playing cards on the front porch last night.  That's about all I accomplished, other than watering everything.

Saturday, June 20, 2020

Flower Garden Blooms






I thought I would share some new blooms in the flower gardens today.  Some are not looking great, while others are.  I'm sure it'll all look great after a dose of Mother Nature's rain water.

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Garlic Scapes ~ Tidbits


Guess what is ready already?  My garlic scapes.  First time it's ever been ready before the radishes were ready to harvest.


Dinner last night - apples, cranberries, pecans and chicken were added when we ate.  There is blue cheese in there.   So good for a hot day.  We hit a heat index of 101°F yesterday.  Then the temperature started to go down.

Does anyone know what this flower is called?  It's not bluebells.  The flowers are upward.  I moved them from the last home and they are still blooming.  My blue daisy plant died sadly.  

We got some rain last night and we hope to get some today, but it may come with storms.  I'm thankful, as I do not have to water again.  

New carnation for the flower bed.  I'll plant it this morning.

We now have spotted 2 kittens, but Romeo scared them and poof, they went under the house so that will be watched today.  I see Momma is hanging around, so hopefully she'll call them back out.  It will definitely be hot under there.

Friday, May 22, 2020

Rose Bed Progress

We split hostas a while back and added them to the troublesome rose bed.  These are very large hostas and will crowd out the grass, but we have much more work to do on it.  Hopefully, I'll be back with a good update.

Yesterday I planted 23 sweet potato slips, but the rain returned and the garden is swamped.  I could only plant from the edge.  More rain fell last night and I am so sad that it may be another year of battling the rain.

We now realize how important a greenhouse is.  It may go to the top of the list if the rain continues.

On a good note, the plants have had 4 days of hardening, and we pray next weeks (predicted the entire week ahead) is wrong.


Monday, May 18, 2020

Happy Homemaker Monday

Sunday's rain that was predicted all day changed on us.  Thankful for that, as we had time in the morning to plant more flowers.  



(just a few snippets of our work)

We had 4 bags of mulch leftover from last year, but we still need to go get a truck load of it to finish the flower beds and add some pine mulch to my herb garden.  We worked the good part of the day beautifying the front of the house.  I'm debating on dropping some zinnia seeds today or not.  They keep saying torrential rain, but we are not getting it and so far completely wrong on when we are getting any and how much.


Today I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.


The weather . . . 
99% humidity, 73/59°F, Thunderstorms


How I'm feeling this morning . . . 
Ready to get back to a regular work out schedule.  With Hubby's crew off two weeks and on two weeks, I've been off track.


On my mind . . .
Just my to-do list, and making preparations for days to work more on the garden.


On my breakfast plate . . .

Sweet Potato/Black Bean Frittata

On my reading pile . . .
Call of the Wild

On my TV . . .
Re-watching The Ranch


On the menu this week . . .
-Spaghetti and meatballs, homegrown asparagus, homemade coconut flour garlic muffins
-Biscuits and gravy, potatoes, eggs (didn't make this last week)
-Turkey breast (crock pot), 
-4 beans and sausage (crock pot)
-maybe sweet potato and black bean chili


From the camera . . . 

Looking around the house . . .
There is a lot to clean up since we devoted most of our time to anything outdoors (veggie garden, flower beds, etc.)  There is a lot on the to-do list today. . . putting it here to stay on track this week.
-make a breakfast dish
-laundry
-dishes
-master bath
-sweep/mop
-vacuum
-dust
-tidy office area/pay bills
-clean windows
-clean up utility room now that the chicks are in the barn
-water plants
-re-pot lettuce starts
-drain Four Thieves Vinegar
-freeze bell peppers, freeze cauliflower
-make homemade foaming hand soap
-call vet (other two dogs need shots)
-make a list for the garden center
-restock freezer pizza dough and pie crust crumbles
-things need made, lip balm, and many other needs (homemade)


Chore I am not looking forward to this week . . . 
Mucking the coop.  If the weather is good, it'll be getting a clean sweep from winter pile up.  


To relax this week I will . . .
Journal, maybe handiwork.  I have Christmas tree ornaments  that need finished up as well.


On my prayer list . . .
My friend's eyesight, for this virus to go away, and personal requests.


Devotional/Bible Verse . . .

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Sun Fun ~ Garden Plants ~ Garage Clean Out ~ Ride

My daffodils are blooming like crazy!

Yesterday I noticed the hyacinths are starting to bloom too.


To update on yesterday, we never saw the person we heard, but it was dark out when we did.  However, when I took one dog out (with my husband) we could smell a campfire in the woods behind the house.  We are going to mow down a path out along the woods to walk all the dogs now.

The sun was out all day Monday.  So thankful for that. I had to stay home for a Fed Ex delivery, so my wonderful husband went to the greenhouse and picked up flats of tomato plants etc.

We chose to go and get them early this year, as we both have a feeling so many more people will now be planting a vegetable/fruit garden.  I called the greenhouse ahead of time, and she said people were already coming in and buying plants.  Her supplier has warned her she may sell out quickly as May approaches.

I'm not sure I'll be getting a rosemary plant or not.  They do not survive here in winter and I cannot for the life of me keep it alive all winter indoors.  I have a plan, but we'll see.


I enjoyed a cup of nettle, mullein and plantain early yesterday.  MRH is closed again, so I will be checking my stinging nettle patch soon.

The garage cleaning is finally underway.  Hubby is ready full force to get things cleaned up and I'm taking advantage of him being home.

Oh, and I got my ride yesterday and I slept like a baby last night.  My first ride on our new bike.  I miss the old one, but love the new one.



Sunday, August 18, 2019

Weekend Work ~ What's Growing and What's Not

Sunrise from a few days ago.  We are finally getting rain this morning.  Even thunderstorms.

Now that we have car shopping off the list, we can get back to other jobs this weekend.  Youngest daughter now has her own car and can drive to school.  No more long bus rides and she's very very happy.

What was on the weekend work list?  Well, cutting more trees.  That's done.  We had to put a new part in our other daughter's car and pray it's the fix for it.

I had to make homemade cinnamon rolls too, for a breakfast with the family.  Why I volunteered rolls is beyond me.  Sigh.  I know they'll appreciate them, but I'm cutting them all in half so I (he he) don't have to make two pans for the entire clan.  I also had to make 2 pans of over night baked french toast.  

Schools are starting, so it's already an onslaught of fundraisers for youngin's in our family.  I'm only going to do a few this year.  They are getting too expensive.



Among the weeds, my gladys are starting to bloom.  I'm getting a few pink and white right now.


Second picking of beans.  Pretty pathetic.  Just a rotten year.  Probably our worst ever.  I'm about ready to pull tomato stakes too.  I am pretty sure, unless we have a warm fall (and a wet one), we'll get nothing from the 50-some plants and it just makes me sick.  We didn't get more than a few red raspberries this year, and now the blackberries are dying off before even ripening.  

Has anyone ever put scrambled eggs in a crock pot for a group breakfast or brunch?  Just wondering if they dry out or if it can be done successfully?  


Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Tuesday Tidbits


I finally finished up the strawberries I purchased.  Most of the remaining went into the freezer.



I saved some for Strawberry Delight.  It's the same as my Mom's "Cherry" Delight, but with strawberries - a cheesecake type dessert.


I also started some strawberry vodka.


Although I'm behind in weeding the flower beds and herb garden, the flowers continue to bloom.  

Motherhood can sometimes be a very exhausting.  Our 21 year-old daughter finally made her appearance.  



She was cited for this accident, driving the wrong way in a one way road.  The guy that hit her was on a motorcycle, with no helmet, but thankfully he got back on his bike and rode it home.  Not sure what this will cost her, but I was shaking my head.  Thankfully, she kept up on her own insurance, but the guy still hasn't produced his own proof of insurance.


Saturday, May 18, 2019

Storms, Flowers, the Un-planted Veggie Garden and a Crochet Emergency Kit

Thursday we had another gorgeous start to the day - sunshine and up to the 70's again.  I weeded the front flower beds. Indoor cleaning always suffers, but I had to take advantage of a good day outdoors.  It needed done badly. I still can't get into the veggie garden.

Evening however, brought on major thunderstorms, wind and possible hail.  I was pretty thankful I had not planted the tomato plants or anything for that matter.




(wasn't cheap and I still need more, and will add color with zinnia seeds and glady bulbs)

This is one small section that edges sidewalk off front porch.  It's a small start.  Needs a few more touches, my rooster planter and then mulch for all the beds.  We lost a few mums over winter, so come fall I'll add a few if I can.  We also lost the granny apple tree, the plum tree died and our large peach tree looks terrible.  The two red apple trees are looking good so far.  Elderberry trees look terrible, but growing.  Darn deer.  I have to put stakes around them this year.  We also lost a blackberry bush, and possibly a red raspberry bush too.

Funny story about that photo.  Hubby finally weed whipped.  He was trying to add more string to the gadget to finish, and we were sitting on the porch.  I told him to just let it go and do it another day.  His response, "If I listened to you I'd never get anything done."  To which I responded, "oh, so that's why the shovel is still sitting in the half dug septic tank?"  Touche.




Friday we had clouds all day, with a high in the upper 60's.  It rained.  Hmpf!  Again. It thunderstormed last night.  Again. More rain is in the forecast for the weekend.  I did some more porch cuteness.  

The wasps and bees are so bad this year.  I can't work in the flower beds after about 10am.  While I ran to the store Friday, wasps literally built a nest in my side door way.  We had to enter the front, go back out and spray it, then wait and knock it down.  Hmpf.




Have you seen this idea on the internet lately?  I made myself one for the truck.  I plan on making two more.  One for the car and one for the camper too.  Ha ha!  I give credit to Blackstone Designs website - notebook (3 for $1 at our Dollar General store), pen, pencil, crochet hook, large eye needle, measuring tape and scissors.  These would make nice gifts for friends and family who you know that crochet.  I also found out that it's much safer to crochet in a moving vehicle than knit.  I don't have a label machine, I just edited the photo with text, but would be cute to add that to it for gift (cricut maybe?).  This one went straight into "Red Lightning" (aka the truck).

I often forget to pack stuff when I bring car projects along on trips.  Speaking of memory issues.  I had to look at my lists to figure out why I ordered jojoba oil.  Sigh....I really did.  

Now, if I can put peace inside my chaotic home, it'll all balance out nicely.  I'm sure the rain will help me out with that.