The Year of New Beginnings ~ Welcome 2026

 The new year brings new beginnings.  It's a year of ending a few things as well.  

Many of the gatherings this year were small.  Either sickness hit most, some didn't want to be around people, and some did not get together over the holidays.  Either way, I did not cook/bake for the gatherings, and that was actually nice for once.

January brings winter weather.  The weather is doing what it does - wintering.  Wintering in a weird way too.  If I was traveling, it would be a very good month for travel.  The temperatures are warming between 50-60 degrees, and rain.

(shallots and butter)

(homemade condensed mushroom soup, prepared as equal to one can of soup, to freeze)

We are seeing more stores closing as the new year rolls in, and we have also found out that our nearest grocery store will no longer sell shallots.  I use shallots and butter as my starting base when making homemade condensed mushroom soup (which I freeze, one container equals a "can" of mushroom soup).  I am very sad about this, and have to travel to buy any over winter.  I will be looking into growing shallots this garden season. We use them in other recipes as well.

My rosemary plant I brought in last year, is hanging on by a thread.  I have plans to put it outside this week, as we will hit the 60's and get rain.  It may revive it or it may not.  I will take that chance.  No loss trying it either, as the plant has about two green leaves on it.

The chives I brought in are doing pretty good, but not enough to actually harvest yet.  I think the next plant to bring in next year will be green onions.  I really miss the fresh homegrown green onions.  The current ones at the grocery store are bland and look terrible.

The lemon balm seeds are very slow growing.  It's all a trial for learning better ways to bring some herbs indoors over winter.

I inquired on a class to learn a new craft, but it's on delay for now.  

We located a puzzle swap not far from us, but limited to when you can go pick up.  Pretty excited about this.  It's not like we have a ton of them each year, but it keeps the home stash to a manageable amount.

Although our local library does not hold a puzzle swap, I will be attempting to utilize their inter-loan book borrow program more than purchasing new books this year.  I have noticed that the higher rated books (non-fiction) on Amazon are not available to borrow at all through the library program so it may affect my goal of putting borrowing first.

The current crochet project that is going to another family.  It's taking forever, but the colder winter days (when we do have them) are perfect for such a larger project.  I still have a blanket on-going for ourselves, but it's on hold until this is finished.  It will be the last winter project, as I will need a much needed break.

Updated photo of the "on-the-go" crochet project (lap afghan).

It's getting larger, so I may switch to another smaller to-go project or take books to read for now.  The photo looks black and white, but it was a very dreary day.  Color is actually Aran from Red Heart yarn. 

The cotton yarn I ordered way back in November has been delayed once again.  They are telling me to expect it late January or early February now.

Home repairs/renovations are on hold for now. 

I totally forgot about the request for a recipe, and other requests.  I'll try and do my best to get a post for those.

I have not gotten the video yet of the opening of all of the 24 advent gifts, but one kiddo said her favorite item was the green and white knitted dishcloth I made, and her husband's favorite was a multi-use hand held light (it had a hook for hanging, a magnet and many light options).

Thank you for all your prayers, good mojo, good thoughts over the course of surgery and afterwards.  I have yet to get my "green light" from the doctor this month.  My brain cells are returning ha ha! I had thought I bought a new herbal book, and after looking into it, I had not.  I thought I had ordered new herb seeds for the herb garden this spring, and had not as well.  Good gravy.  

...until next time, I hope you enjoyed my first post of the new year.

The Year of New Beginnings ~ Welcome 2026  ©  January 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Using a Spiralizer and Garden Basil Pesto

 

I tried another new crockpot recipe, and we loved it.   The only thing I discovered, is my crockpot "low" setting is pretty hot, and I can lower the cook time on this, and it lacks "color" due to the homemade basil pesto.  We think adding some red bell pepper next time would be nice.  

Also, it did not make a lot.  It's about a 3-4 serving dish, but it ended up a 3 serving for us, ha ha.  I would double this for leftovers.

What is it?

Chicken with Zucchini Noodles and Basil Pesto

Where is the recipe from?

                         

I prefer to cook my raw chicken separately, and not with other vegetables, when it comes to crockpot cooking.  It's just me.  I cooked the chicken the day before (in the crockpot), shredded it and cooled it (recipe called for chicken breast sliced).

I simply added the chicken at the end of cooking, as well as grated parmesan cheese, because I froze our homemade basil pesto without the cheese this last time.

We thought it was so filling too, and wow, so healthy.

I bought a new hand crank spiralizer about a year ago, and I (gulp) finally used it.  Wow, it is so much easier than the little gizmo I used to use.

Advice:  Grow an herb garden.  Even if you have to grow it in pots.  You will have so many options for your meals, medicinal options, and you will have so much fun in the process.  I'm considering teaching classes for herb gardening, but the actual classes to be "certified" in any way, per say, are expensive.

Using a Spiralizer and Garden Basil Pesto ©  November 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

What's Growing?

 

Organic lemon balm sprouting up in an indoor pot, for the first time ever.  I have not planted it indoors before, nor brought in a plant or portion of a plant.  It's being started from organic seeds.

I brought in some chives and rosemary.  We'll see if I can master the ability to keep them both alive indoors this winter.

Sage and Thyme from the herb garden (brought in before our first hard freeze):  dehydrated the thyme, but next year I think it would be useful to make a thyme tincture (for any medicinal reasons).  Do you make a thyme tincture?  If so, what do you keep it on hand to treat?  It totally slipped my mind this year.

I dehydrated most of the sage, but used some fresh to start a tincture (this is great for sore throats when you don't want to/or can't make hot tea).  Just my experience with a sage tincture.  If you have other uses, please share. 

 I ground some ( a first for us ) of the sage and filled a re-purposed jar.  It will be used mostly for mixing up chicken breakfast sausage patties (or turkey).  I will be finding out if it stays pretty good in the ground form or not.  It will make breakfast preparations a bit easier for me.

What's Growing?  ©  November 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Green Onion ~ Dehydrated and Ground

 Snow is predicted Sunday/Monday.  Nothing new.  It has snowed in October here.  I took one last look at the herb garden, before it rests for the winter.  

I dehydrated more green onions, and froze a bit more.  The dehydrated ones were left whole to dehydrate, then I store them in a canning jar.  I do this with chives as well.  I mostly use the frozen ones for baked egg dishes.

I use a small vacuum that works for regular and wide mouth jars.  So far, it's worked great, and I've had it for a few years now.

I love to make ground vegetables, in cases where I have a larger harvest of something.  It adds flavor to any dish.  I ground some of the dehydrated green onions, and filled a repurposed spice jar.

I had to keep adding the dehydrated green onions to the grinder, as they are so light, it helps the process of grinding it all down to a powder.

A "first" for us this year.  I think it would be great on homemade crackers, and just about anything else.

One year I ground green bell peppers.  It worked nicely, but would only make it when we have a huge harvest.  I only used it for one baked casserole dish.  It might be good for soups and stews.

I love to make, what we call "fire powder" by dehydrated a mix of hot peppers.  Our hot pepper harvest was not that good this year.

I love the jalapeno salt I made, and will continue to keep it next to the salt and pepper.  I use this one a lot.

I brought in more thyme and sage from the herb garden. I forgot to get photos, but I think I will work on keeping more fresh herbs indoors this winter.

Green Onion ~ Dehydrated and Ground  ©  November 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Garden ~ Canning Halted ~ Butterfly Pea Flower Tea ~ Power Outage Preparedness ~ Lap Afghans Donated

 Garden clean up is very late this year, due to circumstances beyond our control.  Now we are delayed with rain, but we may have a few warmer days this week.  We may only have two days left to finish the removal. In hindsight, we should have hired help, but.....

The sunshine kabocha produced a few, although most do not look completely ripe (by color), and the butternut is pretty small.  The cocozelle zucchini we left on the vines is the perfect size for seed saving.

Although most of the mashed potato squash was cross pollinated, we got a few that produced to enjoy.  We literally got zero spaghetti squash (which is very very rare, but we did have a bad drought year).  The Mashed potato squash is the white one in the above photo.

Russian red kale and a mix of Swiss chard were washed, sliced, blanched and frozen for winter use.  The bugs got to most of the Swiss chard.

Green onions were dehydrated for the first time ever.  I froze some as well, but we now have two options.  To dehydrate the green onions, you want to leave them whole (like I do with chives).  I store them as whole as I can in a canning jar, which is vacuum sealed.  I will snip or grind them as needed.  Each preservation method produces a different flavor and different texture.  

Snow is in the forecast, along with the rain.  Who knows what we'll get.  There are coyote and raccoon droppings all around the property as fall weather turns.

We've been trying to focus meals on meat and vegetables lately.  Easy, healthy and lower cost.  Fruit is always in the mix of course, but we are thrilled to find a new butcher for most of our meat (lowering our cost).  In the photo is a roast I put in a crock pot by itself (veggies in another one), and simply topped it with salt, pepper and a container of homemade mushroom soup (which I pre-make and freeze).  Absolutely delicious.

(Applesauce cake baked with home canned applesauce and a bit of molasses, topped with crock pot baked {similar to fried apples} apples)

Sadly, my canning is halted for the season (again, out of my control).  I have more apples, but we'll be adding them to salads, cooked meals (with vegetables), added to yogurts, crock pot "fried" apples, and such.  I want to try an Einkorn applesauce cake next.

I have already listed plans for apple canning next year.  I'm not sure if we'll get apples every year yet.  We'll find out next season.

Tea time . . .

New medicinal/herbal tea tried.  I have had the flowers, but brewed the tea for my facial toner.  I finally had to the time to brew some, and try it as iced tea.  I have discovered that adding lemon infused honey makes this the best.  It's butterfly pea flower tea (organic).  I will be trying it hot in the future.  I'm on the fence with buying another herbal tea recipe book.

I have since located two stores that specialize with teas, and one particularly with medicinal herbal teas.  Both are a bit of a drive, but on the radar for when there is time to check them both out.  

A recent power outage (actual two days of outages within one week)  gave us the chance to try out some portable, battery operated light bulbs.  I do have chargeable light bulbs in some lamps as well (some charge as they are used daily).  I do see how more canned fruit would come in handy for power outages, so that is on my radar for next year.  We also have two solar chargeable light bulbs, and are interested in expanding more preparedness for such times.  Our portable (small generator) can run the portable electric water pot, coffee pot, or other appliances.

On the handicraft front . . .

Seven crocheted lap afghans were donated to an organization that helps veterans and first responders this year.  I package each one in a zipper bag.  It keeps them clean for transport, and eventually to the new owner.

Started a new lap afghan.  I'm currently searching for new blanket patterns using stripes of different colors of yarn.

I had purchased a snap project bag for another crochet project, and needed one for traveling back and forth for appointments, and they did not have the same one in stock.  I ordered this one, and was not disappointed, although more expensive.  The larger part has a side zipper area, shoulder strap, and comes with a scissor holder and smaller zipper storage bag.  It works perfectly for the size I needed. 

It's been one doozy of a year, and we are so ready for it to be over with, so we can start a new year with renewed inspiration. 

It's time to finish up notes in our garden journal for the year.  We did not plant fall garlic (beyond our control), but we do plan to plant it fall of 2026.  I have dug up two chive starts, and already have someone to gift them to.  Thanks for reading today's, much longer than usual, blog post.

Garden ~ Canning Halted ~ Butterfly Pea Flower Tea ~ Power Outage Preparedness ~ Lap Afghans Donated  ©  November 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Book Blanket ~ Lifting Books and Hooks ~ Garden Clean Up Starts

I finished this book, which I believe I was prompted to read by a blog here I follow (Far Side of Fifty maybe?).  It was good, but it took me forever to read, as it was canning season, and the days were long and tiresome.  The thought of lifting a book or hook was out of the question at the time.

Anyway, I crocheted a granny square to match the cover.  The colors in the square could have been done about a dozen different ways.  I just went with what colors I had in scrap balls. I'll try and get an updated photo of the actual blanket soon.  

Clinking my hot tea cup to yours, to books and hooks again.  I'm hopeful that it will be soon for myself too.  

The weather is pretty warm for fall right now.  We've been in the lower 70's and sunny.  We may even hit the 80's this coming weekend.  It's garden clean up season for us, and those days are hit or miss, with what's on the busier-than-normal fall schedule.

Rosemary plants were pulled out of the actual vegetable garden and placed in the dehydrator.  I have however, left two plants in the herb garden, considering the weather has been so warm, and rain is on the way.  

Book Blanket ~ Lifting Books and Hooks ~ Garden Clean Up Starts  ©  October 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Fall is Here

 It's officially "fall" here now.  Woke up to 40°F and boy it is very chilly.  The leaves are turning even more, and more are falling.  The tomatoes are done for the garden season too.

5 pints of Lemony-Basil Tomato Soup was canned.  I normally get about 2-3 batches canned, but not this year.  I am thankful for what we did get.  The cold weather has started to diminish the amount of herbs we are getting from the herb garden now.

There are other goals now that the tomatoes are all processed. We will need to pull everything left in the garden(s), and do other prep work to put them to "bed" for the season. 

I still have apples to process, but they are in the fridge for now.  I need to get caught up with other work and I have a strainer full of garden bell peppers to dice and freeze.

I totally forgot that I planted several rosemary plants inside the garden this year, so I will need to process those (have no plans to try for the umpteenth time to keep them alive all winter indoors).

I now have a container labeled "canning" that holds old towels, and hot pads, and one apron.  It is now where I will be keeping all those items involved with canning.  They will not be taking up space in my kitchen, and I can grab the container when needed.  If you have canned with tomatoes or anything that stains or splatters, you'd understand why I would only use the older items to can with.  

In the meantime, I am writing up a plan for winter.

Fall is Here  ©  October 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Embracing the Late Harvest ~ First Canning of the Season ~ Crocheted Cord Keepers

 

(picked one for canning)

All in one day's picking.  The bell peppers are on, but not all  ready yet (very late harvest year).  Those pickling cucumbers can hide so easily, even after making a thorough attempt to check for any.  The chickens were happy with their treat, and the kitchen was busy again.

Both went into meals.  The kale went into a breakfast, and the beans went into a dinner.

The English type (will have to look up the actual name) cucumbers we planted are about between 11 and 12 inches long.

Two large cucumbers went into making a cold salad with some cherry tomatoes from the garden, along with some fresh parsley, dill and peppermint.

We have been pretty creative in consuming the cucumbers.  Needless to say, I am finding some nice salad recipes that we are really enjoying.  

Canning season officially started this late month of August - sweet pickle relish.  We did not get enough of our cucumbers last year to can this, but we did have enough already canned to last 2 years.  We were down to the last 3 jars, so this is a blessing.  We use it to, no only as a condiment, but to make chicken salad, tuna salad, homemade tartar sauce, and more.

                             

 A bit of our lemon balm was dehydrated for tea making.  I'm in the process of starting more plants (for our soon to be designated garden area for perennial weeds/herbs). 

I also ground some dehydrated lemon balm for a lemon balm powder. A "first" time for us to make the powder.  I'll use it for baking, smoothies, and possibly other uses.  Possible uses:  salad dressings, pesto (fresh is best I think though), desserts, infused honey, infused sugar (just a thought), iced tea, and more.

I used some garlic scapes to make compound butter for cooking and grilling.  It is a "first" for us to make and try.

I followed the instructions and blanched the scapes first, and rolled it all into waxed paper to freeze first, then later slice and store for easy access.

Everything else garden related seems to be coming at us all at once.  I'm just taking a deep long breath and taking it one day at a time.  Every day there is garden goodies that need tending to - hot banana peppers, sweet corn, green beans, cucumbers.....you get the idea.  It is a blessing.

Although, the heat is returning for a bit, we have really enjoyed the much cooler weather.  It has been a delight to work outdoors, go for walks, read on the porch, grill outside dinner, and so forth.  Early morning sunrises are the best, and enjoyed, as you cannot get that moment back.

Unfortunately, we are going on a 10-day plus stretch with no rain.  The garden is suffering, so days are spent watering, which takes day off canning, freezing or other needed work done.

(this one was for our travel/camping tea-pot)

A larger amount of do-dads today require so many charging cords (trying to eliminate those with solar charge when we can), and one morning I decided we needed some "cord keepers" to keep things organized.  I crocheted us two to try out, and see who well these snaps will last.  I used no-sew snaps for the first time.  I had cotton yarn in my stash, so that is what I used.  I need about three more, but I am hoping the snaps hold out.  If not, I will be switching to the sew-on snaps.

Book reading has really slowed down, so no new granny squares for our book blanket.  I have added a few titles to my reading list, and (gulp) purchased two more books.

On the news front, a local food pantry distribution closed it's doors earlier this week, do to lack of food to provide those in need.   I offered our extra produce one year, many years ago, and they refused it.

It's been one hum-dinger of an August already, and no camping trips planned to offer some R & R yet.  A busy garden season is a grand happening, but it does tend to rob me of my self-care time.  I'll be working on that this month.

Embracing the Late Harvest ~ First Canning of the Season ~ Crocheted Cord Keepers  ©  August 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart