Pioneer Woman at Heart

  The teaser 60-70°F days, we have been having, are bringing up sprouts of comfrey in my "weed" garden.  However, the rabbits (or something) is finding it tasty, so I best get to the hardware store and add more fencing to it.  We left a space, where we ran out of fencing last year, and completely forgot about it until this spring.   Comfrey is great to have on hand for medicinal needs, and yes, it is invasive, but the rabbits may keep it from getting too big, ha ha!   I make comfrey salve using this "weed" and I dehydrate it as well.  We've made numerous poultices with it over the years, and so glad I learned about it. Kitchen Down!   The current repairs are being done in the kitchen, so it is hindering any cooking or baking.  I will be glad when it is all done either way.  It's also helping push me to finish other projects in the mean time. I'm still planning a "coffee with me" meet up at our homestead, but not until we don't ...

  I freeze fresh ginger often, so that I have it on hand for all sorts of recipes, and it has worked out very nicely.  Many people do not know you can do this with fresh ginger root (we purchase organic). How I Freeze Ginger Root I wash the organic ginger root, dry it, wrap it a few times in plastic wrap, and store it inside a freezer bag.  I date each bag and the door of the freezer works best, or it may get lost in your freezer storage. Back to the dehydrated organic ginger root. We love herbal/herbal medicinal teas.  I dehydrated a small-ish bit of organic ginger root in May of 2025.  I have been using small bits of it for tea infusing and tea brewing.  It's worked out great, and continues to maintain it's flavor.  I will definitely keep dehydrated, organic ginger root a staple in my pantry. I will be using it to experiment with other recipes.  Considering the amount of power outages this year, I've decided a few more dehydrated (food, herbs, e...

  We went from sub zero straight to a week of up to 64°F, and a sloppy, slushy, muddy mess.  I was very tempted, and almost twice, used the clothesline.     However, with the warmest weather days brought us rain and thunder storms (yes thunder storms in February).  Add that rain to the already mushy mess, and you have slosh yards. The house was refreshed with several days of open windows, and we are very thankful for that. Nothing better than fresh air circulating indoors.   Of course, as it is still our winter season, the weather cooled right back down to the 30's and brought a small but of snow.  We got outside anyway, and did our very first "snow" walking trail. It's been a mish-mash of a February.  Lots of re-organizing, purging, and home repairs.  It seems like the hardware store shopping list is maintaining it's weekly to-do list. We have not cleaned out clothing in more than two years, so it's been this month's focus, and boy...

  We are finally out of the deep freeze, and on the way to a warm up.  The last time I brought in 5 eggs, they were all completely frozen (and cracked, sigh....). Home repairs are resuming, and supplies purchased. I've already broke out the spackle and putty knife. We had to purchase a tub wrench to remove the tub drain, but it was not too expensive.  Thank goodness for so many YouTube tutorials on repairs and whatnot. Purging continues with clothing, and other items.  I'm purging the pantry too.  Little by little we are getting organized again, and using up what needs used up.  I found a bag of lemongrass ginger herbal bulk tea, so it's being brewed and enjoyed.   Errands are much more enjoyable with the warmer weather now.   Warm Up   ©  February 2026 by  Kristina  at  Pioneer  Woman at Heart

  We have been blessed with sunshine the last few days, and I am so thankful for that (after several days of zero sunshine). I emailed our local library, and proposed a puzzle exchange program.  They may not have the space for such a thing, but I have suggested it. We got a call that an extended family member on my husband's side of the family, had passed away. Joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. The weather . . . 25 degrees at night, but we had some pretty nice, almost 60 degree weather over the weekend. Right now I am . . . Making a list of of things that need moved to the top of my to-do's for the day. Thinking and pondering . . . Thinking about adding another crockpot to our home.  I've been doing research on the best one on the market these days.  Boy have they changed too (digital buttons etc. on some). When the last kiddo moved out, she took one of our crockpots with her, so we do need another replacement. I'm thinking about getting us a puzzle boar...

April 9th - rain and snow mix, morning temperature was 21°F! April 10th - 38°, high of 44°F, rain April 11th - 30°, low chance of rain, partly sunny We should be picking asparagus, wild violets and wild dead nettle right now, but the weather is delaying it.  I surely hope we still get them all.  Time will tell. Despite freezing cold weather that is freezing my chickens water at night, my potted comfrey is already coming to life again.  The weather is to warm up again thankfully. I need help with deterring rabbits. Does anyone have any tried and true (non toxic) ways to deter rabbits from your flower beds and herb garden?  I read coffee grounds deter them, but they are not good for my herb garden.  I had motion sensor noise gadgets, but they did not work for the rabbits last year. A tree of some sort is growing in the edging (between the landscaping stone and chives of all places) of the herb garden, and it has thorns.  It needs to be dug out thanks to the b...

  It's hard to believe that we are approaching the last day of February 2025 this coming Friday.  The weather was definitely much more "winter" this year, but February is the month we tend to get the most snow.   There has been some beautiful sunrises this month.  I'm blessed be able to capture a few.  We even squeezed an adventure in this month.   We have also driven around, and located some new hiking/walking trails to enjoy nature and get exercise (maybe even a few picnics).   Although we had much of the month in freezing and subzero temperatures, this week it warmed up to a wonderful 53°F. Seen during the day recently.  Even the deer are enjoying the warmer weather this week. I had the chance to read a new book on the porch this week, before the month ends.  Oh my gosh, the sun felt so good. The ground is a very mushy mess this week, so there is no work progressing on the new chicken coop, but we have not forgotten about it...

  One day we spotted about 20 "dots" out in a field.  Sure enough it was a larger herd of deer.  The few photos I took were not that great, as they were way out in the field.  I am still looking to upgrade my camera. New recipe tried. Einkorn flour Greek yogurt pancakes. Source online:  Peanut Butter Fingers (name of their site). Love these, but be aware it makes a lot!  I froze the extras, and it will come in handy for busy mornings or mornings I need a quicker, healthy breakfast.  I added blueberries to ours (I freeze a lot of them in the summer).  Side these with scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, chicken or turkey "sausage" patties, fruit or eat them as they are.  Very filling, high in natural protein (no protein powder), and you can top them with your choice of topping. I had gone to the kitchen to heat up a cup of tea and noticed water all over the utility room floor, and mostly from coming under the sink in there.  Hm.  Close...

January 2025 comes to an end, and I am thrilled to have met my own goals of staying off social media (less scrolling time), being more consistent with reading, exercise, time better well spent overall.  Although there is more wiggle room to become better at avoiding morning procrastination (winter cold weather can do that to a person). Winter time gives us zero harvest from the outside world.   We lack a greenhouse.  However, I purchased a cilantro plant for indoor growing.  We are praying we have the funds to fence the other garden, and have been working on a garden plan.  I have toyed with the idea of not growing one, but that thought quickly dissipated.  Our health is important, and I'd miss all that garden goodness. There is nothing better than to take a red sharpie, and cross off to-do's that have lingered on the list for almost a year. Do you ever finish a job, and then go back and look at it over and over and smile?  Ha ha!  I finally ...

My first post for 2025. January 2025 started with a clean washing machine, clean oven mitts, and a clean dishwasher.   I got all three cleaned by the afternoon of the last day of 2024.  It rained the entire day, and the temperature was in the 30's.  Awful weather, but the right kind to make it much easier to sit and crochet for a bit. January 1st it snowed.  We got more snow last night, and there is a possibly snow storm later this weekend, but our temperature may be too cold for snow here. Winter time is a time to rest and re-set.   I do try to embrace the slow down, because those busy garden days will arrive soon enough.  Winter time pick me ups - smelling the orange or clementine as I peel it (really boosts the mood).  Also, painting my fingernails.  I buy the chemical free brand, and winter is the only time I get to pamper my fingernails.  The rest of the year, I'm busy playing with dirt. On the home repair front . . . Hubby rep...

  Happy New Year!   I'm excited about a new crochet project, and it is a sort of a motivation tool for something else.  I'll be posting later about it.  Overall, it will reduce my time wasting internet scrolling, pointless social media scrolling (looking for recipes, patterns, exercises are all good scrolling minutes, he he!), procrastination station, and endless him-hawing.  Not to change the subject, but I mean some scrolling is needed to avoid endless days of shopping in stores looking for something my husband suggested we buy. I found one close to what he feels we need at Harbor Freight, but it's wall mounted, and runs on batteries. Does it even exist?  I'll be searching for it, but we may have to buy battery charged or a rechargeable light.  He wants a solar chargeable, motion sensor, small table light (sort of the brightness of a nightlight) for the bathrooms.  We lack outlets by the toilet, and do not want to put in a floor strip light...