Pioneer Woman at Heart

  A new "first time" for us was to make a cold infusion with cleavers.  It is a bonus weed that we get this time of year when we weed the flower beds and the vegetable garden.  Heck, I see it growing in the asparagus, so I'll be pulling more of it this weekend (in between rainfalls).  If you harvest wild medicinal weeds/plants, I would love your feedback on this.  I believe I dehydrated it many years ago, but it's best when harvested fresh.  I have only one friend who also harvests this, but sadly, she does not live very close to me. Side note: I made a face wash back in 2018 with cleavers, but never kept up with making it and using it over the years. Rain returns starting tonight, and on and off all weekend.  Woke up to 49°F, and again we have not planted the vegetable garden yet. Still on time, but slightly late if we can get it done soon.  However, we were unable to obtain organic sweet potato starts, so no sweet potatoes will be planted (as of...

  Last year, we planted borage and rosemary in with the zucchini, yellow squash and other squash plants.  It was an attempt to deter the nasty squash bugs.  It for one, did not work to deter those bugs (did not even grow well enough to harvest anything from the plants either).   Two, it re-seeds itself very well, so don't plant it in your big vegetable garden like I did.  It's not spreading too badly this year, but I'm yanking it as I see it, and you know I hate to waste anything.... By the way, I'm actually seeing borage plants for sale this year. Borage tea?   Has anyone dehydrated or dried the borage flowers and leaves for a medicinal tea?  I'm not finding a lot of information in the resource books I have.  So far anyway.  I'm reading online that the tea from the plant, is good for reducing a fever and for reducing a bad cough.  Does anyone have any information, or experience, with borage used in this way? Borage for dinner?...

  I believe last year (how we did it) was the first year to do this with the woody ends from our spring asparagus.  I think I will try adding them to vegetable dips this year, or to meat and/or vegetable sauces.  It all depends on the amount of dehydrated ends we have this spring. We are still getting asparagus thankfully.  We got more rain, and it looks like we may get a few days break from it now. A lot is happening around here, and some work is still on hold, such as preparing the actual vegetable garden (much too wet). Dehydrated (and ground) Asparagus Ends ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I haven't had time to porch sit, so I have not smelled the lilacs wafting through the country air.  I noticed a bit late this season, but they also bloomed early.   A few years ago, a pine tree died and fell down, breaking off half of our lilac bush.  It's still blooming, but barely.  Lilacs smell so wonderful.  I remember, as a young teen, my Grandma bringing cuttings from her lilac bush.  You can make a lot of things with lilacs, but I have yet to try any recipes.  You can make syrups, infused sugars, jelly, teas, tinctures, and even body care.  Do you make anything with lilac blooms? There is a possibility to plant another lilac this spring, but the rain is still an issue. I had "plans" to do some weeding, but we are saturated here still.  Rain is not ending today again either.  I think we may even see rain a bit Thursday, but hopefully not.  The rain is giving us chickweed, and we are enjoying pesto.  I mixed ot...

  Did you can pickled jalapenos last garden season?  Or last year with farmer's market jalapenos?  It was a "new" to us item to add to our pantry, and here is the update regarding the two cornbread recipe trials.  One is actually more like the traditional corn casserole, often served at the winter holidays. The first recipe we tried, we loved!  If you remember my post, it was a more dense cornbread, but with some home canned pickled jalapenos.  A nice spicy cornbread for soups/stews and chilis. I was incorrect on the source for this specific recipe.  It is online free at Bowl of Delicious . We adapted organic ingredients, and if you make the recipe with buttermilk, it's even better.  We really liked this recipe. The next recipe was more of a "corn casserole" type baked dish, very similar to the traditional "corn casserole" one might bake at the holidays for a side dish.  The recipe was from an online source (Farmhouse on the Boone).  I ...

  Do you ever buy a used cookbook from a thrift store, because of something "shiny" you see inside?  Then do you go home, put the book down, and completely and utterly forget what you wanted to try? Well, I did just that with a thrift store cookbook purchase.  I bought it early a year ago (or longer, ha ha!).  I have had it out on the table, then counter, then table, then counter, then the kitchen island, and then back and forth.  I finally.....finally (screaming from the rooftop), made a recipe I decided on. First, let me tell you, the cookbook is all about high carbs (the good kind).  I do plan on reading the forward in the cookbook another day.  Much of the recipes are not for our liking, but I did try a biscuit recipe (that I had been wanting to try for months!!).  On a side note, this cookbook, has a lot of reading sections in it, as well as recipes.  I'll be taking a closer look at it soon. The recipe called for lowfat cottage cheese an...

We started December with some chilly weather - low -4 (windchill) 6°F/High 27°F.  The coldest weather for early December since 1976.  According to weather authorities.  We've been as low as -8°F this month.  Now we are melting away into the 50's by tomorrow with a lot of rain.  Crazy, crazy winter weather for sure. Surgery went well.  Thank you all for your prayers, good vibes, positive mojo and good thoughts.  I am in recovery mode, which oddly feels very strange for someone who is on the go most days.   One kiddo visited to help out, and stayed the night, and I really appreciated the help. She did some driving for us, cooked and even cleaned.  Very thankful for her help. Not to worry.  I am listening to my doctor/nurses.  I'm not able to exercise like I typically do daily, but my brain is getting a super dose of "brain" activities. On top of a new puzzle, and a 132 new word search book (my first), crochet also continues....

  There has been no more snowfall this very chilly day, and by chilly I mean a wind-chill of 14 degrees.  Snow is on the ground, but no more snow in the forecast for now anyway.  It's slippery out for sure. My lovely ladies have started to lay again, after a much shorter (but still long) molting hiatus, compared to last fall.  They love their new coop.  They have more room, more roosts, more light and more protection from the predators.  It only took us 3 years to complete it ha ha!  Photos to share soon.  We are actually considering on keeping the old coop and using it for the actual "brooder" now.  We'll be adding more ladies to the clan, so we'll figure that out sooner than later. I have not made all of our gardening plans for 2026, but I am putting in an order for some herb garden seeds.   The rosemary and chive plants I brought indoors are still alive, but the rosemary is looking iffy (crossing my fingers, saying a prayer)....

  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...

  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...

  We finally got rain!  So thankful for it.  There was a field fire near us the night before the rain arrived.   It's been so dry, and the field dust was causing upper respiratory issues for so many people (wind didn't help with that). Spicy Barbeque Sauce was canned.  It takes a lot of ingredients, so it's not my favorite to can, but it is real ingredients.  Yes, it has brown sugar.  It's a canning recipe from Better Homes and Gardens, that we have been using for several years now. Rain ~ Spicy Barbeque Sauce ©  October 2025 by  Kristina  at  Pioneer  Woman at Heart

  The area farmers are taking out their crops, and the dust is as thick as fog around here.  My eyes burn when I work outside (trying to stay inside for that).  It's very dry, and very hot right now.  Temperatures are soaring to the upper 80's.  It was 88°F the other day and the heat continues.  If we are lucky, the rain will finally be here this week.   We picked the very last of the tomatoes.  What is left on the plants are rotting before even ripening.  Very strange year overall.  We are thankful for what harvest we are getting. Exhausted.  I, ha ha! Am. Exhausted.  Taking a few days off canning, and trying to catch up with cleaning, dusting, putting things away, errands, sweeping, dishes, and laundry...... My favorite morning reading, is called "Just Breathe" Devotions and Prayer for the Overwhelmed Heart (and I am loving all of them so far).

  One more "first" for me this year (something new to try/experience). . .  Cranapple Butter ( A Ball Canning Recipe).  I read this is good to top your turkey at the holidays, but we plan to try it on toast too.  Why did I try it?  Well, we had more apples from our trees.  Yes, I could can apple pie filling, but it may still happen too.

  The early morning weather here has been downright chilly.  One morning it was 42 degrees.  Flower beds have been weeded.  The herb garden is next in line, but I do need to figure out what to do with all the rosemary plants I planted in the actual vegetable garden.  I have not mastered keeping them alive all winter indoors.  They will not survive the winter if left outside. Did any of my blog writing followers locate a better "blog" platform online?  Just curious if anyone is moving from blogger. 

  I have yet to remedy the websites using my blog for whatever they are using it for.  The views cut down by about 200, but considering I posted a very, very short post yesterday, it's still getting 300 views from advertiser businesses and other businesses.  All to read about how they are using my blog too. It is very annoying to be honest.  I have not had a lot of time to work on putting a stop to it, but I did look into a few of the sites to "opt" out and there were no options to remove my blog.  Not sure what to do next.  If I do remedy the situation, I will remove the page breaks on my posts. The majority of viewers are from Hong Kong and Singapore (huh?).  Like it's been suggested, AI may be the reason, and one we cannot avoid, as Blogger has very little privacy options.

  Along with an experimental baking, this is my experimental post to see how things go too.  Thank you for all of your advice on the blog issues.  

  We finally got rain, after 20 plus days of 90 degree plus weather.  Despite watering the garden, it was looking fried by the heat, humidity and sun.  The zucchini plants are starting to die off with little harvest already.

  (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...