Pioneer Woman at Heart

Sunday was a work day for us. First thing, I got up early and baked homemade fresh biscuits.  They look yellow because the lights were on an it was still dark outside.  It was foggy as well.  The weather is a teensy warmer, so hence the morning fog. The recipe is on my blog:  Here Coffee was brewed, and Hubby and I ate a "lumber jack" breakfast of home grown fried potatoes, gravy made with homemade organic sausage, and home raised eggs.  The kids slept in.  Then we got to work.  The girls were to do the dishes but later I found it they didn't.  It was Hubby who did them all. We cut another load of wood from the barn beams and boards.  I donned my steel two boots and headed out to the rubble.  The nice part of cutting barn beams etc. is that it's just cut, haul and stack.  No splitting required.  Evidently, I removed enough nails to provide kindling for two more loads in the future.  We brushed...

I just had to pop in this morning, and let you know that our 15 year-old did a great job on dinner last night.  I failed at photographing the dinner, but she even insisted on some boiled green beans.  We ate dinner on the front porch.  First time since the onset of illness. She has now learned how to boil noodles, prepare and boil potatoes, make stove top tuna and noodle etc.  I'm pretty proud that this blessing came out of this. I can't wait to be sharing some beautiful and happy homesteading photos soon. Today, the girls are checking my garden.  Even though my eye infection is not completely healed, I am able to assist in the kitchen.  I am told the tomatoes are in full force, so I told them to hold off a day or two (if they could).

I'm at that point in my life, when we stay home for the New Year celebration - with pets, kids and the coziness of pajamas.  The last thing I ate?  Apple slices and fruit dip.  Yum! I myself, fell asleep at 8:30pm.  Normally that is not the case, but I'm still recovering, so I that's okay.  Hubby however, was still up, sort of scolding the TV.  The Buckeyes played, and well, they played terrible.  It was as if they never played football before.  I woke up later to realize that the team never even scored one point.  I'm pretty sure he'll be in a sour mood this morning, but hopefully, we'll have a grand day today. I was up early.  I got the wood stove going, coffee brewing, and accidentally woke up the dogs.  The cats were meowing for their very early breakfast, and I took care of that too.  Everyone is still in bed, but one kiddo has to get up to go to work today.

It was bound to happen.  Especially since the barn will be torn down (and hopefully soon).  We have a barn salvage company looking at it now. It was moving day for Orion.  He's too close to the big barn, and he's eaten all his grass in that area.  See all those tall weeds in the back?  That is where we moved his shed.  He was so happy to have more to eat, I had a terrible time getting him to allow me to re-stake him.  I was laughing, because he was in heaven with all that goodness to eat.  He's not a little goat either.  He was acting like a kid in a candy store.

School closed today, so watch out.  This post will be a doozy.  I've got a pot of coffee all to myself, and all the kids are still in bed. I guess, although we are to warm up to the 38°F, they are predicting ice covered roads until noon today.   Aside from animal feed, which I may run out before the end of the week, I'm declaring this week a no-spend week.  Toilet paper is stocked up so we are good in that department.

Youngest asked for me (for her 13th birthday dinner) to make a few new recipes - Pumpkin and Sage Baked Macaroni , and Italian Oven Roasted Cauliflower.  (Cauliflower dish) (Pumpkin Macaroni Dish) Both were super easy to make,

Our 18 year-old was not agreeing with my cookie "cut back" and is busy baking in the kitchen.  She made the dough yesterday, and is already baking them.  At least she is agreeing to a select few, as I suggested. She insisted on a few of our favorites.  One is a recipe called " Angel Cookies " but we use it for our "cut out" recipe every year (butter frosting).  

In my recent organizing days, I located a recipe that uses leftover mashed potatoes.  Not very often do we have them leftover, but this recipe is a good way to use them to create another healthy dish. Start by peeling and cutting a large rutabaga into 1/2 inch pieces.  Add them to a pan of water and a bit of salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover until rutabagas are tender (30-40 minutes).  Drain.  Mash them. Combine your

The other day my younger three girls were raving about muffins I made last year.   I had been discussing making pumpkin pancakes or waffles, so the topic of pumpkin was wafting through their busy brains. "They were HUGE!" "They were so good!" "They were really moist and big!"

This week is jam packed with work.  In the process I completely forgot I had library books here.  All is good though.  My fine is only $.60 (this time).

As you can see, the weather forecast was correct.  This is the "U" in our horseshoe drive.  The rest is drifted over too - some 3 feet high. I was greeted with a 1 foot drift smack dab in front of one door too.  You can see where the dogs went out.  Jesse wasn't too happy about that.

( mugs that were a gift from my 19 year-old) I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  I knew I was in trouble, when I heard the coffee cup hit my nightstand at 6:00am, and the curtains where carelessly tossed open (despite it was pitch dark outside, ha ha!).

(partially dehydrated) Considering I have enough pickles stocked up, I decided to dehydrate the last of the cucumbers.  My cucumber plants are already turning brown.  I have not dehydrated cucumbers before. I tossed the cucumber slices in chili powder, salt and paprika, to dry for chips.  I will also grind some into powder, for soups, stews, sauces, and dips. My super chili peppers are being dehydrated today.  They are the only pepper that produced this season, out of all of our 50-some pepper plants.  I have a few habanero peppers on a few plants, but I'm not sure they will amount to much.  The chili peppers were sliced for drying, and then later I will be ground into chili pepper. 

 A few days ago, two of the girls (my 16 year-old and 11 year-old) made a batch of homemade root beer, while I was canning jam.   Yesterday, we cooled off with delicious homemade root beer floats. I used our goat's milk (and homemade vanilla extract) for the hand churned ice cream too.  Yum!  However, the humidity was so thick I had to take a photo from inside the house (lens was steaming up again).  We ended up bringing our ice cream maker inside, and attaching the electric motor.  At least we had the hand crank, just in case the power went out.  We are still having thunderstorms here.  I just checked today's forecast - no rain!  Yay!  Let's hope it's correct.  Everything needs to dry up, so a good wind would be nice, and I need to get laundry out today.  I am so thankful for a break in the weather.  I just hope the humidity has let up too. Garden goodies are still coming in, despite the weather.  I...

I've been sick for the last week, and while resting all day, waiting for my appointment to see the doctor, the younger two girls decided they wanted to write letters. I have been joking with them that when school starts, the only thing they will be able to share is, "I sat around on my bum and playing around on my tablet." They came up with writing letters on their own.  So, a few of my family members may be getting some hand written letters from either of the younger two.  We actually ran out of stamps and I had to ask my son to bail me out.  He did. Stocked with stamps again, who knows who they will write next. Oh, and to share something interesting about this letter writing, one of them had to look on the internet on how to address the envelope.  One also didn't know where to place the stamp.  Even though they both write thank you notes, they lost their memory on all of this.  One said to me, "well they don't teach you this in school."  I...

My kids ( and I ) love to drink tea and coffee both.  But lately, they have gott en funky with both.  Mom se nt over some vanilla choc olate tru ffle teabags, and guess what my 16 year-old did? Sh e put that very same teabag into the coffee maker, along with the coffee grounds, and brewed it.  Not bad too. I wonder what else they wil l come up with , now th at m ost of my tea is restocked. Wh at would you call that any way ( brewing coffee with tea )? Coff-tea?  Tea-F ee?  Ha ha ha!  

This Way of Life  Reflections of 800 country women who express a speical philosophy that comes from down-to-earth living. A Countryside L iving Book Complied and Edited by Maude L ong well   One person writes about the school bus being a "monster ."  That one really made me laugh. I was surprised to see my 10 year -old making coffee this m orning.  She not only se t the pot to brew, but poured me a a special cup , in my special cup. The cup was bought at a village , where the school took a fi eld trip.  They have de monstrations for gl ass blowing, basket wea ving etc. She added peppermin t m ocha creamer and topped i t with whipped cream !  Mmmmm!  I just may have to ma ke a second pot of coffee after they are off to school (tee hee!).  Don't worry, we switched to half-caff coffee recently.  S o that means I can have twice the amou nt, right? (ha ha ha!) There were a few reque sts to se e more of my key c hain...

My youngest daughter (10 years old) has been bitten by the baking bug.  She's been wanting to bake easy cookie recipes all the sudden. Yesterday, I allowed her to bake some, with the assistance of her older sister. As soon as these cookies were cooled, they dissappeared.  I asked her what she did with them. "I'm hiding them so they won't eat them all." Later in the afternoon, I saw her eating one.  Then later, another.   I asked her, "Did you hide those so you could eat them all?" "No." Just about dinner time, she was walking around the house trying to sell them to her sisters for $1.00 a piece.  Her brother was at work.  I got a giggle out of this. Her sister's were not paying for cookies, tackled her, and stole them from her. (giggles) In the end, everyone did get a few cookies.

The last day of school was May 25th. Yesterday I had to keep telling the kids to spend less time on the computer.  We took a trip to the library and my youngest daughter brought home this book: She has already gotten out the air-dry clay, and made herself a Golden Amulet.   There is a "T" for Tiger her cat.  Real amulets typically had animals such as lions, elephants and crocodiles - warding off bad spirits.   She's having more fun today, and building an African Savanna.  Meanwhile, my 12 year-old daughter is baking a cake and making homemade butter cream frosting.  The deal was that she had to wash her dishes and put them away. As for the rest, one is caring for her goats and upkeeping the barn, while her brother sleeps on the sofa.  He's been sick the last few days and is scheduled for work.   The two younger girls also set up a "hair salon" in the living room.  They are giving me "do's" as part of their "spa" day.  Th...

My girls inherited cake decorating supplies from my mother, and they are definitely putting them to use.  My 15 year-old daughter surprised her older sister (on her 18th birthday) with a "birthday" cupcake at school yesterday. I can't believe how well her flowers came out.  She used the tip that is used to make roses, and did an excellent job. While working out with hubby this morning, we saw on the news that we are to get 1-2 inches of snow starting today.  I'm tickled we are finally getting snow.  The goats and the chickens may not like it, but I know a few of the dogs will be acting like kids later today.  When it snows (our black lab especially) pretends to have the need to go do her business, but really she just wants to go play in the snow.   Just like a kid. Last night I was caught red-handed.  I was flipping through pattern books and attempting to crochet yet another "new" project, when I was caught.  My 10 year-old said to m...