Pioneer Woman at Heart

  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)....

I am almost done weeding all of the flower beds.  I have yet to weed the herb garden, but it's in pretty good shape thankfully. We came up with a solution to "fence" the other vegetable garden on a budget.  We are seeking out a person to come till the vegetable gardens on a budget.  It seems that the only one we can find so far, is with a large tractor (so glad we removed two sides of the fenced garden).   We had a coyote in the gardens lately.  We are also hoping it has moved on. The new coop build is on hold (sigh), but there is nothing I can do about it. When you run a homestead, you run into set backs here and there.   Our AC units are not in yet, and we are in the 80's.  Again, another job on hold (for now).   I've started harvesting chive blossoms (more on that later). I managed to gather yarn scraps to crochet the latest book blanket granny square, but have yet to crochet it.  Progress. I was asked if I had anymore croch...

  Beautiful sunrise we had here a few days ago. Have you heard?  There is a mysterious dog illness nationwide right now.  We still plan to install a dog fence, but it's a scary time to adopt a dog.  Have you been heard about all of the cantaloupe recalls lately?  There are many. The weather continues to cause delays on the coop build.  The joy of homesteading.  It's raining here again today.  It rained all day yesterday. Are you an evening tea drinker?  What is your go-to tea to wind down at the end of the day?  Is it something you grow perhaps?  My husband asked why the Christmas tree didn't have ornaments yet.  I laughed.  I have told him over and over, that we never organized the garage, so he has his "things" blocking my access to the Christmas totes.  He has promised to clean that up soon.  Do you give yourself rewards for good behavior?  Ha!  You know, like rewards for goals met?  Or breaking...

I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.   The weather . . . We went from 60-70's to 50's and rain, and this week we'll barely see 50°F with lows in the 30's.  I was successful at crossing off "wash rugs" and they dried outside before the weather turned. Right now I am . . . Posting this blog post and sipping coffee. Thinking and pondering . . . Well for starters, I'm searching to see if they sell metal ridge caps that are wider than 10 x 10 inches, and possibly covering the coop with a tarp until we figure things out. We have another set back with the chicken coop roofing.  He hand built the rafters, and the roofing he cut is too short for the ridge cap by about 2 inches.   Not what we needed with the holidays and such.  Otherwise the ridge cap would have been up last night.   How I am feeling . . . Tired.  However, I taught my granddaughter how to crochet.  In the amount of time she was here, she learned to chain stitch and ...

  The recent days have been in the high 60's and low 70's, up until Friday.  We dipped just a hair, and the rain moved in.  The rain did not stop me from working on the new coop.  I've dubbed it the "Hillbilly" hen house, ha ha!  We've had to do some crazy work in order to make things work with what we have.  Nothing seems to come together straight, nor level, but it's getting done. I decided to do things a big backwards, but it's a race against the clock with painting trim.  Instead of waiting for a day to measure and cut the trim, then paint it, I just painted what we had.  I can touch up later, but it's painted now, before the weather gets too cold.  The weather is quickly changing here. I bought my husband that wrist wrap that is on his wrist. It is magnetic and holds the screws for him.  Now he needs a carpenters apron and/or a tool belt.

  We know that what you read for measurements at the hardware stores are not actually the real measurement when buying lumber.  We were so consumed in just getting what we needed and getting back home, neither of us realized what he was basing the coop door on. He bought 10 inch wide boards, and the actual width is smaller.  Always shop with a measuring tape.  We knew this, and like I said, I think the stress of just getting it done was upon our brains. When they built the door, it came short of what we intended it to be.  Another eye roller moment, and another set back to get it all just right. Measure and measure twice when buying materials while building something.   Any who, the door was taken back down to paint, and I spent almost 4 hours painting the coop.  I ran out of paint, but the only areas left to paint are the very top front and back, where I need a partner present to climb our tallest ladder. I took advantage of our 60°F day, and wil...

All of my plant cuttings from the herb garden did not produce roots.  I had sage, basil, two cuttings of parsley, and one of spearmint, and they all died off.  I'm wondering if it was too late in the season.  I really want an indoor sage plant, so I may be looking for seeds or a plant soon. Our weekend went way too fast.  Saturday was a wash for a work day, due to an event that pretty much took over the entire day.  We worked on the chicken coop Sunday, but we both agreed that we do need help with the roofing.   Today I will be joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  The weather . . . We will be running about in the lower 60's for the high this week. Right now I am . . . Sipping coffee, posting this. Thinking and pondering . . .   I have a bottle of coconut syrup I need to use up.  Any suggestions other than topping pancakes/waffles? Oh!  I might be good on yogurt and granola.  Mmm. How I am feeling . . . I am really no...

  We were able to get some work done on the new chicken coop over the weekend.   We actually had help on Sunday.  We were so thankful for the help.  The door is built now, but the roof still needs put on it.   We have had some rather warmer fall days, which were great for outdoor work, other than the mutant ladybugs were out in full force (and they bite).  I finally got my kitchen sink leak fixed!  The gasket had broken off and fallen down into the drain pipe.  I'm drying out the cupboard (again) and will be using this situation to purge, clean and sort what goes back in the cupboard.  I just have to get it it good and dry, put the mat in, and get everything back into the cupboard.  Until then, I'm sort of tripping over stuff in the kitchen. Although I am thankful for the work on the coop, it always puts my indoor work behind.  I have a long week ahead of me.  I also realized I don't have a planner nor calendar for 20...

  The arrival of fall, and end of garden season (for the most part), is bittersweet.  I am thrilled to get a break from the work, but will really miss the fresh vegetables.  Next year I am planting cantaloupe and watermelons.  The price of fresh fruit this year was outrageous, and you can't really "clean" a cantaloupe from the store.  At least here, I know what is put on it or not put on it.  I may add honey dew to that list too. The last of the last yellow squash was taken care of.  I know I said I wasn't going to freeze any diced, but I was at the point of just being "done" with it. The last of the picked jalapenos were sliced and flash frozen for the up coming months.  I think we will have enough, although the hot peppers produced a lot less this year. Order is resuming in parts of the house, and it feels pretty darn good.  It's funny how just having all the sinks in the house clean at the same time can make a person feel more at...

  I finally got a chance to join this again.  The tomatoes were exhausting this year, but we are thankful to have them. The tomato plants have all been yanked, and are done for the season.  That was a big job.  The yellow squash and the zucchini plants have been yanked. (that's just the zucchini plants) The plants were huge this year.  I had not had time to pull the plants earlier, and it appears that the bees cross pollinated the zucchini with the yellow squash plants.  I am still getting some nice yellow squash, but some plants are like in the photo above.  Either way, they are out now.  I'm trying to leave the acorn squash, spaghetti squash, and pie pumpkins in as long as I can.  We got more work done on "Chicken Castle" or otherwise known as the Hilton Hen House.  We still need to frame in the door (woohoo for a regular walk-in door for me), build the door,  frame in the windows (yay for ventilation on hot summer days), then sid...

  I've gotten most of the jalapenos sliced and frozen for the winter/spring season.  I used a few to make another batch of fresh salsa as well.  There are a few more hot peppers to pick yet. I canned one batch of hot pepper relish, using up the hot banana peppers, two bell peppers and some jalapenos.  I am not getting enough hot banana peppers to make it twice.  I'm okay with that. We are still enjoying our slicer tomatoes for meals like tacos, breakfast side dish, topped on burgers, or in other meals.   I will do a re-check on our hot pepper jelly, but I honestly don't feel I will get enough hot peppers over all to can any this season.  The evenings are dipping to the 40's here, so unless we heat up again, the plants won't last much longer.  We never did get any fall planting done.  Life can throw a wrench in your plans once in a while. We hope to get back to the chicken coop this week, during evenings.  It's on the top of the list...

  The days have been long here lately, and thank you for all of your kind words.  Our very loved, 20 year-old grand niece, left behind two beautiful baby boys.  One is 18 months old and the the other is 6 months old.  Our niece and nephew (grandparents) will be raising them.  Funeral arrangements hit hard, as we've gone through the motions way too many times.  It's been so difficult getting through the days.   In the midst of all the mental distress, the garden is throwing a lot a me.  First picking of tomatoes came to 67 pounds.  I'll be very busy.   Not sure what will get canned yet, as my brain is overloaded as it is. I canned way too much tomato soup last year, so I will cut back on that this year.  I am trying to pass the last dozen jars around to the kids, so they are not wasted, as I prepare canned tomato items this season. Green bell peppers are still rolling in and I had a dozen to freeze, and some to eat. The zuc...

  Short post today.  We started building the new coop over the weekend.  However, he bought the wrong size wood, so it's bigger than it should be.  We got two wall frames up, and he changed his mind and will be cutting the walls down for a shorter coop.  This man.  I am happy we are starting to build it, but I thought he had this all planned out too.   I didn't get any other pictures, as it was very hot out and we were extremely tired.  We reached out for help, and once again, no help.   Just the shopping, loading and unloading wears us out.  Roofing is heavy too, and so far that job sounds like it will be just him and I, and I am not looking forward to that. I already have bruises, burst blood vessels, and he's sporting bandaids. Biofreeze has been our best friend.  I'll try and get my camera out there for photos later this week, if we getting any progress done on it. Like I said, we will be going a bit backwards on it fo...