Pioneer Woman at Heart

(although foggy, rain has stayed away for a few days here) The garden hoses have been pulled out of storage.  It's a task for sure.  We require about 200 feet or so of garden hose to water our garden. Our very first garden was pretty small.  Our farmhouse had zero water spigots outside.  None. We hauled water cans, and buckets in a wheeled cart to water it, and the garden flourished. We have also unpacked the garden tool bags I take out to the garden, watering cans, solar chargeable motion sensor do-hickies that send out a high pitched noise to deter the squirrels etc.  The first year we put them out, we never saw one squirrel until we took them out for the season.  Some stopped working, but most are still solar charging.    The gardens are tilled now, and one garden area fence is back in place.  Fencing has been acquired for the other garden (although it will not keep deer from jumping).  We have successfully planted all of the tomato p...

  I had a request to share the final wild violet jelly after it was processed and made, and I am finally getting the photos together to share that.   I apologize for the delay. 2 cups of wild violets with 2 cups of boiling water poured over them to infuse).  I was told to let it sit up to 24 hours, but I have let my infusion stay in the fridge after that for up to 3 days.  Strain the flowers from the liquid. Add juice of one organic lemon.  The mixture turns from a blue-ish color to a more pink color. Add the liquid to a pot on the stove, and add one box of powdered pectin.  Stir and bring to a boil. Don't forget to get canning pot ready and prepare jars and lids. Once it comes to a boil, add 4 cups of sugar and bring to a hard boil for 1 minute. Fill jars with 1/4 inch head space, wipe rims, add lids and I put my jars in a water bath for 15 minutes.  The recipe I was shared, did not have a water bath time, but most jelly recipes say 10 minutes. T...

Last fall, I roasted the last of the mashed potato squash we grew in the garden, and froze them.  I thawed a container for a dinner, and it thawed very nicely.  Hardly any water in it, and I just gave it a good stir before reheating. Reheated with some salt and butter, and it tasted as good as freshly roasted mashed potato squash.  Yum!  I'm happy to report it worked out very nicely to roast, freeze, thaw and reheat.   We will be growing mashed potato squash again this year.  I'm so glad we discovered this squash. Mashed Potato Squash ~ Does it Freeze Well?   ©  May 2025 by  Kristina  at  Pioneer  Woman at Heart

                        (old photo of picked plantain, but I used both broad leaf and narrow-leafed plantain for the salve)   I completely forgot to share our newest addition to the medicine cabinet  - plantain salve.  It's a homemade drawing salve.  Plantain  (a weed that grows wild) is what saved me when I had a very nasty spider bite years ago.  I asked my husband to go outside and pick it, macerate it, and make a poultice.  I used it until I found a decent doctor (which was hard to do at the time). I used 1/2 cup infused oil (used grapeseed oil to infuse it), and 2 Tbsp. of beeswax.  Heat together until the beeswax is melted, pour into jars and cool completely.  You can add essential oils too, but add them after you take the melted oil/beeswax off the heat. By the way, before this was made, and I needed a drawing salve, I used a mix of homemade calendula oil, some store purchased...

  Mashed potato squash was a new garden treasure to grow last summer.  There is very little information about it online, and very little information if it freezes well.   We do not have a root cellar, so as of now, freezing our roasted squash is are best option at preserving it for the winter months. I roasted the last of our mashed potato squash, and allowed it to cool.  I scooped out the flesh and froze it.  I know it will thaw somewhat watery, as it is that way after roasting it.   The plan will be to mix it with pureed squash, add it to tomato sauce, or other dishes.  I am not sure if it will not be solid enough to enjoy on it's own, after thawing. I'll update as we thaw and use it in our meals.  I purposely waited to roast them, thinking it would help heat up this house. Mashed Potato Squash ~ Roasting and Freezing Trial #1   © January 2025 by  Kristina  at  Pioneer  Woman at Heart

Peel several cloves of garlic.  You will need a garlic mincer to do this. Line the dehydrator trays with parchment paper. Using the garlic mincer, mince the garlic onto the parchment paper.  I use the tip of a knife to spread the garlic out. Using the directions in your dehydrator guide book, dehydrate the minced garlic until crisp.  Once done, simply scrap the dried garlic off and store in an airtight glass jar. The color will change as it dries. Note:  I use this in my canned cowboy candy and any recipe that calls for minced (dry) garlic.

The process of this spring jelly is so intriguing.  It starts out the color of this (above). Wild Violet Jelly 2 cups freshly picked wild violets 2 cups of water, boiled Place violets in a quart canning jar and pour boiling water over it.  Seal with the canning lid, allow to cool, and refrigerate overnight. Day 2 Strain the violets from the liquid and add juice of one lemon or 3 Tbsp. of organic/non-gmo lemon juice.  Pour liquid into a steel pan and add 1 pkg. powdered pectin and bring to a boil. Add:  4 cups of sugar, bring to a boil and boil 1 minute. Power into sterilized jars, wipe rims, add lids and rims and place in canner pot to boil for 15 minutes.  (1/2 inch head space) Cool for 24 hours. Yield:  approx. 4 - 1/2 pint jars or 8 4oz. jars. (3rd time I made this, I squeezed the liquid from the violets, getting 1 more 1/2 pint jar of jelly. Note:  I break this up into 2 days, since it takes a bit of time to pick all those vio...

 Yesterday's sunrise.  Just beautiful! I took some time to pick up two five gallon buckets of our black walnuts.  They have pretty much fallen in the last few days here.  In fact, they were falling on me as I picked them up.  Black walnuts contain more protein than English walnuts and have a stronger flavor. The hulling and rinsing process is underway, but these will need to dry in the sun.  (click on "read more" to see the remainder of the post).

I did not go looking for this recipe.  I found it in a library book - Pearls of Wisdom, Tops, Shortcuts, and Recipes from a Country Home , by Deborah S. Tukua, who adapted their recipe from Countryside Magazine.  The actual color is more of a amber brown than the color it shows in the photo.

Although I am still coughing a bit, I donned my winter coat and boots, and finally shoveled out the clothesline.  As most folks driving by will turn their head, I had a nice time getting fresh air, listening to the birds sing, and enjoying the sunshine.  However, I probably should have stayed inside.

If Hubby had said to me, "let's not grow a garden this year" I would have said "okay."  Then I would have secretly done the "hallelujah" dance when he wasn't looking.  Honestly, I think he feels the same way this year. Seriously.  Look what's next - wild black raspberries.  I decided to skip making mulberry jam.  The birds are too quick for me, and the pie pans in the tree are not working in my  favor. I admit it.  I have garden burn-out syndrome this year.  And it has just begun.  I think it's the 95° heat index, and the humidity.  Mom sent me an e-mail sharing her "Snapdragon" days.  It starts out with a nice photo of snapdragons in a garden.  Then it gets funny, with a turtle looking haggard.  I laughed my bum off. It said, "Part of me has snapped, and part of me is draggin." Ha ha ha ha! We're allowed to feel that way.  Or should I be saying "shame on me?" It's going to be another "...

W e ran into "s nags" with the goat fencing.  We could not drive t-posts , due to cement around the found ation, so we nailed up 2 x4 's against the barn and then ran the fencing out.  However, once we started getting on a "roll" we ran into needing another tool . My 16 year-old finished put ting up some last boards, to keep the stalls baby s afe, and started moving her supplies last night.  She finally finished about 9:00pm.   Do you see that little gal on the outside of the pen?  That little escape artist got throug h the boards.  My daughter had to go back out after dinner, and put metal f encing all around the stall.  We still need to board up the "birthing " stall that is on t he very right, and then the outside (temporary) fencing (back of the stall).  Thank goodness the barn has a small a nimal door that slides , that we took advantage of, and the fencing will be direct ly on the outside of that door. After that we have a ...

It's Sunday and we already have a busy "work" day (I detest work on Sunday, but this "stuff" must get done ....once and for all). Have you ever had a job that needed to be completed, and it just kept dragging out ?  And out?  And out?  And you never thought it would get finished ? The goat stalls , in the other barn, are on e of those jobs. Every time there is a day to work..... something is needed, something breaks, or the drill battery dies.  Or there is some kind of interrup tion that stalls the job.  And then there is the weather. Today is the day, I want this job finished .  Say a prayer .  We still have to move temp or ary fencing, buil d new fencing, and so f orth.   The reality of self-sufficiency , is that it takes investment .  Including time.     We don't have hired hands, and hubby works out side the home full-time.   And the other reality is, is that I have very little time, even as a stay-at-home Mom...

I t look s like I will need to do some baking wi th some ripe banana s, as the kids are not eating them up lately.  We are all still battling the "cru d" and wish it to be gone today. We have some work to get done, and have taken inventory on the new goat stalls.  We've got some plans with the goats too.   Blondie remains to be cantankerous.  She loves her grass and will do anything to get at it .  Including breaking her wire fencing.   We have some plans to work on that too.  We may be in a bit of a situation with her too.  I'll have more on t hat as we contact the ve t.

I adapted the recipe for Egg less Peanut Butter C ookies , by using natural peanut butter, and lard (v s. shortening) .  Once we have goat's milk again, I will bake these again, using organic butter and goat 's mi lk ( vs . the buttermilk ). These were pre tty good, and I got about 6 1 /2 dozen cookies, by using my smaller pampered chef cookie sc oop.   I think these woul d make a wonder ful addition to our Christmas cookies next season too.  And I am betting they would freeze well.  

. . . made homemade chewy granola bars . These, al though buttery, were absolutely amazin g.  The flavor is incr edible.  This was the fir st time we used almond flour and ground mace.  I found the almond flour less expensive at the health store, vs. at the grocery store.  I f I find more recipes to use the flour in, I will make my o wn almond flour, using my dehydrator .  The store brand we were buying co ntain ed High Fru ctose Corn Syru p. Chewy Granola Bars (from The Back in the Day Ba kery Cookbook , by Cher yl Day and Griffith Day) 1 1/3 cups quick -co oking oats 1 cup packed light brown su gar 2/3 cup almond flour 1/2 teaspo on ground cinnamon (I used organic) 1/4 teaspoon ground mace 1 cup sal ted cashew pi eces, roughly chopped 1/2 cup dried ap ricots, finely chopped 1/2 cup dri ed p ru ne s, finely chopped 1/2 cup dried blueberries 12 tablespoons, uns alted butter, melted (I used org anic) 2 tsp. vanilla extract 1/4 cup (G...