Garden ~ Canning Halted ~ Butterfly Pea Flower Tea ~ Power Outage Preparedness ~ Lap Afghans Donated

 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 we now have two options.  To dehydrate the green onions, you want to leave them whole (like I do with chives).  I store them as whole as I can in a canning jar, which is vacuum sealed.  I will snip or grind them as needed.  Each preservation method produces a different flavor and different texture.  

Snow is in the forecast, along with the rain.  Who knows what we'll get.  There are coyote and raccoon droppings all around the property as fall weather turns.

We've been trying to focus meals on meat and vegetables lately.  Easy, healthy and lower cost.  Fruit is always in the mix of course, but we are thrilled to find a new butcher for most of our meat (lowering our cost).  In the photo is a roast I put in a crock pot by itself (veggies in another one), and simply topped it with salt, pepper and a container of homemade mushroom soup (which I pre-make and freeze).  Absolutely delicious.

(Applesauce cake baked with home canned applesauce and a bit of molasses, topped with crock pot baked {similar to fried apples} apples)

Sadly, my canning is halted for the season (again, out of my control).  I have more apples, but we'll be adding them to salads, cooked meals (with vegetables), added to yogurts, crock pot "fried" apples, and such.  I want to try an Einkorn applesauce cake next.

I have already listed plans for apple canning next year.  I'm not sure if we'll get apples every year yet.  We'll find out next season.

Tea time . . .

New medicinal/herbal tea tried.  I have had the flowers, but brewed the tea for my facial toner.  I finally had to the time to brew some, and try it as iced tea.  I have discovered that adding lemon infused honey makes this the best.  It's butterfly pea flower tea (organic).  I will be trying it hot in the future.  I'm on the fence with buying another herbal tea recipe book.

I have since located two stores that specialize with teas, and one particularly with medicinal herbal teas.  Both are a bit of a drive, but on the radar for when there is time to check them both out.  

A recent power outage (actual two days of outages within one week)  gave us the chance to try out some portable, battery operated light bulbs.  I do have chargeable light bulbs in some lamps as well (some charge as they are used daily).  I do see how more canned fruit would come in handy for power outages, so that is on my radar for next year.  We also have two solar chargeable light bulbs, and are interested in expanding more preparedness for such times.  Our portable (small generator) can run the portable electric water pot, coffee pot, or other appliances.

On the handicraft front . . .

Seven crocheted lap afghans were donated to an organization that helps veterans and first responders this year.  I package each one in a zipper bag.  It keeps them clean for transport, and eventually to the new owner.

Started a new lap afghan.  I'm currently searching for new blanket patterns using stripes of different colors of yarn.

I had purchased a snap project bag for another crochet project, and needed one for traveling back and forth for appointments, and they did not have the same one in stock.  I ordered this one, and was not disappointed, although more expensive.  The larger part has a side zipper area, shoulder strap, and comes with a scissor holder and smaller zipper storage bag.  It works perfectly for the size I needed. 

It's been one doozy of a year, and we are so ready for it to be over with, so we can start a new year with renewed inspiration. 

It's time to finish up notes in our garden journal for the year.  We did not plant fall garlic (beyond our control), but we do plan to plant it fall of 2026.  I have dug up two chive starts, and already have someone to gift them to.  Thanks for reading today's, much longer than usual, blog post.

Garden ~ Canning Halted ~ Butterfly Pea Flower Tea ~ Power Outage Preparedness ~ Lap Afghans Donated  ©  November 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Reset ~ Recharge

It wasn't really planned, but the first day of November was dedicated to resetting my home and health, and recharging for the fall/winter chores.

The travel coffee maker (single, but cheap brand) was cleaned up and put away.  The cooler we traveled often with, was also put away.  Counters completely cleaned off and sanitized (I like my homemade 4 Thieves cleaner), extra purchased dry goods were canned and vacuumed sealed, travel totes with paper plates etc. were put back in storage, and the suitcase put back in storage.

I have two absorbant coffee pot/grinder mats.  While one is being washed the other is put out.  It really helps keep the coffee pot area tidy.  We like coffee.

I double checked canning supplies, expiration dates on pectin, and so forth.  Checked the winter tea supply, and even dehydrated more sage.

I had a half bag of sugar sitting on the counter for a few weeks, and finally put it canning jars, and vacuum sealed them.  I did not can a lot of my regular condiments this year, due to lack of garden harvest, and it needed to be stored for future use.

I did the same with some extra oats I purchased as well.  I am, however, running out of wide-mouth canning jars.

There is nothing better, than to wake up to a spic n' span cleaned up kitchen.  It was then, that I could light a candle, relax, re-write my to-do lists, and really recharge physically and mentally.

 Kitchen Tip:  Did you know that if you are out of baking soda, you can substitute 3 teaspoons of baking powder for 1 teaspoon of baking soda?  

I just learned this, but typically we have more baking soda on hand than powder.  I thought I would share this tip, but I have not needed to try it.

The first Sunday morning (time change for us), despite it being 36°F out, I took my coffee to the porch to watch the sunrise.  There were 4 deer that came out for viewing.  There were 3 bucks and a doe grazing in a harvested corn field. You can see the bigger buck the very right.  We saw two more later in the mid-morning (doe and a buck).

We finally did a garage clean out.  Whew!  I could not believe how much we were able to donate, give away and toss out.  It really was a big mess in there.  I even moved all of my empty plastic drawers (used to store yarn) out there to organize things.  

No menu plan yet this week, but I came up with the most delicous breakfast burrito with leftovers.  You could eat this as a scramble too.

(husband added hot sauce to his, but you could also add jalapeno if you froze any, or even fire powder)

I used leftover scrambled eggs from my husband's to-go breakfast, diced up leftover brisket, cooked half of a butternut squash that was already cubed, added bell pepper, onion, garlic, rosemary and sage.  We added just a bit of shredded cheddar cheese.  It turned out so good, and we wasted zero leftovers

The to-do list is pretty much the typical list for November, although much of it was done in October last year.  We are finally getting rain this morning, and we are expecting a warmer month.  I'm still waiting on cooler days to roast and preserve pumpkins, spaghetti squash, acron squash, etc.  I have tinctures in the making, and oils infusing for salve making, so the month will not be idle (but yet a much slower pace).

Until next time.  Toodles.

Reset ~ Recharge © November 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Homestead Happenings

The title should be "what's not happening" ha ha!  Hubby is still working 12 hour shifts.  I see him for about 2 hours from when he wakes up to when he returns to work.  Yesterday, I woke up early (surprisingly) and noticed he wasn't home.

I texted that I was a bit worried.  He texted back "working till 10."  I texted, "can they do that?!"  That would be a 16 hour shift, and he has a one hour drive home.  Let's just say I was wide awake at that point.


In the meantime.

I have put 6 cups of shredded zucchini in the freezer.  It's not a lot sadly.  We need rain.  I can water with well water and some with rain barrels, but a good soaking is so very badly needed.  I put up about 2 more pounds of green beans too.

Serviceberry Jam ~ Big Purge

Most people I have talked to, do not know what a serviceberry is.  It's almost like a mini-blueberry, but starts out looking like a mini-cherry.  It has the flavor of a blueberry, and is, what I call, seedy.

All the recipes for serviceberry jam, that I could find on the internet, used a large portion of these berries.  If you've picked them, you know it takes a lot of picking to get even a few cups.