This and That ~ Welcome April

 We have been using local beef tallow for maybe a year now, but it is $5.99/pound.  We have located a better resource for buying it, and at a lower price of $2.49/pound.  Thankfully, we can freeze it, so we are re-stocked for a while.  We only fry fish (perch and walleye), and that is only when we are gifted the fish.  Once a year I make homemade corn dogs with all beef hotdogs.  I have used the beef tallow to grease pans, and that works great too.

I have been substituting oil with the tallow, for when I make steel cut oat patties, squash patties, or anything similar needing "oil" to pan "fry" or cook.

The same resource also sells local lard, and that can be frozen as well.

I have been checking around at prices for vanilla beans, and the online resource (for organic) is still the best price.  In store prices seem to be high.  The above photo was taken at a bulk Amish food store.

The daffodils are starting to bloom here.  We have several varieties growing in the flower beds.

The hyacinths are popping up now.

Green onions are continuing to spring back to life.  I'll be adding them to meals very soon.

Chives are springing back to life as well, and they will soon be in our daily meals too.  As you  an see, I have not cleaned out the herb garden or even the flower beds.  It's too soon, although it's tempting on warmer days around here.

April is bringing us a lot of rain.  A lot.  It's also bringing more back and forth weather, and with the warmer days, it's bringing in tiny ants.

I had to put out soaked cotton balls to get rid of the ants again.  I mix a 50-50 solution of borax and granulated sugar.  I add enough water to mix up a "paste" solution.  I coat cotton balls with the solution, and put them on small pieces of waxed paper in the areas where the ants are coming in.  The wax paper just makes clean up so much easier.  Otherwise the borax mixture will leave a mess on the surface of where you place the cotton balls.  The ants will devour it, but the borax kills the ants within a day or less.  

We finished this puzzle.  Will colder days be coming to an end?  Well.  Welcome April!  We woke up to 23°F this morning.  We have had snow all the way to Easter, so it's not impossible, although we'd like to have Spring stay put.

This and That ~ Welcome April ©  April 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

This and That

 It's a "this and that" sort of post today.  It seems to be that in-between season of slowly emerging from winter resting to spring activities.  The weather continues go all over the map.

We purchased this popcorn seasoning last year sometime, and the bottle is about empty.  I just now realized it has fennel in it.  Anyway, we cannot locate it in any stores, and apparently it's made in Indiana.  I'm sure it's for sale on Amazon, but I'd like to find a recipe to make this myself.  We love popcorn as a snack, and often times after a hot day in the garden, alongside a cold iced tea.

We love this seasoning, as it is not super salty, and offers the herbs for healthy flavorings (added health benefits).  I've sent an email off to inquire within a store.  I may be experimenting with my own homegrown herbs, if we cannot locate it again.  

Current puzzle.  Nothing news-worthy going on, other than we are getting outside more often as the weather gets nicer.  The puzzle came in a collectable tin.  Sorry the light in the photo is not that great.

As for any purging/organizing, I finally got around to moving my printed recipes from the broken binder into two new binders.  I'm so glad I did this too.  It took a while to do too.  I needed the recipe for pumpkin oat breakfast bake, so I decided it was a good time to get this project finished.  By the way, we are still enjoying frozen pumpkin puree from last year's garden.

 When I emptied the old binder, I found a stack of printed and unfiled recipes in the back pocket (sigh).  I tossed a few, saved a few to try, and filed the ones we already tried and wanted to keep.  I have had this project sitting in a living room chair for over two weeks.  

Project is done, and no I do not intend to add any more recipes, other than we are looking for a homemade, healthy French salad dressing recipe.  As the weather gets warmer, we are wanting salads more often.

 I found one recipe in my mess of unfiled recipes, but it calls for "chili sauce." Not sure what that means.  Regular chili sauce?  Sweet?  And would I find a non-gmo brand?  Hm.  The recipes for French dressing seem to all call for sugar, but this particular one calls for honey.

This and That  ©  March 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Extreme Cold Spell

 The last time we had temperatures at -20F° was back in the first week of January of 2014.  Eleven years ago.  According to my blog anyway.  The weatherman on the news channel is saying we had these cold temperatures six years ago.  

Tuesday it was -12°F with a windchill (feels like).  Monday we at least had sunshine the entire day.  Tuesday it was dark and cloudy with a bit of sun here and there.

Today we didn't quite hit the -20 mark, but we did hit -5°F with a windchill of -19°F.  Thankfully, water is running, as we let the faucets drip overnight. 

We restocked on bird seed, and this one has a lever that will shut the feed area if a squirrel tries to hop on for a meal.

Garden prep:

I had some time to go through my garden planting plan for this year, and I realized we did not plant any type of pea last year.  We never got the pea fence back up.

What are you gardeners planting for sugar snap peas?  I am considering trying something new.  A snap pea that is perfect for a summer cold snack and/or cooked as well.   

More sunshine and more animal tracks.

No sign of the cat this week so far.  More tracks close to the house, which we think is from a fox.  Not sure on the ones in the photo without going out to take a closer look.  We've seen squirrel and rabbit tracks lately.

Our first puzzle activity.   We just opened the box this week.  I need to pay attention to the size of the puzzle next time.  The puzzle is huge!  A $20 puzzle I got for $10.00.  Is that a good deal?  It's 1000 pieces.

I don't often visit the dollar store, but if I am in the area, I do stop in for restocking some things.  I picked up a few word search books this trip as well as a few hair barrettes.  The word search books come in handy for waiting room activities, when I don't feel like reading, or crocheting.  The word search books, and puzzle, are also just a small part of my "stay off the internet/phone" plan for the year.  

Not pictured, I also bought for the chickens - 3 cheap dog food bowls for treat bowls, and feed scoop.

Also not pictured, for homemade salves/lotions - bought 1 cheap spatula.

With the puzzle now in motion, we have lots of options during these cold cold nights.  Many businesses closed today, including our local trash pick up.  Many people were still required to go to work, but I think all schools are closed today.

Speaking of puzzles, I wanted to buy one at the used book store last weekend, and my husband said I should wait until we get this current one done.  I see that they already sold the one I wanted, so when in doubt, just buy it.

Stay warm, and seek joy and joyful people in your life.  I know this post is all over the "map" today, but I was reading a book that talked about finding joy in everyday things.  Doing dishes, spreading peanut butter on bread, doing laundry, etc.  I never sought out joy in any of my every day chores (intentionally).  This year is different.

You only get this day to experience once.  What "fun" will you have in your day today?  My chickens will get some fun today.  I bought them a new snack mix, and I will be adding a sprinkle of hot red pepper flakes to help keep their innards warm.

Extreme Cold Spell © January 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart