Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I have yet to remedy the websites using my blog for whatever they are using it for.  The views cut down by about 200, but considering I posted a very, very short post yesterday, it's still getting 300 views from advertiser businesses and other businesses.  All to read about how they are using my blog too. It is very annoying to be honest.  I have not had a lot of time to work on putting a stop to it, but I did look into a few of the sites to "opt" out and there were no options to remove my blog.  Not sure what to do next.  If I do remedy the situation, I will remove the page breaks on my posts. The majority of viewers are from Hong Kong and Singapore (huh?).  Like it's been suggested, AI may be the reason, and one we cannot avoid, as Blogger has very little privacy options.

  Along with an experimental baking, this is my experimental post to see how things go too.  Thank you for all of your advice on the blog issues.  

  Two weeks ago we had another heat wave, bringing temperatures up to 104 degrees.  It was very, very humid too.  Following that, we got 5 days of rain.  Good for the garden.  Bad for the weed problems.  We just go with "the flow" of things and do the best we can. Humidity has been about 100% lately.  The thickness in the air almost takes your breath away.  Too hot and humid for anything outdoors. Harvested our very first zucchini July 23rd, and our very first yellow squash July 24th (a late harvest year).  They both went into breakfast, and my husband was delighted with his go-to breakfast - Eggs from the ladies, roasted squash with onion and herbs from the herb garden, and smoked bacon from an area butcher store (a breakfast win from the freezer).  So good! I am making a meat re-stock list of course, but the meals created by randomly picking freezer items has been fun and successful.  I did, however (gulp), find a few bags of fro...

  Yes, you can buy cans of chili peppers for about $.70 and up, but there is nothing better than homemade diced chili peppers.  A small 4 oz. can of organic diced chili peppers are costing about $2.19 a can in our area now. I have had this on my "try it" list since last garden season, and had intentions of canning them.  I am "on the fence" with canning them for now.  I'll explain. How I made our chili peppers - picked larger fresh Anaheim peppers from the garden.  Washed them, dried them, cut off stems, sliced them in half lengthwise, and cleaned out the ribs and seeds. I placed them all cut side down on a parchment paper lined baking dish, and roasted them in a pre-heated oven at 450°F.  I, however, decided to reduce the heat to 400 before placing the baking sheet in the oven.  I roasted my peppers for about 20 minutes, until the skins were bubbly (watch them so they do not burn).  These smelled fantastic right out of the oven! I removed them fr...

I have had one run-in with a baby deer this garden season.  I'm not sure who was more surprised, me or him/her.  Off it ran and no damage to the garden.  I do think we may have another ground hog, but have not seen it for a while.  A bug of some sort is having a feast on my garden kale, so once we catch up on the weeds and such, I'll sprinkle some flour with pepper mixed into it (husband's trick). It's a bit disconcerting to not have much to harvest yet , and hear the sound of locusts announcing fall is around the corner.  The rain is coming down almost every other day or every day, so the weeds are winning I think.  The bonus win is not having to drag 200+feet of garden hose out to water stuff. Our first Anaheim peppers from the garden.  They are huge as they should be.  However, it's not enough to process, so they are in the crisper drawer to use for current meals.  Or I have plan B too. The cherry type (heirloom) tomatoes are finally on an...

  Like most garden summers, it's been a whirlwind of activity.  Weeding is hit or miss with the recent downpours and storms here lately.  I can't complain for not having to water anything.  Somehow, in between storms, the mowing and trimming got done. (leaves are bigger than my hand this year- woohoo to a great crop) The Red Russian Kale I planted, did very well this year.  I harvested a pretty good lot already.  The kale we grow has a less bitter taste, and more favorable for fresh salads or topping a sandwich.  The frozen kale will be used for smoothies, soups, stews, casseroles, breakfast casseroles and anything I can add greens to add more nutrition. However, pint freezer bags are very hard to find in our area.  Just a few places sell them.  One year, I was lucky to snag a "bulk" box of them at a nearby Menards (not available this year). I am still getting a few more radishes, and the Swiss chard is doing great this year.  Everything...

  I hope your July 4th was an enjoyable holiday.  We spent it by ourselves.   One weekend night we were able to watch fireworks from our front porch at night, and there were about 5-6 different towns or people setting them off (one was spectacular).   The break in rain finally gave us (I mean "me") a chance to weed the garden, re-tie up the tomatoes (they grew another foot), hill potatoes, harvest some Red Russian Kale and more radishes.  Boy it's still hot here. Sunday it was 94°F with a heat index of (feels like) 97°F (not as hot as it has been). My homemade bug spray is working great other than it does not work to deter the teeny tiny gnat type bugs flying around.  They seem to be attracted to the body sweat while working in the hot sun (so annoying). There is not enough work being done in the gardens, in one day, due to the heat, the humidity, the rain, or a combination of these issues. Overwhelmed.  Frustrated.  Those are few words ...

  A few snippets from the flower beds.  It's not everything, but some beauties right now.  I took these on my phone, so the photos are not that great.  I have yet to replace my actual camera (soon I hope). One of our regular's from the herb garden - two types of sage. We have  had this one for over 20-some years, and moved it twice.  Love it!  It already bloomed this season. Added this sage about three years ago.  I believe it is called Greek Sage.  We love sage in homemade breakfast sausage, teas, medicinal teas, and tincture.  Sage tea (as well as ginger tea), is great for a sore throat. The heat index was not as bad yesterday, as the day before, but we did get up to 96°F.  All  of the seeds, that I replanted in the vegetable garden, are sprouting but a scant few.  It will be hot again today, and then possible rain moving back in (we need it too). I found a wild growing mullein plant growing in the yard, so I dug it...

Sunrises have been murky with smoke this summer.  Definitely not as beautiful as last year.  It has taken a toll on our eyes here at the homestead, not to mention throats.  Like I say, "I have a tea for that." The garden is growing, thanks to more rain here, as well as somewhat warm days.  There is a bad storm forecasted later today.  Just about everything is coming up now, and I may even plant a few more borage seeds.  My feverfew seeds are not sprouting very well, and I am concerned there will be no harvest.  I will look into other seed sources just in case. The seeds that sprouted the quickest were the mashed potato squash seeds I saved from last year's garden (originally from Territorial Seeds).  There is one new winter squash, that was planted, that has not sprouted anything yet (and I bought a very small amount to try).   I will be doing a lot more seed saving, but not from anything I grew from High Mowing Seeds.  Last year, a...