Spring Blooms

 

A few tulips are starting to bloom.  

Tulips are not the only spring life coming to life right now.  Although most people would yank these and toss them (as weeds), I see cleavers, purple dead nettle and some chickweed. 

The spring herbs and flowers are working my creative mind.  I've been dehydrating, infusing and such.  I'm also doing more reading (herbal books).  There is much to learn yet.  I am learning of two new salves I may make and try, and have been learning more with creative herbal seasoning mixes.

I keep forgetting to get a photo of the purple shell blanket progress, but it's the slowest going project yet. The photo is an earlier photo of the beginning of the blanket.

It's not time consuming because of the stitch, but because the weather outside is nicer (so much we can do now, and jobs to work on), and I am spending a lot less time with the crochet hook.  

The yarn was in the mass amount of yarn given to me last year.  I know the variegated yarn in this blanket is discontinued, so I dug through the stash she gave me, and came up with a rotation to use up 4 of the colors (using up all of the variegated, and darker purple I added in with a few rows).  I am using the shell stitch and a "J" hook for the blanket. It's a bit too large and thick for a baby blanket, so I will donate this one to an area assisted living facility per a request.  I'll get a finished photo as soon as it's finished.  

We are getting more 80 degree days, but we are also getting more rain.  Our tornado warning alarm went off due to an area spotted tornado last night.  We are getting more rain, which will put a damper in my herb collecting, garden clean up, and garden prep work.  

Spring Blooms ©  April 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

This and That ~ Welcome March

The new sprouts for the chickens.  These are organic peas.  I am sprouting a small amount to introduce them to the ladies (chickens) and see if they like them or not.  They love sprouted lentils.  They should be ready to treat the ladies in a few days now.  

 Welcoming March!  We already had our first adventure day trip on March 1st.  We drove a few hours to visit one of the kids and their new house.  The weather was back to freezing cold here, so what a better way to spend a Saturday in winter.

I surely gave me a break from lining closet shelves and purging clothing.

My goodness, it was so nice to see the kids and their pets again.  We haven't seen their pets in many years, and Jasper (cat), bless his heart at 16 years old, sniffed my face, put his nose to my nose and rubbed his head on my forehead.  He remembered me.  He did the same with my husband.  Such a sweet moment.

Of course we stopped at a pet store and picked up toys and treats for all three of them.  We had a meal with the kids, got a tour of the house, and it snowed the entire time.  Loved every minute of it, and this particular daughter is crocheting!  Ha!  She is crocheting a blanket. She has a stack of books she read, and I shared with her my crochet "book" blanket.  She is just a beginner, but I will still offer ideas to her.

On the drive home, I convinced my husband to make a pit stop at a JoAnn Fabrics (on the route home), and check out the yarn.  Sadly, the yarn was already picked over and very limited.  What I did find, was 25% off.  They had a ton of #10 cotton thread, but hardly anything left of Caron, Redheart and Lion brand yarns.  We only have one JoAnn Fabrics within a 30 minute drive from our home.  I did find another one this morning, about a 33 minute drive.  

Do you have anything exciting planned this month?  I do not, but every day brings us an "open book" so to speak.  I have already sent a few emails, to inquire about some walking trails/parking etc.  We also visited a book store and purchased a guide book with trails in our state.  There is no local bookstore close to our homestead.  Everything here is a bit of a drive.

I do plan to get outside this month more than we did last month, now that we are approaching better weather. Ha, or we hope to anyway.  

My first goal this month, is to locate some inexpensive tulip bulbs.  I want to experiment in planting them again.  The first year we lived here moles ate every single one.  I read one idea in a recent book, so hence "inexpensive" bulbs to try it with.  I absolutely love Breck's bulbs, but want to be sure the moles will leave the bulbs alone (otherwise I'll pot them in pots and insert the pots into the gardens).  I love tulips, and really, really, miss having them in our spring flower beds.  We do have two mole chasing windmills up too (and I still see mole hills some days).

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