Pioneer Woman at Heart

I have dug up several volunteer herb plants, that were planted into small pots we saved from previous garden planting.  These were simply plants that spread into other areas of my herb garden.  I have not yet decided if I will put them for sale, or gift them to those wanting to start their own herb garden. Moving on....a few of my new devotionals.                              Just flipping pages in this one, I am going to like it.  It will stay in the camper of course (Devotions for campers). I love the concept of a combination brain activity (word search), with a daily devotional.   I'll be back when the canner pot releases me from captivity.  Possibly before that.  Taking breaks is nice, but tomatoes are getting ripe at the same time (which is what is supposed to happen).  Use them or lose them. Meanwhile, I have another big bowl of green beans to freeze, and a big bowl o...

  Tomato sauce canned.  It's been time consuming this month, so hence the lack of blog posts.  Sigh.  It's been very tiring lately, as well as dealing with life in general.  Canning is nothing new to my blog, so new content is an issue too.  Unless we grow something new or can a new recipe.   I'm continuing to dehydrate more home grown lemon balm for the winter teas, drying more calendula for salves, and so forth. Catastrophe has happened with my husband's cell phone while mowing.  He said he didn't realize it at first, but when he turned around and saw smoke, he new he ran over his cell phone.  More expenses have rolled in.  Life has a way of doing that once in a while. I have not worked on my crochet book blanket in many months.  Canning season can do that too.  It can be very consuming, so much that you often feel left out of fall events. We hear zero from our kids, so we are considering our holiday plans (or no plans) ...

  August was a very full filled month.  Overall it was great.  I learned things, I tried new things, canning season started, Ketchup Sweet Pickle Relish (just a few photos to share)  processed a lot from the garden, dehydrated on cooler days, and wrote a lot.   The storms we got a few days ago, have taken out several more of our tomato plants. I have to admit, I have not read a lot lately, but I am getting some itty, bitty travel time on one book. It seems to be taking me forever, but I will finish it eventually.  I am loving the non-fiction book I'm currently reading as well.  Two pages a day is better than zero a day.  I also have two new devotionals I will share soon.  I just need to get a photo of them.  So yes, "fun" and "relaxation" are still in the our lives while canning season is in full swing.  Just not so much crochet, ha ha ha! I planted cilantro indoors, dug up more herbs and replanted in pots, and even started har...

  We are still waiting on our paste tomatoes to turn red, but in the meantime, we are getting ripe beef tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers etc.  We have only gotten about 3 jalapenos so far.  We are getting more Anaheim peppers (jokes on us).  We'll take it, ha ha!  These were planted in another garden area (they were marked as bell peppers at the green house). If you read about our hot pepper devastation, something ate the tops off all 80-some plants (possibly very small baby rabbits got into the fence).  We located a few more plants, but definitely not enough to can cowboy candy, nor can pickled jalapenos, nor have enough for many other recipes we can, but a few is better than none. We are getting some kale, collards and swiss chard, but not in the amounts I had hoped for.  I will plant them much earlier next year, but we plan to get busy with a fall planting too. Creamy Cucumber Salad.  The recipe is from Real Food Dietitians (on...

Things we learned gardening: Yes, you can learn something new, even after years and years of planting a garden.   I came up with an idea to keep cucumbers from spreading out all over the ground, making weeding a nightmare.   Let me back up a minute.  My husband insisted that we not plant anything whatsoever, that spreads out on a vine this year.  Between the squash bugs last year, and the tiresome weeding with vine-type plants (that spread out on the ground like spaghetti squash, pumpkins etc.), he did not want to deal with it this year. Bent on having cucumbers from the garden,  I suggested (and I came up with this on my own, not knowing it really is a way to grow these), that we use large tomato cages to grow our cucumbers.   The plants climb up and not outward. I can't believe not one gardener suggested this to us in the last 20 some years.  If they did, I did not pay attention.  We already have a plan to build cucumber trellises...

  Cherry tomatoes are selling for $5 a quart right now.  We planted a few plants this season.  However one of the plants were knocked all the way down in one of the recent storms here.  I re-staked it, but it's looking very iffy.  Regardless, we are getting cherry tomatoes thankfully. We have made roasted cherry tomato sauce in the past, but this year, I made us this . . . Cherry Tomato Salsa.  It was very good, and we will be making it more often during the garden season.  Making salsa from our home grown cherry tomatoes is a "first" time event for us this year. It is much like a Pico.   You need 1 1/2 pounds of cherry tomatoes.  Ours are somewhat larger, and very delicious this year. I put them in my food processor and pulsed them about 12-14 times.  The tomatoes were chunked, but not purreed. I also let them drain for 15 minutes with a pinch of salt.  To that in a bowl, I added fresh garlic, home grown jalapeno, freshly cut ...

  We have been getting a lot of rain, thunderstorms, and even a very close to us tornado warning.  The last storm took down several of our tomato plants. You know that saying "if life gives you lemons...?" Well, life gave us mislabeled red bell peppers, and we ended up with Anaheim peppers.  Literally. In July of last year, I made homemade chili peppers from our home grown Anaheim peppers, and they were delicious.  They are very easy to make too. I made them again, but this time we are freezing them.  I just used my muffin pan to freeze 2 oz. portions, and then popped them out of the muffin paper (used parchment for this batch), and then placed them all in a freezer bag until I use them for meals. Did you know that when you drain a purchased  4 oz. can of diced chili beans, you end up with about 2.5 ounces of actual diced chili peppers? I just open my freezer bag of pre-frozen, 2 oz. chili peppers, thaw them, and add them to any meal I am wanting to use th...

  The pickings are slim right now, but we'll take anything we are blessed with.  I made a salad and cleaned the beans.  The rain will give us more for a meal in a day or so.  The green beans are every so slowly coming on this season. I made a batch of homemade granola, and instead of my homemade vanilla extract, I used my homemade Christmas Spice Extract.  It smelled so good in the oven, and while cooling.   I picked some purslane, and am doing an experiment with it this time.  Update soon.   Chit Chat ©  August 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I'm cramming a lot into one post for the end of July.   Gardening work has been in full motion, for veggies, herbs and flowers.  Despite cutting the planting down by almost half this year, we have had a lot to up-keep.  On top of all my regular chores and happenings, sweet corn is in season.  Oh boy, the work load has doubled, but happy to get it done this year.  Corn frozen.  Job done. If you did not read about it, we did not plant any squash at all this year, to kill off the squash bug.  However, we have not been able to locate many produce stands with yellow squash.  Zucchini is everywhere, but a lack of yellow squash.  Our adventures continue.  We did our very first local 4 mile bicycle ride.   After many years of having this on my "bucket" list, I grew our very first lemon.  It was delicious too. We have taken more camping trips to off set the work days, relax, and enjoy life.  I have brought home two...

  I tried a new granola recipe and boy it's good.  First, it's a recipe from Mennonite Girls and Cook, and called "Backpack Snacks" online.  It calls for granola, so I used my homemade granola that we love.  Picture is the dry ingredients. Second, I pressed the final mixture into a 9 x 9, parchment lined baking dish instead of rolling it into balls.  The color of these photos are all different, because of the time of day, and how dark the house was from the thick Canadian smoke that was still outside at the time. These cut very nicely, and were very good, straight from the refrigerator.  It was hard to eat just one of them.  I will be making this again, and switching out the peanuts with walnuts, and switching out the raisins with dates.  Oh my!  The binder is honey and peanut butter. These are perfect for your hiking days, camping, your grandkids, or just for snacks when you want one. The rain arrived thank goodness, and washed the smoke in...

I have not had much to blog about, and to be honest after looking over past posts, I really don't have much that is  new to post about.  Changes are being made here at the homestead, with more to come, and they are all good and productive.   Honestly, they are not wasted days either.   We are downsizing the kitchen table, and it will make it much easier to sweep and mop.   The upstairs is still in limbo (uncertainty) right now.  In reality, the summer times leaves little time for home repairs and such. We replanted what hot peppers would could buy, that were affordable and big enough.  Half of the green and wax beans were replanted and have sprouted.  The greens did terrible where I planted them this year.  I have replanted two of what I had seeds for.  We will not have arugula this year.  We are entering another heat wave, which makes garden season a bit tricky. The first zinnia seeds sprouted almost immediately, but...

First day of July.  It's hot.   I'm definitely not entering a stage of boredom any day soon.  Although I've been doing a lot, it's been productive.  We are in the middle of the worst heat wave I can ever remember.  So humid, there is very little to no work being done in the gardens for the last few days.  Heat index has been up to 106 degrees, and nights did not get any cooler than about  77 degrees.  The heat wave will continue for the rest of the week.  No rain yet. I froze water in small bottles to keep the chickens water cold, and froze treats for them. I canned a small batch of reduced sugar peach jam (before the heat  wave).  I have to admit, it's been very nice to can for two people now.   Enjoyed the last of our asparagus harvest.  The last two stalks were harvested June 29th.  The longest asparagus season we've ever had.  They look light colored, but taking them out of the fridge, they quickly...

      On the positive side (after the hot pepper debacle). . .                                                We are looking forward to creative healthy meals, derived from the garden and whatever is in abundance, or available.  The chickens helped supply this meal last year and was delicious. Beets roasted with onions and rosemary from the herb garden.  Also, a picture from previous garden years.  Oh, we put thyme on these too, and also from the herb garden. Not to forget those tomatoes and all the sauces made over the years.  That dish included asparagus from the garden, as well as oregano from the herb garden. Sometimes a roll down memory lane gives us the spark to keep gardening and planting.  Maybe.   Reminders?   ©  June 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart