Pioneer Woman at Heart

  Wild violet picking, back about a month ago or so, got me motivated to press some.  Why?  I have no clue, but I did.  The old fashioned way.  I pressed them between layers of waxed paper and heavy books. It also got me thinking, and I started looking into flower presses, that were small enough for hikers to take along in their backpacks.  I am still him-hawing that purchase.  They are small, and after measuring the wild violet leaves I pressed, I am not sure they would be big enough, and worth the purchase. Back to the creative bug that zapped my bonnet.  I decided to take the pressed wild violets, and leaves, and modge podge them to a cut piece of card stock.  The job of modge podge and delicate pressed flowers is a delicate job.  The flowers are very thin. I did two layers, and allowed it to dry each time.  I also have been very (and I mean very slowly) slowly purging some craft supplies I still had in my utility room.  The...

  Dehydrated some wild violets and leaves.  However, my 15+ year old smaller dehydrator (for small batch) died on me.  Good thing I did not turn it on when I ran out for errands.  Sheesh.  Any who, I'm already on the job for looking for a new smaller one.  I use it often for herb seasonings and small batch items like the violets. I have also been out in the flower beds, and they are filled with purple dead nettle.  I have chickweed too.  Hm.  Lots of ideas are spinning away. Ordered a bunch of recipe books from the library (again).  I will never learn, ha ha!  I'm on the hunt for a specific recipe we would like to have for grill out meals. Picked the first of our spring asparagus, and boy it feels so refreshing to get something from the garden again. More Wild Violets and Leaves ~ Asparagus ©  April 2026 by  Kristina  at  Pioneer  Woman at Heart

  Although 18°F early morning, and only in the 50's, the wild violets are making an appearance after a very long winter.  We love homemade wild violet jelly , but I have other possibilities this Spring. Wild Violets ©  April 2026 by  Kristina  at  Pioneer  Woman at Heart

  I had a request to share the final wild violet jelly after it was processed and made, and I am finally getting the photos together to share that.   I apologize for the delay. 2 cups of wild violets with 2 cups of boiling water poured over them to infuse).  I was told to let it sit up to 24 hours, but I have let my infusion stay in the fridge after that for up to 3 days.  Strain the flowers from the liquid. Add juice of one organic lemon.  The mixture turns from a blue-ish color to a more pink color. Add the liquid to a pot on the stove, and add one box of powdered pectin.  Stir and bring to a boil. Don't forget to get canning pot ready and prepare jars and lids. Once it comes to a boil, add 4 cups of sugar and bring to a hard boil for 1 minute. Fill jars with 1/4 inch head space, wipe rims, add lids and I put my jars in a water bath for 15 minutes.  The recipe I was shared, did not have a water bath time, but most jelly recipes say 10 minutes. T...

  I had a full day out in the garden.  It is a hot mess of weeds.  The asparagus bed is going to need TLC this year, or we'll just till the new part again, and buy plants this year.  We dropped seeds last year, and with everything going on called life, I neglected it.   Our wild violets are starting to come up, but I doubt we'll get enough by today.  Monday the weather forecast is snow.  Yes, I said snow.  Ugh.  I'm hoping the rhubarb and asparagus harvest is not affected.  I can live without violet jelly, but this weather is "all over the map." It is a bit on the early side for all three of these to be starting to come up. I managed to pull the long 30 some foot pea fence and t-posts all by my little ol' self.  Compost is being added today, so I am in a hurry to get 6 foot foxtail and other stuff pulled first.  I didn't get my other bean fence pulled.  It was already late in the afternoon, and the ground was drying u...

Thursday morning "sunrise" for us.  Blah, blah, blah...more rain, thunder, etc.  It was 94% humidity too. The snow didn't kill off the remaining wild violets.  Good to know, but I've talked myself out of making jelly, although staying busy indoors is a good thing.  I just have zero canning mojo right now. I think I got about 5 minutes of vit.D yesterday.  Better than zero I guess.

My homestead has a somewhat good amount of wild violets.   I was itching to pick some wild purple violets, for my "new" jelly to try this year.  I've never made it and we had a very busy weekend.  So...I picked the violets....