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'm getting some odd jobs crossed off the to-do list lately.  One was to wash the bed cover and bottom sheet from the spare mattress upstairs, and to wash a quilt we took out of storage for a few overnight guests.  They were all dried on the clothesline and put back into storage until we get cracking on the upstairs repairs and updates. I'm sort of rotating from room to room, trying to get things cleaned up, organized, and back to normal, but some rooms like the utility room and the upstairs will take a lot of work yet. I'm working on a few lighting options for two other rooms.  We've already began the search, but it's not on the important list, so it's whenever we are out, sort of fun searching. I'm ordering items I need for the vegetable garden, but I do need a trip to the garden store soon.  I'm ready to tackle the flower beds as soon as the rain leaves this week. I started a small batch of rosehip oil, but I had to re-order my organic jojoba oil.  Sh...

  I've been keeping an eye out for spring wild violets.  They make the most delicious jelly, and the color is so pretty (and different, which makes it great for gifting).   Rain continues here, so we may see wild violets earlier, but with snow in the forecast for today, we may not see them until next month. Are you seeing wild violets yet? If you have wild violets growing, or you are able to forage for them, you can read about the first time (May 2, 2018 is the day I picked the violets) I made this jelly on this blogpost (link) .  It's not only a delicious and beautiful jelly, it smells wonderful while you are making it.  The next year I canned it, I used the 4 oz jars for gifting.  You do need to pack your cups when measuring the violets.  The less you have, the lighter the color and less of flavor.   (photo from The Crochet Crowd - they are currently working up a pattern/diagram) It's been so refreshing to walk into our living room and...

  I have wild violets on our property, and they only bloom for a short time.  One area is around my clothesline, so I have to keep on top of it, before someone mows it down. In the past I have made wild violet jelly for gifting and enjoying ourselves.  I just don't have the time to can anything right now, so I decided to make a medicinal tincture this spring. Here is how I canned the jelly:  Wild Violet Jelly It's perfect for gift giving because it is a beautiful color, and it tastes delicious.  I can it in 4 oz. jars, to make the recipe more shareable.  I typically only get enough blossoms for one batch when I do can jelly.  I first made the jelly back in 2018.  I got the recipe from another blogger (go to my link and it will then have a link for her blogpost). (I picked these, and made this Sunday, before the frost) The tincture is new to us.  I am doing research on uses, but so far cough, throat issues are two.  Have you made this tin...

  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...

Quarantine Day 41.  I guess you can't call it "Quarantine" if we went out to get supplies for my Mom again, but the shut in order is still in place. My wild violets are starting to come up, but the question is "do I really need more jelly right now?"  Wild violet jelly smells so good while its being made and looks so pretty, but I think I'll focus on fruit jams.  If Hubby doesn't mow and I have extra sugar it would make a nice gift. The ladies all got a day outside in the run, but my rooster didn't know how to use the ramp.  By evening he figured it out, but wouldn't use the ramp to come back in.  Hubby and I went out about 9pm and tag teamed and got him inside.  Today he may figure both out and back in on his own, but that outside ramp needs replaced.  It's been on the to-do list for a year or so now.  I think our list is growing, ha ha!  Our fencing on the run needs some work done on it as winter put some stress on it too....

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.

First, I apologize.  This post is a long one.  Grab a java or tea.  Or a meal, ha ha! Wednesday my day was a bit wonky.  Hubby sent me all around the "big city" to fetch more tomato plants and flowers.  Even the back streets are getting close to the construction zones.  Ugh.  I have to use more gas to take the long route too, taking all the back roads.  Better than getting caught up in the construction zones though. Early morning, the sky looked like the sun might shine, but minutes later it turned to this: Thunder rolled in, but no rain thankfully.  Some areas got short rain showers though. I had to zip back home to pick up sticks.  Hubby hired our biker friend to mow the almost 6 acre homestead (not all is mowed).  Anyway, the back of the house, where the trees are mostly, and winter wind ripped branches down was a mess. The guy was already mowing when I arrived.  I hurried and changed into work clothes and lo...

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....