"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Green Tomato Cake

Even though the recipe said to use an electric mixer, I did not.

Even though I did not have an entire 2 1/2 cups of diced green tomatoes....

I still baked my first tomato cake.  I was drizzling the frosting when the the first two kids got home from school.

"OHHH!  That looks so good!  That would be great with coffee!" one of them said.

Of course they kept telling me to stop reminding them it had green tomatoes in it too.  Ha ha ha!  It was pretty good too. I did not have enough butter to make the brown butter frosting, but simply used powdered sugar and goat's milk instead. 

I had been out in the garden to check on things.  I saw one tomato plant had sprouted new tomatoes and I just couldn't let them go to waste.  I also brought in about a dozen more green peppers.



I made another crock pot full of steel cut oats and goat's milk.  This morning, my daughter said she milked the goat in 15 minutes and got over a quart of milk.  She's really becoming a pro at this.  


This morning, after the first bus left, I took one of the dogs out.  I ran back in for my camera.  There was a layer of fog over the fields that was kind of neat.




When I told the kids I should take a picture, and that it was pretty they said, "Mom it would be better if it came with a 2 hour fog delay."

Before I came back inside, I was watching the goats.  The early cool air must be firing up everyone today with energy.  They were playing queen of the stump.
 
After I came inside, I looked back out and saw Peanut standing on that small stump.  In fact, she's still standing on it now.  I think we should find them a wider stump to play on.  

Meanwhile, the dogs are fired up with the cool weather, and Jesse is barreling around the house all excited now.  Even Tiger, my youngest daughter's cat is flying through the kitchen, skidding around corners.  It's definitely perfect camping weather.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Project Catch-Up Day ~ Or So I Thought

Yesterday I thought I could work on some unfinished projects while the dinner potatoes got fried.  Ha!  For the first time every, I had a bad crafting day.  I was too much in a hurry to get some embroidery done.

I have to get this towel finished before the pattern fades away.  I started to outline the cat in gray, but with the color of green I used on the dress, it appeared as a moss green cat.  

So, after doing the bottom feet, tail and one paw, I started to take it out.  I re-did one paw in black, and it looks much better.  Now I need to take two paws and a tail back out. 

This is the first time I have had a long, frustrating crafting day.  I decided that I was not even going to work on tatting - no way at all.  I did get some knitting done, but I still have a crocheted blanket to finish.

I tried to teach my 12 year-old daughter how to do it, but she whined, "Moooooom! You made everyone elses!"
Guess I can't get out that that one, huh?

While I was out on my porch, having afternoon devotions, followed by my crafting experience, my son pointed out a blimp flying over.  I got these neat photos of it:


 Just thought I'd share!

I have one sick daughter home today.  I hope it's just a passing virus.  Time will tell.