"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.

Friday, January 11, 2019

Normalcy

We've hit the 20's here lately, and dipping into the teens at night.  The cold can really get to you, but I'm taking advantage of it with indoor jobs etc.

Now that the house is getting back to normal, I can get back to the kitchen.






Garlic powder and granulated garlic was made.  Just one more way to preserve my garlic without a root cellar (basement or proper storage area).  I then use these to make homemade spice/herb mixes, including homemade seasoned salt.


Strained another tincture.  

Found a quick fix for the coop door that leads out to the outside ramp.  It'll go on the inside, so both sides are secured.  I'm without "wheels" again (Big Red just needs replaced in my opinion), so it was work with what I had.  There has been no animal sightings whatsoever.  Hubby feels that the idiots in the woods (most likely illegal hunters) were the cause, but we still don't know.

I still had one daughter's dog (Mia) yesterday.   She is getting homemade food.  Her Mom didn't leave me enough of her dry dog food, so her belly is happy.  She was picked up last night.

I've been trying to squeeze in crochet time to work on the 11 "f" bombs.  I have 7 more to make.  In the midst, I'm getting some plans in motion for Christmas gifts for next Christmas.  Thank goodness for my notebook.




Thursday, January 10, 2019

Wacky Weather

The weather is just like any other year here in this state can you have a thunderstorm, hail storm, and snow in 24 hours.  Tuesday it was 52 and warm, no wind.  Suddenly we had a major thunderstorm, which quickly turned into a major hail storm. 



Wednesday morning the snow rolled in, along with cold temps.  I woke up to a stone cold wood stove.  Not good.  Took me forever to heat up the house again.  I think Hubby and I both were just too tired to remember to do the last stoking of the fire.


Dinner has been "on the fly."  One night it was breakfast for dinner - biscuits and sausage gravy, fried potatoes and scrambled "farm fresh" eggs.  

It would have been homemade pizza last night, but someone forgot to restock the mozzarella cheese.  


Here is a better look at my new candy dish.  We joked we'd put celery in it, ha ha!  Not sure what I'll put in it just yet.  Maybe organic mints.



(click here for the instructions)

I started making these ornaments way back in 2014.  Yikes.  As I removed the ornaments from the tree, I realized I had never finished them for some reason.  I will be adding this to my winter list.  First, I'll need to locate the box they are located in, ha ha!  I just may get them done this year.

There has been many breaking and enterings going on.  One recent one was a Cashland not far from home.  Oddly, the driver's ed used to be in the same building but moved over the years.  The guy probably drove past our homestead.  Either way, I'm always on guard and house kept locked.  I have two dogs here too to alert me.  I'm babysitting Mia again.