"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, March 1, 2019

Skullcap infused oil ~ Spider bite scar update #2 ~ Dish Day and otherTidbits

I don't have photos to share, as the scar tissue remains the same, although sensitive to the touch.

I infused skullcap oil (instructions on how to infuse an oil can be found on Mountain Rose Herbs blog online) to maintain care of the scar tissue and heal it the best I can.  Although there are other herbs/weeds to infuse, I chose skullcap.  In my research it aids in healing acne scars, so I went with that to care for my spider bite scar.

I know it will be sensitive to sunlight this summer, not that my leg sees much sun (I wear pants in the garden).

Just a quick update and another way to treat scars.  If you have another way, please share.


After 2 days of dark days, we finally had beautiful sunshine.



Thursday was what I call a full blown "dish day."  I literally washed a mountain of dirty dishes, dried them and put them away, and almost immediately found myself getting more than half of them back out to cook/bake.  Oh look!  There are rotten bananas.  Must make banana bread.  Reaching in the fridge for chocolate chips....oh look!  Over abundance in milk.  I should make Mom's overnight casserole to use some up.  Must not waste anything.  Oh look, eggs can be boiled.  Sigh....I do it almost every day.  Lord help me.

I finally scooted outside to hunt down some chicken wire for another project, but was back in to do the dishes again.

I picked this recipe box for our oldest daughter.  She loves sunflowers.  There are divider cards inside and extra recipe cards.  I scanned family favorite recipes, glued them to index cards, and slipped them into a plastic recipe card protector.  I hope she likes it.

Something I learned (but haven't tried) - you can eat used tea leaves.  I'm talking about nettle, comfrey etc.  Edible weeds.  I just learned of this, and of course they won't be as strong as they've already been used for tea, but edible (tossed in a frittata, eggs, pasta etc.  I have a compost bin, so I have never thought of this until I read about it.  Do any of you use your medicinal tea leaves for another meal?



Thursday, February 28, 2019

Lemon balm lip balm ~ Sage Sausage Egg Muffins (Use leftover Pizza Toppings)

Remember all that lemon balm I harvested last summer?  Well, I made the infused oil with it, and got around to washing up containers and getting lip balm made.



I used the same recipe (Mountain Rose Herbs blog) for Calendula / Shea butter, but swapped out the oil for lemon balm infused oil.  I prefer to use the metal tins, but summer brings motorcycle rides, and the tubes are smaller and easier to carry (and less messy on very hot days).  I ended up making a bit of both - tubes and metal tins.

Something I learned - lemon balm prevents the breakout of cold sores.  I'll be giving this to someone to see if if will work as they state it does, and I'll be using it all summer.




I had a bit of sausage, bell pepper and onion leftover from our homemade pizza's, so I whipped up a small batch of Sage sausage/egg muffins for breakfast.  I used jalapeno's from the freezer to add some zest to them too.  So good.  I'll be tweaking my recipe and hope to post soon.  They need a bit more herbs/spices.  

The peanut butter cookies didn't last long.  Hubby has no self control when I bake them.


So...I baked German Chocolate Cookies.  This time I flattened them just a bit.