"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.

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Garden(s) ~ Getting though the days. . .

 I'm cleaning up my blog, and making a few changes.  It was time to lighten the look and make things more simple.  I got rid of the side bars and that bold flower background.  I hope it is a bit more pleasing to the eyes.






The vegetable garden weeding continues, but it's not as bad as the previous years.  The squash plants are looking great, and the cucumbers are too.  I did notice that our National Pickling Cucumbers are much larger plants than our Marketmore 76 plants.  The green beans are looking good, other than a few were trampled early in the season.  No, the fence is not up yet.

I've been pretty successful with rotating the vegetable garden weeding and up keep, with the flower beds. 


I started on the rose bed finally, and boy it is a mess.  We have tried everything but roof shingles to keep the weeds out.  I may get my husband to try that this year after all these trials. 

 We have tried everything from mulch, to black plastic, to weed sheeting to piles and piles of cardboard.  Nothing has worked.  It's the flower bed from h-e-double hockey sticks.  Anyway, my garden sleeves worked great for this garden (so far).

I can't even begin to tell you how drained I am, but seeing so many projects unfinished around here.  It can be so depressing.  I decided to write out a list of rooms that are driving me nuts, and only the areas that I can clean up myself without my husband's help (trust me, there are way more of those projects).

I already checked off one area on my new list.  The new list has 7 areas.  The plan is to focus on this new list each day, and not stress over other things.  When these 7 are checked off, I will re-access, and write a new list if necessary.

Here's what I got done in the way of the list . . .

-put two folding chairs that were in the hall, back upstairs

-brought down a box of trash left by one of the girls, and tossed it all out.

-washed bedding that one daughter borrowed here, dried it on the line and put it back in storage.

-loaded two boxes of items into the truck to donate.

-cleared off the kitchen island, wiped it down and wiped down the chairs.

I can't say I will be that productive every day, but it's a good start.  


Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Spearmint Iced Green Tea ~ Blooms

 

It was high time to make homemade spearmint iced tea.  I love this stuff!  My Mom hated it, but her Mom (Grandma), used to make it.  Love, love, love it on a hot day.  It's nice to have when I come in from the garden.  Now that my husband is doing all the mowing after work, he too enjoys this delicious tea.  I use organic green tea bags.

My popcorn is not doing that great this year.  I may have planted it too late.  I hope I did not waste garden space with a fail crop.  

Here is what's going on in some of the flower beds.









The two "red" ones are actually two different colors.  The last one is more of a burgundy.  


My lavender is in full bloom too.  I brought some in to enjoy.