Pioneer Woman at Heart

Remember my van?  It's been in parking mode since last February, getting many repairs including new head gaskets (second time).  Well, it's still sitting in the driveway.  It needs a computer now. Hubby says it needs this other part before I can drive it. Today, my son's car needs the repair job.  Thankfully, he can drive the ol' farm truck to work.  Part of the hardware that holds up the gas tank basically disintegrated on his car.  Yikes!   The trouble with self repairs, is finding the time to get the job done.  However, I'd rather buy a part (and wait patiently) than spend $800.00 of my husband's (and mine) hard earned income to pay for repairs.  I'd rather take another getaway instead.  Sounds selfish, but really it's not selfish.  We both deserve it. Frustration with Public School For the second year in a row, the 8th grade class is sending kids off on a Washington, D.C. trip.  The cost?  $600.00 per k...

It's a Long Road to a Tomato, by Keith Stewart This book is full of essays, about a man who quit his job to become a farmer.  Very interesting to read.  He even kept track of the types of birds he found on his farm (and listed them in this book). Tomatoland by Barry Estabrook According to author Barry Estrabrook, many of our out-of- season tomatoes come from Florida.  I found this book extremely interesting.  The author points out that tomatoes are "picked green" and "artificially gassed with ethylene in warehouses until they acquire the rosy-red skin tones of a ripe tomato."   This author writes a very important book regarding how are foods are not the same as they were back in the 1960's.  For example, he states that our commercial, store purchased tomatoes contain "fourteen times as much sodium" today as they did back in the 60's.   If you are getting tired of those tomatoes in your garden, be sure to read this book.  Yo...

In the process of slowly cleaning clutter, in between gardening and stocking up, I created a way to preserve the letters my 10 year-old daughter writes to me.  Over the years, she has written me many letters.  I tend to put a note in the kid's lunches when I can, and add a small piece of candy.  In the process of that, she started to write me letters and put them all over the house.  In the past she'd pop popcorn, and put a "treat" down inside the bowl.  We'd enjoy the popcorn, and she would pretend to be surprised when we got to the "treat" at the bottom. Each of my kids have a unique personality, and I just could not throw these notes away. I purchased an inexpensive photo album with the pages that peel back.  I inserted the letters so I can re-read them like a book. For the cover, I mixed 50/50 of white glue and decoupage, and covered the front with a piece of scrapbooking paper.  I don't scrap book very much, but do journalin...

The grass is still wet from the rains we got yesterday, but I picked a lot of tomatoes.  I canned peach salsa, but actually had to buy jalapeno peppers from a produce stand. I won't be updating the canning stats today, as my computer virus protections is blocking a Trogan when I click on "layout" on blogger.  I hope they fix that soon. I picked enough broccoli to blanch and freeze another quart bag.  Our buckling is not selling, so he's at the vet today.  He'll be a wether and trained with a harness, and hopefully still sell. Today, I am yearning for "island time" - no worries, no hurries. Hubby and I continue to enjoy the photos we took, and hope to get another "escape" in, before winter arrives.

Saturday, my husband took me away for a one night Island get-a-way.  Look what I found!  This very cute trailer night light.  This one will remind of the most absolute, best ever, getaway we've taken so far. More photos are posted on my Flickr Photostream for you to view.  I'll be loading a few more later today.

Well, if you have been wondering where I've been..... I canned a second new recipe for salsa.  I canned 4 pints of Fiesta Salsa .  This is delicious too.  I found the recipe on-line.  In place of the chili pepper, I used green pepper, and used 1/2 cup combined jalapeno and cayenne peppers.  Yum!  There are many recipes on that site if you are seeking for recipes for canning or for other tomato recipes. I canned another 3 1/2 quarts of seasoned tomato sauce.  This is tedious work - chopping 23 pounds of tomatoes.  Thanks to my sauce maker, I don't have to peel, remove seeds, etc. prior to heating it all up first. I dehydrated another quart jar of potatoes, some kale and Parmesan cheese. I canned 4 half pints of homemade ketchup.  This took another 10 lbs. of tomatoes. I canned another 4 half pints of Pepper Jelly (a mix of green peppers jalapeno and cayenne peppers). I finally dug up some of the sweet potatoes, but still hav...