Still around....

I'm still around.  Just a LOT of stuff to do garden-wise and everything else.  Bike week just ended, and we went.  In fact, we took our youngest to Bike week - first ride with her Momma and first bike week.  She rode with a good friend of ours and we had a blast dancing together. She was so happy and we lived through the heat we had.  Yesterday we didn't do a thing around here besides recover from heat and fatigue. We hit our highest record for heat yesterday too.  I think it was 96°F.  We deserved to go to bike week, although much garden work needs done yet, and mow, weed etc.  

I hope to be back with another post.

Stinging Nettle Smoothie and other Tidbits

Yesterday I enjoyed a nettle smoothie.  I used blueberries and bananas for the fruit, some homemade yogurt, ice, and organic pomegranate juice.  Nettles are loaded with vitamin A and C, calcium, potassium, iron and a bit of protein.  Very low in calories too.

I'm trying to get as many weeds put up before the farmers start spraying too.

Made it. . .

Is anyone out there in cyber land?  Hello?  Seems like less folks have less time to read blogs this time of year.  I'm one of them.  I'm so busy it's crazy busy, but functioning like a turtle due to sleep deprivation.

I made it through Monday.  The truck is still not fixed, so I still without wheels.  It's either raining, or some other reason we don't get it done. It rained again yesterday afternoon and through the night, but no bad storms as the weather man said.  Today?  More rain, so I'm on the indoor to-do list today.

I was happy to get much of the laundry out on the line and dried before more rain arrived.   I missed a flower head on the rhubarb, so that was cut off too. 

Coffee Cubes

It's a very short post today folks.  So much to do, so little time.  I am so far behind on our vegetable/fruit garden it's not even funny.

Although nothing homesteady (is that even a word?) in this post, here goes. . .

The sunrise was just beautiful this morning.  Although both Hubby and are sleep deprived, we sipped hot coffee on the porch.  We've see deer, and today (oh joy) a fox.  We've also had a visit more than once from our hummingbird and a few woodpeckers.

Dry Days ~ More Rain

We finally had a few dry days, which for me meant weeding.  Lots of weeding and a garden hoe.  Although not completely weeded out, I dropped my zinnia seeds into the flower beds, as rain is coming back today.  I also planted my rosemary, lavender, and dropped some miner's lettuce seeds.  I also got my lavender and rosemary planted.

Asparagus is still coming up too.

I brought in the smallest egg ever the other night.  I was surprised it had a yolk, ha ha!

Dandelion Poultice ~ Cleaver Poultices

Spring weeds are here now.  I wonderful time to gather, eat,  and store. I put some weed pesto in the freezer already.  I weeded about 95% of my herb garden, and all of the weeds, aside from the little bit of grass, were edible (or useful for natural remedies).

I've had quite a few experiences with dandelion since I first made dandelion jelly.  Over the years, I have made dandelion bread (which we absolutely love), dried dandelion for tea purposes, blanched and froze dandelion for meals (we love dandelion pesto), dried the root for a coffee substitute and medicinal purposes, and now I am making poultices.

Dandelion poultices, can be used to treat eczema, skin rashes, boils, and to reduce itchy skin (helps with itchy poison ivy). 

I am putting these poultices together in the freezer, like I do with comfrey and plantain.  There is nothing more comforting than a cold poultice in the summer, for an itchy rash too.

I am also putting cleaver poultices in to the freezer (as well as dehydrating some for medicinal purposes).  Cleaver weed poultices can be used to treat burns and even sunburn.  Spring is the only time I am able to pick this weed.  It's often found growing directly in my garden and will stick you like glue.  

Dandelion Poultice ~ Cleaver Poultices ©  May 2018 by Kristina at https://pioneerwomanatheart.blogspot.com/

If you were wondering. . .

I canned more wild violet jelly first thing after my work out, and checked the weather.  Were you wondering if our rain stopped yet?  Well I was.

We got more rain, but I had a break in the day to get outside.  Oye. It's wet out there, but after checking the asparagus and garden (for damage), I high tailed it to the flower beds.  I could spend a week out there, plus the herb garden.

I have a plan for the wettest part of my vegetable garden.  Updates to follow if it works out.

I felt like the "If you give a Mom a Muffin" but with the weeds yesterday.  One thing just led to another.

I started weeding flower beds, and found several ornamental apple trees growing in it.  I dug up two and transplanted them.  I went back to weeding, but after pulling all the cleavers, it was almost a day with the cleavers.  I filled my dehydrator with them, and had a bit leftover.

Knowing our family motto, that has been on this blog for years now, you know I try to use everything I can, and what I have (and try to waste nothing).  So....two cleaver poultices were made and put into the freezer.  They can be used to heal cuts, bites, and even sunburn (cools the inflamed skin).

...and