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.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Friday, October 5, 2018

Oh this weather.....randomness

Wednesday it heated up to 90°F, and of course it brought rain. Now they are saying lots of rain coming our way, so weeding went to a halt.  Just when I was getting things caught up.  The rain however, will be the fate of my garlic getting planted.  Sounds just like our spring we had - so much rain you can't plant.  The struggles have been real this year.  We must get the fruit tree baffles in or at least made for spring.  That's on the "do it when the snow flies" list.  I have a lot of lists right now.

Thursday it started out raining and muggy, but the temps went down to the 60's.  Layers went back on.  

I got caught up on my library book stash however.  I even got some reading time with my current book too.  More patterns were collected for my crochet and knit stash.


I didn't run out of things to preserve though.  Tomatoes were put into the dehydrator for tomato soups, pastas, stews, and even tomato powder.  It's not going to be a lot, but some is better than none.  I put some herbs up too for winter - medicinal and culinary.



I drained my calendula oil and 4 thieves vinegar.  I have a list of things to get made now.  Some need made soon, others can wait a bit longer.




I got a few "cans" of homemade condensed cream of mushroom soup made and into the freezer.  The smell of shallots cooking in butter had me hankering for salmon romanoff.  It's on the menu now.

The ladies have been slacking in the egg production lately.  I surely hope they speed up again.  We use eggs daily.


Thursday, October 4, 2018

Pears ~ Cauliflower ~ Blueberry-Lemon Bundt Cake ~ Spooky Spider Ear Warmers

Pear picking has begun.  Deer have ripped down a branch, but the trees are loaded.  We carried back what we could, but need to go back out.  It may be the year to make pear wine.  We need more practice at it anyway.

I also picked another 6# of tomatoes.  Those went into the freezer with hopes for more.  Some plants are dying, while a few are thriving.



I was able to get 1 head of organic cauliflower in the freezer.  I snatched up one on clearance - $1.49.  I am hoping for more.

Here's what went with that leftover corn bread - dutch oven chili with bacon (but cooked in the crock pot this time).



Baked a blueberry-lemon bundt cake.  I felt bad when Hubby asked on Monday if I had baked anything "sweet."  Monday was a busy day.  It sort of stuck in the pan this time - added extra blueberries.  Lip smackin' good.

Got some more weeding done until I ran into this.....


I'm waiting on rain or Hubby to extract this, and then I'll continue weeding in that area.  No way am I even gonna try to remove it myself.

We'll be getting a dog soon.  Our oldest is moving and can't find a place that will allow dogs (that she can afford).  Mia will be getting "fostered" at our place for a while.  It will give us a chance to see if we want to get a puppy or not too.  She's well behaved, but doesn't like dogs she doesn't know.  We may get a puppy while we have her, so both can get used to other dogs.  Time will tell.

Believe it or not....got this out...



I actually took time to start reading it and love it.  I am shocked I put my crochet hook down too.  Boy it felt good to read a book again.  I also did some journaling.  It felt great to put a pen in my hand and get off the computer as well.  

Daughter came home from school, and saw what I was crocheting and gave me a suggestion.  Like I need a new project, but...



This is what was created.  

Wednesday I finally got to the library to return and pick up books.  My weeding was delayed and the weather really heated up fast.  I checked on my green bell peppers.  There are a handful, and they are still small (sad face).  I will need to buy more of those to put up for winter now too.  

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Preparing for flu season ~ Preserving Lemon and Lime Juice

I highly prefer freshly squeezed lemon juice in my homemade remedies etc.  To prepare for winter here is what I do to preserve real lemon juice.

I do not have a juicer, which now I'm wondering if I should buy one.

I used my hand lemon squeezer, but either will work to juice fresh, organic lemons.



Pour juice into a clean, empty ice cube tray and freeze until solid.  Each cube (in my tray) holds 1-1/2 Tbsp. of lemon juice.

Remove cubes and place in a freezer container or freezer bag, label and place back into your freezer.

There you have it - real lemon juice on hand all the time.



...and of course I didn't waste the zest.  It went into the freezer as well, as these were organic lemons.

I use freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice in my homemade ginger-ale, so I froze lime juice too.

My goal has always been to purchase a Meyer lemon tree and grow my own, but that'll only happen when I have an extra $50.00.  That is how much they cost here.  Of course you can purchase organic bottled juices as well.  I have used them as a back up plan, to make homemade ginger-ale.

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Random Tidbits

Woke up to a sick daughter.  Whipped up some homemade ginger-ale, and got a crock pot of healing bone broth soup started.  Sprayed everything I could with "anti-ill" essential oil spray.  


I made cornbread to go with the soup, and it'll be part of tonight's dinner too.

My day went lick-ity-split fast due to the drive to the store for fresh organic lemons and limes, and a few groceries.  Followed by a mountain of laundry I wanted to get done in case the rain came as predicted today.  



Baked a cheddar and chili egg casserole for our "grab and go" breakfast this week.  It's delicious with real maple syrup on it too (odd but good).  I was lucky to get organic cottage cheese at a good price.  The other container will be frozen for future baked goods.

Hubby's work accidentally gave him (and many others) a $1,000.00 bonus (only some were to get them).  Now they are taking $500.00 out of each of his next two checks.  Wonderful...

We went from nice cool weather back to hot (lower 80's).  The snakes are back and they are sunbathing everywhere.  Oye.  It was much easier to weed without surprises when it was cooler out.



Worked on some crochet work. Not much, but a bit of progress.

Monday, October 1, 2018

Weekend Shenanigans

Let me start with Saturday.  It was homecoming for our youngest daughter, and she was in hot pursuit of nude nail polish.  I put an S.O.S. out to the older girls, but zero could run a bottle way out to our place.  She finally found some.

Hubby had to work, so the poker run didn't happen.  I was okay with that.  We woke up to a bone chilling 46°F and had a high of 63°F.  Although we ride year round, an all day poker run at those temps would be a bit uncomfortable.

We however, still rode the Harley Saturday.  Hubby got off work early, and we rode to a park to take homecoming photos.  We got time on the "sanity saver" and Daughter got her photos taken.  All were happy.

No garden work was done.  

Sunday we were up super early and got busy outdoors.  The mowing was on top of the list, and while Hubby started on that, I ripped out the old garlic bed (plastic and stakes).  It's all ready to mow down, till in peat moss, and replant.  I have 2 weeks to get it in the ground.  One section of the front flower bed was completely weeded and looks fantastic for the first time all summer (and now we are in fall, ha ha!).

Feeling proud of our work efforts we took off on the Harley.  We watched our nephew's football game (very young nephew), rode out to check out a local brewery and live music, and back home.  I'll be honest we were very tired, but as we sat on the porch and viewed our work, we were very happy folks.

Here's what's been on the crochet hook (photos as promised) - twisted ear warmers.





I got the green light with all of my girls, that these would sell.  I even got tips on what colors to use.  Although I never touched a hook all Sunday, more colors are in the making.

Rain is in the forecast, but we'll see how much I can get weeded today.  I'm finally getting my mojo back to get the weeding work done.  Not sure how, or even why, but it's back.  

Saturday, September 29, 2018

Lima Beans ~ Random Tidbits

Lima beans are high in iron and also benefit bone growth, hence good for hair growth.  I whipped up a "greek" version of lima beans the other day and they were very good!  Here's how to make them.

Rinse and drain 1 lb of dry organic lima beans.   Place in a pot with enough water to soak them overnight.  In the morning drain, rinse and drain again.  I cooked mine in the crock pot the entire day, drained and cooled them.  The next day I took them out of the fridge and place them in a baking dish.

In a sauce pan, saute one diced onion in a bit of olive oil.  Once the onions are ready, add enough frozen/thawed garden tomatoes to equal about a can of dice tomatoes.  Add 1- 4oz. jar of home canned tomato sauce, 1/4 tsp. organic ground cloves, a few tablespoons of honey, 3 minced garden cloves of garlic, salt and pepper.  Heat until it thickens.  Toss in fresh chopped parsley.



Pour the mixture over the lima beans in the baking dish and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or more until it's bubbling and thick.  

Enjoy!  

It's my next go-to side dish, and possibly the dish that will be a side at the holidays too. You could also half bake the beans and just add water to the tomato mixture, but bake longer at a lower temperature.




So this happened.  Someone ran into one of our driveway posts and blasted the light off, which landed over 10 feet away from the post.  See the tracks?  It happened just after I returned home from running a form to the school, and before Hubby got home from work (while I was inside preparing dinner).   I never heard it, nor saw it, but the Sheriff came out and looked at the tracks and even questioned our neighbor.  We'll see if we can get to the bottom of this.



We are still seeing some beautiful sunrises here at the homestead.

Friday was a misc sort of day - put stuff back in the camper, cleaned up the front porch, and made a visit to the garden.



I dug up some carrots and beets to see how big they were, and decide to dig or leave them in a bit longer.   Carrots?  Fail.  Popcorn?  Fail.  Beets and Sweet potatoes?  Maybe.  I can leave those two in another month, but everything will get pulled now, but the tomatoes.  Sweet potatoes and beets are small, but there is hope unless we get a frost, then the plants won't grow.  It's too wet to work out there, so the garlic bed has not even been put in yet.

Checked the berry bushes too.  Picked 4 red raspberries.


I got a bit of rosemary into the pantry, but not enough for medicinal purposes.  Will keep harvesting until our first frost.


Thyme harvest has been small this year, as well as green onion and chives.  Parsley did pretty good.  The two new sage plants grew nicely as well.


I started roasting pumpkins.  These were the hardest sugar pumpkins I've ever cut in half.  They are tough.  I kid you not.  The skin was about 1/4 thick.  Any tips on softening them to cut them more easily?  Otherwise the rest may become target practice.




Made some of our delicious Whiskey Bacon pumpkin seeds too.  The guts were treated to the chickens.

I also got some crochet work done (photos to come soon).  Hubby kept texting me all day for a date night out, with a motorcycle ride, and just as I went inside to change clothes, he canceled on me.  He worked over (sigh....).   Daughter went out to a football game, so it was little ol' me by myself for several hours.  I immediately changed to PJ's, and binge watched netflix with crochet work.  That's a lot for a Friday.  We'll see what happens over the weekend now.  Thanks for reading through all of this.

Friday, September 28, 2018

Holy Tomatoes!

We've had a very happy garden moment!  I picked 17.5# of tomatoes on just one picking.  If you've been reading my blog regularly, you know we planted about 100 plants and got under 20# since they started producing.  I wanted to climb the roof and shout it to the world, I was that happy.


How to preserve tomatoes for sauce making.  Rinse and dry tomatoes whole.  Freeze in freezer bags or freezer containers.  Don't forget to label so you know the exact weight.  Thaw and use for sauce making recipes.    By the way, the skin comes right off of these when they thaw.  It didn't help me with my sauce making (I toss them in a pot, and run through a sauce maker), but if you don't have a sauce maker I thought I would share.


Dug this bad boy out for the first time this season.

Such a happy day for me yesterday!!  Tomato sauce!!