From My Home to Yours: 11/14/25

    From My Home to Yours

11/14/25

~  first freeze, first fire in the woodstove of the season and first snowflakes ~

Yes, you read that right!  In the land of 'no snow' we got snowflakes ... big fluffy snowflakes that fell right before bedtime.  We didn't get any accumulation, but let me tell you it was pure excitement, not only at my house but at several other houses in the area.  For a little while there might have been a texting frenzy going on amongst those who saw it and some far away who didn't see it!

As a result, we made the first fire of the season in our woodstove.  Wood heat is so much warmer than HVAC heat ... and it's a lot less expensive too!  

I am so thankful for the winter preparations we made earlier in the year for this winter.  Little did we know that below freezing temperatures and snowflakes would be a part of our November ... which no one that I've talked to has ever seen happen this time of year in our area.  Thanks be to God for granting me wisdom, guidance and discernment to prepare to the best of my abilities for the future that only He knows about!

Before the freezing weather arrived, I did one more walk through and harvest in our garden.  I harvested plantain; comfrey; St John's Wort; nettles, parsley and catnip.  My small house looked like an herb store with all these herbs drying in various places.  With the wood stove going, it didn't take long for all of them to dry.  I started jarring them all up right before finishing up this post.

All of these will be used in either cooking or herbal remedies.  I have been working really hard to replenish the medicinal part of my pantry with the herbs that I use.

horseradish

I purchased 5 lbs of freshly dug horseradish and as soon as it arrived, I set to work preserving it.  If you know anything about horseradish you know that if preserving is intended, then it needs to be done before it cures out and gets hard.  With that thought in mind, I washed, cleaned and peeled the chucks and got them ready to work with.  The first thing I did was to chop some and add it to the fire cider I had in the works (I was out of horseradish when I started my current jar of cider fire.)  Next, I chunked some and started a tincture (jar on the right).  After that I chopped up the rest of it and dried it in the dehydrator.  When it was finished drying, I jarred it up (jar on the left) and added it to the medicinal part of my pantry.  I'll use both the dried and tincture in making herbal remedies as needed.

We purchased this turkey for $4.16 (with a $35 grocery purchase) at a local grocery store.  

I stuffed it with apples, butter and a roasted garlic seasoning mix. I also coated the skin with butter and the same garlic seasoning mix!  Hubby was back in the same store later in the week and did the same deal again.  This time the turkey cost $5.90!  I'm always keeping my eyes and hears open for deals and bargains to keep my pantry stocked and $.29/lb for any kind of meat, is a bargain!

From the first turkey ... 9 pints of turkey ready to have the lids and rings put on and added to the pressure cooker.  I expect to get the same amount out of the second turkey.  

In other news, we got a shock this week when we were notified that our auto insurance was increasing $200/month.  Yes, you read that right!  This made absolutely no sense as there are no wrecks or tickets on our driving records.  We had already absorbed the expected increase when we purchased a new to us vehicle in the spring, so that shouldn't have been it.  When we inquired about the reason for such a large increase, we were told it was due to the collision part of our insurance ... that used parts had increased significantly due to inflation.  We were speechless, were we being told that we were expected to pay for 'used parts' in anticipation of possibly needing them in the future?  Needless to say, we immediately started shopping around for a more reasonable rate.  I am happy to say we found one with a different company for the same amount of coverage and for less than half of what it was going to cost us if we had stayed with the old company.   Looking well to the ways of our household includes being good stewards of our finances.  

I've started sewing and creating for the holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year).

Click on each title to be taken to pictures and additional information on each!

I restyled a Christmas sweatshirt

I made and put in the mail Thanksgiving treats for our grands

and

Started stitching up this gift for one of my grands

On my to-do list for next week ...

I purchased cranberries to flash freeze and divide into smoothie size portions ...  (cranberries are pretty much available only this time of the year in our area so that means I need to preserve enough until this time next year.)

I purchased 100% cranberry juice to freeze in ice cube trays for use in flavoring water and or smoothies ...

Preserve the other turkey hubby purchased

I'm on the lookout for a good deal on carrots as this is usually the time of year that they go on sale.  If I can find one, I'll be canning carrots as well.

Here's a list of things I look for in November that you can usually find for a somewhat good deal:

turkey

ham

sweet potatoes (I don't need to buy any this year as we were able to grow enough for our needs)

carrots

cranberries

pie crusts (no I don't make pie crusts from scratch)

Baking supplies

Brussels sprouts

Food wise, what do you look for in November that might be considered seasonal?

That's it for this week!

I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.

Until the next time ...

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

~ quietly holding the home front ~

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Other Places You Can Find Me ...

Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine 

From This Heart of Mine  

Mrs. Patsi on Instagram

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting my work via one of the following ways. Your expressions of appreciation help me keep my pantry well-stocked and me motivated to keep on keeping on with my attempts to inspire and encourage you (Titus 2:3-5) through my writings!

From My Home to Yours: 11/7/25

  From My Home to Yours

11/7/25

~ Well ... this is unusual! ~

What am I talking about?  We have a high probability of freezing temperatures in our area next week!  We don't typically get freezing temperatures until the end of December or sometime in January!

Because of this threat, I had to change plans for the week and shift from inside to the great outdoors!

The sweet potatoes had to be harvested ...

You can't tell in the picture, but there was a 5-gallon bucket of orange sweet potatoes and a 5-gallon bucket of purple sweet potatoes.  Combined, both will be enough to last us until next year's sweet potato harvest!  We grew these sweet potatoes in raised beds.  After they cure for a couple of weeks, we'll store them in crates in a cool dry place and use when desired.

The white potatoes had to be harvested ... these were all volunteer plants and if we'd been able to leave them in the ground longer, the harvest would have been greater.  As it was, the harvest will cover between 8 - 10 meals for my family.  What this did tell us though was that with some planning, we could easily get two plantings and harvesting of potatoes a year.

Moringa had to be harvested ...

Holy Basil (Tulsi) had to be harvested ...

Bay leaves had to be harvested ...

Basil seeds had to be harvested ...

Nettles had to be harvested ...

Lemon balm had to be harvested ...

Garlic had to be planted ...

Aloe plant and Christmas cactus flower had to be moved inside ...

wood brought in to fill wood box (freezing temps or near to freezing means it's time to start using the wood stove) ...

and the yard had to be mowed!

In and around all this, back inside ...

I dehydrated apple slices for the pantry ...

Speaking of the pantry, I continued to work on reorganizing and cleaning it this week as well.  This has definitely been a baby step project, but each week progress continues to be made.

Cooked air-fried chicken thighs ... yes, they were as tasty as they look!

Thawed stuffed bell peppers from the freezer and cooked those for a meal.

Here are a couple of pictures I snapped while in the great outdoors this week ...

To me, this scene just screams fall!

Some of the last of this year's zinnias.

Some things I'm working on are ...

Thanksgiving treats for our grands from grandma & grandpa and ...

Some Christmas presents I need to get busy stitching up

That's it for this week!  I sure was busy to have no more to report than this!  At any rate, I hope you enjoy and can glean something from my efforts.

I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.

Until the next time ...

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

~ quietly holding the home front ~

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Other Places You Can Find Me ...

Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine 

From This Heart of Mine  

Mrs. Patsi on Instagram

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting my work via one of the following ways. Your expressions of appreciation help me keep my pantry well-stocked and me motivated to keep on keeping on with my attempts to inspire and encourage you (Titus 2:3-5) through my writings!

From My Home to Yours: 10/31/25

 From My Home to Yours

10/31/25

~ Boosting My Immune System for the Upcoming Cold and Flu Season ~

This week I've been focusing on getting into a routine that will help boost my immune system in preparation for cold and flu season.

Here are some things that I'm working on making a habit and why ...

Cider fire:  I have made and used this literally for years.  It has kept me out of the doctor's office more times than I can count.  If I feel like I'm coming down with a cold, etc, this is my go to ... the sooner, the better!

Fermented honey garlic:  I add 1 tablespoon to a cup of warm water in the evenings and sip on it until it's gone.  I use this has an immune booster as well.

Probiotics:  Kefir milk; fermented sauerkraut, kombucha.  All these probiotics help my gut stay healthy which helps my immune system stay healthy.  I have a kefir milk smoothie as part of my breakfast every morning and about 1/4 cup of kombucha at night before bedtime.  Somewhere between my morning smoothie and bedtime kombucha, I'll have a fork full of sauerkraut.

broth: I love to sip on a warm cup of nutrient rich homemade broth and this usually happens somewhere between breakfast and lunch.  It's just plain good for you and delicious too!

oil pulling:  this is a habit I started several years ago and for the most part still do it on a regular basis.  For the winter months, I'm trying to get in the habit of doing it everyday.  I usually try to do this before eating breakfast.  For me, oil pulling helps my sinus' and throat stay healthy and or recover quicker when something is invading those areas.

warm lemon water:  I usually have a cup of warm lemon water after I do oil pulling and before I eat breakfast.  This is so good for your liver and a healthy liver will help your body work through toxins your body ingests.

Daily exercise:  I try to do at least 30 minutes of some kind of exercise everyday.

Water:  I've set a goal of drinking between 70 - 80 ounces of water daily in addition to any other beverages I drink.  Drinking plenty of water will help keep me hydrated and a well-hydrated body is a healthier body.

Healthy Habits Tracker:  This is a way of my tracking and making sure I'm getting all these in more days than not each week.  For each day I put a medium size dot in the appropriate square beside said item if I  did it or draw a line across it if I didn't do it.  At a glance, I can see how I'm doing.  (I got this tracker page from The Budget Mom several years ago, but don't know if it's still available.)

(Disclaimer:  Please know that I am not a doctor, nor have I been trained as an herbalist.  This information is not meant as medical information or treatment.  I am simply a woman of some years who has worked her way through finding what works for her.)

I would love to know what things you do to strengthen your immune system!

I'm wrapping up my 'every little bit counts' challenge this week.  Yes, I know it has taken be taken me quite the while, but I am so pleased with what I've gotten done.  By taking my time, my pantry is restocked with things we use instead of something I added just to say I met the challenge for any given day.  Let's see how I finished ...

On day 29, I worked on making herbal tinctures.  In the works are a tulsi (Holy Basil) tincture, elderflower tincture and a ginger tincture.  They'll sit in my pantry for a couple of months and every time I'm in there, I'll give them a good shake.  They're all components of future herbal remedies I will be making.

On day 30, I cooked up a chicken and made quite a bit of nutritious broth from it's liquid.  Some of it went in the freezer for future use.  This is the broth I use for drinking purposes.

Pictured: Almost a whole gallon of nutrient rich broth!  I poured myself a cup to drink as soon as it was cool enough and look at that small amount it left in the jar.  Try as I might, I couldn't get it in the other three jars so there it sits, that small amount in that big ole jar, looking forlorn ... not to worry though, it didn't stay that way long!  It has served the purpose for which it was created!

I also made up two more Dutch apple pies, added one to the freezer and cooked one for us to enjoy.

home-made granola 

(there's a second container a little smaller than this one on my pantry shelf.)

On day 31, I made a big batch of granola.  This will last me most likely until the Christmas holidays.  I enjoy a scoop of granola with yogurt.  I used my home-canned applesauce instead of oil in making this granola.  I used dehydrated apple slices (from last years dehydration efforts) that I broke into chips as part of the fruit additions.  I'm thinking I should probably do another batch of applesauce while I still have the apples just to make sure I have enough to last until next year's apple harvest.  I should probably dry some more apple slices as well.  My very favorite apple is the Honeycrisp.  It rings all my bells as far as an apple goes and the applesauce I made has it as one of three varieties I used in making this year's batch.  One more thing about this granola, I used home-canned pecans from my pantry.  In fact they were the last jar from 2019, they were still good and tasted good as well.  

Food cooked in my kitchen this week includes:

chicken and dumplings (the weather has gotten much cooler this week, in fact we had our first frost last night, so it's time to start with the soups, stews and such!)

Chili  (no picture)

Granola  (pictured earlier)

meatballs & mushroom sauce (a.k.a. cream of mushroom soup)  over rice  (no picture)

apple pie

(link shared earlier)

angel biscuits  (I made a big batch and sent ham and biscuits to work with my husband the next day for his co-workers to enjoy ... at his request.  Of course, we had a meal of ham and biscuits ourselves at home.)

I posted lesson 7, the final lesson in our Bible study on Abigail over on From This Heart of Mine.    I also wrote the following, What God's Word Does For Me.  I hope you'll check it out as well!

That's it for this week!

I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.

Until the next time ...

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

~ quietly holding the home front ~

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Other Places You Can Find Me ...

Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine 

From This Heart of Mine  

Mrs. Patsi on Instagram

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting my work via one of the following ways. Your expressions of appreciation help me keep my pantry well-stocked and me motivated to keep on keeping on with my attempts to inspire and encourage you (Titus 2:3-5) through my writings!

From My Home to Yours: 10/17/25 and 10/24/25

  From My Home to Yours

10/24/25

~ Sickness and a lot of extra work! ~

Let's talk about the extra work first!

The produce we brought back from our overnight trip away that I talked about in my last post had to be preserved.

I started with this box of peppers, yes, they were as big as they look in the picture!  Can you believe we paid $7 for the whole box.  There were 36 peppers in the box!

I made stuffed peppers out of all of them.  All but these 6 were frozen before cooking and added to the freezer part of our pantry.

Cooked and ready to serve... and yes, they were delicious!

I took the tops of the peppers that I cut off and turned them into chunks for adding to dishes, stir fry, roasting, etc.  These were flash frozen and then added to the freezer part of my pantry.

I'm still working on my version of the #everylittlebitcountschallenge, so this counted as day 23  ...  hang on, I'm not done, that's only the peppers!

On days 24 and 25, I made chunky applesauce, 7 one day and 7 the next.  I like to use applesauce in making applesauce bread, as an ingredient that replaces the oil in granola and of course to eat.

On day 26, I took two family packs of ground beef out of the freezer, thawed them and made multiple meatballs and hamburger patties for the freezer.  I cooked both the meatballs and the hamburger patties since the ground beef had been thawed.  I don't have pictures of either, this is about when my asthma flare up began and I was pushing myself to just get done so I could call it a day.

For day 27, after I got to feeling better, I made two apple pies.  One I left uncooked and froze it and the other I cooked for us to enjoy.  This is the method for making apple pies that uses the crumbly topping of flour, sugar and butter for the top crust instead of a pastry crust.  Yes, it was delicious!  I plan to make about 3 more pies for the freezer.

On day 28, I preserved garlic.  I started 2 jars of fermented honey garlic and one jar of plain fermented garlic using whey, water and the garlic.

You can see the applesauce I canned behind the garlic.  No, as of this post I haven't gotten it labeled, dated and put away.  I needed the garlic to be where I would see it and be reminded to burp it a couple of times a day for 3 days.  Then into the refrigerator it will go until I'm ready to use it.  The honey fermented garlic will be used for medicinal purposes and the plain fermented garlic will be used in cooking.

I'm still working on cleaning, inventorying and reorganizing my pantry.  Here's a snippet of one corner that's completed!  I try to work on this project at least a couple of times a week, more if I can manage it.  Sometimes, it's just a few minutes and sometimes I can carve out more time, but I continue to make progress and that makes me happy!

I've been trying to get back to sewing or doing something sewing related at least 15 minutes per day.  The past two weeks I managed 6 of the 14 days.  Being sick slowed me down, but I'm determined to knock out some 'been working on this too long' projects this winter plus some new things I want to stitch up.  While I don't have any completed sewing projects to show you, I can show you the Halloween treats I made and mailed to my grands last week ...

The one with the acorn is for the male grandchild and the one with the candy corn is for the female grandchildren.  I made each of my grandchildren one or the other, depending on their gender.  These were so simple to pull together.  Each package contains a card, small amount of candy, a special message and a family tradition that we do every year!  I can't wait for them to get their packages!  I don't know who is more excited, them or me!!!

I got the fifth and sixth lessons posted in our ladies Bible study on Abigail over on From This Heart of Mine.  If you are following along, I hope you are enjoying the study.

I think that about gets us caught up.  I still have quite a few apples to work up so that's where you'll find me this next week ... in the kitchen with the apples!  

I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.

Until the next time ...

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

~ quietly holding the home front ~

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You might be interested in my other blogs ...

Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine 

From This Heart of Mine  

Mrs. Patsi on Instagram

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting my work via one of the following ways. Your expressions of appreciation help me keep my pantry well-stocked and me motivated to keep on keeping on with my attempts to inspire and encourage you (Titus 2:3-5) through my writings!

From My Home to Yours: 10/10/25

 From My Home to Yours

10/10/25

~ It's all about the meals this week and a right nice surprise ~

Have you ever experienced food fatigue?  You know when you're tired of cooking and eating the same thing over and over again.  That's where we're at so we're pulling out the stops and intentionally looking for new to us meal ideas using the same foods/ingredients we've always used.

My first plan of action was to pull these old issues of Taste of Home magazine from my bookshelf and start looking through them.  (I got all 5 of these issues for $1.99 at a thrift store some 10 years ago.)  They're issues from 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001.  The recipes and methods are still applicable to the way I cook today so the issues being 'old' and 'out of date' doesn't matter one bit!

I enjoyed looking through each issue and marked several recipes to try.  I do find recipes online that I try from time to time, but it was so satisfying just to slow down and hold these old issues in my hands and look at and absorb what was in them.  There's just something about slowing down and enjoying a less hectic lifestyle that is appealing to me in this season of life.  I plan to make next week's menu based off recipes in these magazines.  I am excited about finding new ways to use what we already grow, bargain shop for, preserve, glean, and or forage.  Of course, we will keep our old favorites, but we're definitely ready to add some variety to what we eat.

Do you ever get food fatigue?  If so, what do you do about it?

Hubby whisked me off for an overnight getaway this week!  We left the state we live in and spent some time in a neighboring state.  We both enjoyed it so much!  We took in some sights we've long wanted to see and surprise; surprise found an old order Amish community!

Can you believe that they were having a produce auction during the time we were there.  You know my hubby had to get in on that!  We brought back, tomatoes, green beans, broccoli, apples, peppers, and cabbage from the auction.

Down the road a few miles was an Amish cheese store, they make their cheeses on site and sell them in an attached store.  You could see the area where all the cheesemaking happened through huge, gigantic windows in the store area.  Of course, we were not allowed to go in because of regulations, but the place looked so clean it shined!  It made me feel good about purchasing their products. We spent some time talking with the wife of one of the owners who was working the counter in the store.  She was so kind and friendly and nice, I could have talked with her far longer than we did!  I tried something they make called skyr, it has a yogurt like consistency and was very good.  We purchased 3 blocks of their homemade cheese after sampling one variety they make.  We had a delightful time there as well.

We were told there were some 70 families in this Amish community, but from what we could tell they were spread out over a large area.  Another thing we noticed was that the whole area was absent from 'tourist.'  A couple of places we visited seemed surprised to see someone from outside the area there.  I mean you had to be looking to find this settlement ... don't ask me how we found it!

When we got home you know all that produce had to be preserved!!!

We got the beans snapped and canned and the next most urgent veggie to get preserved was the broccoli.  I removed the florets, blanched them and then froze them in the freezer part of our pantry.  Next, I chopped up the tenderest of the stems, cooked them until soft, then pureed them to make broccoli and cheese soup with this winter.  I froze the puree in 1 1/2 cup increments and added them to the freezer part of our pantry as well. 

Up next is the bell peppers.  My plan is to make about 10 meals of stuffed peppers and freeze them in increments of 4 per package.  That will happen this upcoming week as will the apples.  I want to can some of the apples, make dutch apple pies for the freezer, make a couple of apple cakes for the freezer, dehydrate some for use in granola and store some for fresh eating and cooking.

We were so pleased with all the veggies and fruit we purchased at the produce auction.  It was a small auction, but the produce was superior.  It was fresh, young and tender and the taste has been amazing on everything we've tried thus far.

I'm still working on my version of the #everylittlebitcountschallenge.

Before hubby whisked me away on our trip, I managed to complete day 21 ...

We were given several zucchini and eggplant.  It was too much for us to eat before they all ruined so I decided to flash freeze them and add them to the freezer pantry part of our pantry to be used in a roasted vegetable medley.

zucchini washed, cut into chunks and ready to be flash frozen.

I got the earlier mentioned green beans canned on Day 22 and the broccoli preserved as well.  This variety of green beans was called Jada.  To my knowledge I had never eaten that variety before, but I can tell you that I will be on the lookout for them in the future.  We had enough left over from the canning to have some with a meal ... oh my they were so good!

We had enough broccoli left over from preserving and enjoyed it as part of a meal.  It was tender and delicious as well!

I had a big 'fall cleaning' day on Monday and was happy with what I accomplished.  As I sit and type up this post, we are experiencing a northeaster weather event.  It has rained all day and been quite breezy at times.  It's supposed to continue throughout tomorrow.  We are thankful that thus far we have not lost power, and that our internet has stayed on and working!

I didn't get any sewing done this week but did get the fourth lesson posted in our ladies Bible study on Abigail over on From This Heart of Mine. 

That's all for this week!  

I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.

Until the next time ...

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

~ quietly holding the home front ~

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You might be interested in my other blogs ...

Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine 

From This Heart of Mine  

Mrs. Patsi on Instagram

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting my work via one of the following ways. Your expressions of appreciation help me keep my pantry well-stocked and me motivated to keep on keeping on with my attempts to inspire and encourage you (Titus 2:3-5) through my writings!