Living with hard well water is...well, hard! Toilets with stained bowls and spots on dishes are just some issues hard water can bring, but another downside to living on a well is the yellowing whites and smelly laundry! Yuck!
What is a homesteader to do?! 

Is seed starting a frustrating experience? I would gather all my supplies, ripe with excitement for spring, only to be disappointed when my tiny seedling soon died. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong.

I had almost given up on the entire notion that I could start a garden indoors and therefore give myself a head start. After consulting a few garden friends, I was able to up my seed starting game and turns out I'm actually pretty good at it! As a zone 5 gardener, this was a major victory! 

It was the end of the growing season and I was left with bowls upon bowls of green tomatoes. This is one of the frustrations of gardening in Colorado, so many tomatoes that could have been! In previous years, I would keep an eye on those bowls and pluck the lucky ones that turned red out of the bowls to eat. 

But there were quite a few more that went bad than would turn juicey red. So last season I knew I had to find a better way to handle these guys. Green tomato salsa usually comes to mind but I wasn't in love with the idea of canning a hundred pounds of green tomato salsa, so I made one batch and called that good.

Fried green tomatoes are another favorite but the San Marzano tomatoes are a little small for this dish. Rest assured, I still made a batch of those too! 

Last month Farm Husband found an awesome cast iron pan at an antique store in Wyoming. He can be so thoughtful sometimes. The flat griddle will make a great crepe pan!

​ It has some minor rust spots on the cooking surface and build-up from years of use and neglect, but I knew I could return it back to glory! With just a few simple household items, I polished off the cooking surface and got to work seasoning it.