Welcome to Bahrsteads!
Catch a Buzz?
It must be spring somewhere b ecause it feels like late winter her in Minnesota. However, we seem to trick ourselves into thinking that it is closer than what it might be. For us at this time of year, nice weather if only 50-60 degree F is outright balmy t-shirt weather...
Mar
26
Go out on a limb and become fruitful -
One of the things we' have talked about quite a bit is trying to grow more fruit. I know, with the grocery store convenience, you might ask why. But with the web as a library and all the other regional and local universities, state and county agriculture extension offices, and community education programs, there are lots of places to get help and education, and who can resist the incredible taste of really great fresh fruit?...
Mar
27
Farmstead principles scaled to homestead ideas.
Crafting with Technology!
I love technology!! There are just no two ways about it. The latest tools are just fun. I invested in the Silhouette Cameo a while ago and have been having fun cutting stencils, paper, fabric, vinyl...it's a blast...
Mar
28
Growing a salad indoors?
Can it be done? We thought we would give it a shot and see if it worked. We started 3 types of lettuce, spinach, green onions, and radishes on March 8th. At this point, ...
Mar
29
Garlic
Last season we did quite a bit of research around garlic. It's a well used item in so many different dishes and cooking styles. It's easy to care for and the planting is done in the fall. We ended up going with three different varieties...
Mar
31
Composting - Give it a Spin
Everyone is always talking about some new natural product or some new natural thing, well composting is about as natural as it gets and is as old as dirt. It''s the best natural fertilizer that there is and there are many ways to soup up your compost to push more nutrients for your plants.
April
3
Raised Beds and Hoop House Challenges
One thing that has always been part of us, has been our Do-It-Yourself spirit and our “Life is like a Science Project” mentality. And like many experiments, there are some successes out of the gate, but more often we have to live thru a few more set backs before putting our stamp of approval on them. Sometimes, we have to live through several rounds of trials and errors...
April
7
Raised Beds Continued...
You don’t need that large of a space to produce some huge results that will take your gardening into orbit. Watch us as we help out someone near and dear to us take their “Backyard Ghetto Garden” (her words) that kind of reminds me of my childhood days into a beautiful, efficient, and productive gardening system...
April
9
Pruning
I know it’s Spring time when I find myself out in the Vineyard in mid -February or whenever I can endure the cold. Usually that is around 20 degrees or warmer with little to no wind. We live 20 minutes southeast of St. Paul, MN and to give you a timeframe, our ice-out is usually around the middle part of April. Now, when I am saying ice-out...
April
14
Babies at Bahrsteads!
This year at Bahrstead’s were are bringing in another round of chickens with the addition of some turkey chicks called goblets. I picked them up from the post office! Who knew you could send birds through the mail? ...
April
17
Spring Fling - Are You Ready?
The transition from our relatively mild Winter 2014 to Spring 2015 is well under way and Spring is just about upon us here finally in the Twin Cities, Minnesota area. We talk with family members in Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and to Iowa to gage where they are in this season transition to get a sense of when is Spring coming...
April
21
Morels - News Flash!
That’s s right, it’s getting that time of year again when Morel Mushroom hunting season is upon us. So this is your reminder to get ready and get out there if you are in the Central Minnesota area. If you don’t get out there and get them someone else most likely will. It’s as simple as that.
April
28
The Vines are fine and so is the wine. (There’s got to be a song lyric there in that line.)
It’s been a pretty busy couple of weeks at Bahrstead’s. Lots of activities to report in and we couldn’t feel more happy, accomplished, excited, thrill, exhausted, relieved, and thankful for everything that seems to be falling into place. Let’s get started with has felt like a whirlwind summary of activities.
May 4
Weaving
Those of you that know me, know I love clothes, shoes, jewelery...Most probably take for granted how the things they wear are made. I've always been fascinated with it. Though don't mistake that for having the patience to make it myself.
May 15
Textile - Fabric Designs
One of the things on my bucket list has been to design unique fabrics. After a few years of playing with how its done, I finally hit on something that I like. I'm going to explain how I'm creating these designs and hopefully you can give it a shot too.
May 28
Canning Time
It's been busy in the garden! We've had regular rain almost every couple days.
It can get ahead of me really quickly. I use gallon plastic bags to determine when I have enough of something to can. Last week the green beans made the cut, and Neil showed up with a box of peaches from a local farmer...
July 27
Syrup Time
Tapping In to Get “Sapped” Out
It’s almost spring in Minnesota and the winter has been really mild this year. We are out and about doing our Saturday stops getting our shopping and chores done, when we noticed the small farmstead property has their blue maple sap bags hanging. We thought it was kind of odd and relatively early, however, after coming home and doing some research, maybe they weren’t too early at all.
March
