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Connect@BluebirdHillHomestead.com

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(612)910-9756

ADDRESS:
456 Old E East, Hudson, WI 54016

We are located 45 minutes from Minneapolis/St. Paul,
5 miles east of Stillwater, MN and 10 minutes north of Hudson, WI.

Our Herbal Apothecary Farm Stand is open daily until dusk.
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Cultivating Connection with Nature

We packed up our Herbal Apothecary late last night

We packed up our Herbal Apothecary late last night and are excited to be all set up at the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis today!

The No Coast Craft-O-Rama is from 10-4 today (Saturday, Dec 7th) and we’d love to see you! There are over 60 vendors here with all sorts of beautiful things!

@midtownglobalmarket @nocoastcraft #holidayfair #holidaygifts #apothecary #minneapolis #mpls #mn #herbalapothecary #herbalism #herbs #medicinalherbs #plantmedicine #craftfair

A Beeswax Rendering Day! My friend Phyllis of @sa

A Beeswax Rendering Day!

My friend Phyllis of @sacred_ibis_botanicals generously brought over more than a dozen 5 gallon buckets of beeswax cappings last weekend and we spent ALL DAY boiling it down in water and pouring it through high quality milk filters.

Look at all that gorgeous yellow beeswax we were left with!

The cappings are full of honey, propolis, dead bees, larvae and more. It’s what is left over after extracting your honey harvest. Rendering it involves the long process of putting it all in a big pot with a few inches of water and bringing it to a very low boil. (Believe me, letting it boil over creates an absolute disaster to clean up!)

Once it’s melted you can strain out the bigger clumps of gunk. We have several fine mesh strainers that are only used for beeswax now, as they are almost impossible to clean enough to recover for regular use again.

Then we pour the mixture through the high quality filters into a 5 gallon bucket and let it cool.

The beautiful beeswax rises to the top and cools to form a hard yellow puck. Underneath is all the watered down honey mixture. When the puck is cool enough, we crack them open and gather all the chunks of that good beeswax. And then we pour the honey water into the garden.

I’ll melt down the beeswax again in a double boiler, for one last filtering so it’s ready for use in our salves and for our hand-dipped candles.

It’s a long and sticky process but so worth it for the precious end result!

#beeswax #beeswaxrendering #wax #beeswaxcappings #honeycomb #honeybees #honey #rendering #homesteadkitchen #homestead #candles #candlemaking #candledipping

Well, it’s been frigid suddenly but Maya and I w

Well, it’s been frigid suddenly but Maya and I were able to bundle up and hang the sliding barn door yesterday as the sun was setting. It arrived broken so I got a full refund but was able to repair it enough to make it work. So win/win?

Also, the roof is officially BLUE! Doesn’t it look pretty in the glowing Golden Hour?! We made a final push last weekend to finish the cupola and blue metal trim, before I had to shift gears to cleaning my house for Thanksgiving. A huge thank you to Tony for helping finish it with me!

I still need to get the gutters hung, so the melting snow doesn’t drip all over our dry firewood. As you can see they are in process, halfway done. Just waiting for a little warmer weather this week…

#gazebo #diy #barndoor #octagon #octagongazebo #outdoorclassroom #metalroof #metalroofing

Look at all the wonderful people in the gazebo tod

Look at all the wonderful people in the gazebo today! Stone Soup, Closing Circle with the Earth Warriors families, all gathered around the fire.

This is what makes all the hard work worth it. ❤️

Also, check out the skylights I decided to add, to bring a little more light into the space. Super easy, just with the ProSky panels that perfectly line up with the blue metal roofing. But many thanks to Buck for cutting it just right, after I messed the first one up. 🙄

Now that the earthbag wall is plastered and painte

Now that the earthbag wall is plastered and painted, we can finally stack all our split firewood back there! So the kids made a “bucket brigade” and filled up one whole bay! Everything is more fun with friends.

#firewood #dryfirewood #woodstorage #earthwarriors #natureclub #naturecamp #kidsandnature #winterprep

With the temperatures dropping, I made a desperate

With the temperatures dropping, I made a desperate attempt to finish the earthbag wall in time. So I called my daughter and begged her to drive home from college to help, and along with two other teenage helpers, they finished all the plastering in one morning!

Then I took a photo to Home Depot with me to pick out a paint color that matches the belly of a bluebird.

And here it was halfway painted on Sunday, before I went back for a second gallon. Note the sweet handprints of many of the kids who helped.

I was desperate to finish this space because we plan to stack our dry firewood as high as possible in this protected alleyway. All in preparation for the coming winter!

#earthbag #earthbagwall #retainingwall #plaster #erosioncontrol

Whew! I’ve been using every possible moment to w

Whew! I’ve been using every possible moment to work on the gazebo roof and it is coming along! Many thanks to all the folks who’ve been helping me the past few weeks!

There’s Jackson up there helping install the “ridge cap” trim to every small peak of the octagon, tied to a rope for safety. Note my not OSHA approved method of tying that safety rope to a rafter through the chimney opening, on a ladder over the fire pit.

So the roof was looking very blue, but yesterday it turned white, thankfully just briefly. I just need a few more nice days…

Anyways, I got it all tidied up yesterday for our final week of Fall Earth Warriors. And today we all made Stone Soup together and shared it with their families for Closing Circle. When I stood outside looking in on all the people chatting and laughing, my heart was so happy. 💚

#earthwarriors #natureclub #naturecamp #gazebo #outdoorclassroom #stonesoup

A little snippet from the top of the gazebo… I

A little snippet from the top of the gazebo…

I was able to sneak up there with one of my helpers briefly this afternoon to finish the insulation and drip edge, while the Earth Warriors stoked the fire and finished their game of Capture the Flag.

I’m using every available minute to get a little further along with the roofing, before the weather inevitably takes a turn.

You can see the two openings in the roof now. I decided to add two small sections with clear roof panels, like a skylight, to shed some light down inside. I think it’s going to be lovely on those cold winter days!

#earthwarriors #natureclub #naturecamp #gazebo #outdoorclassroom #classroom #diy #roofing #metalroof #octagon

Progress! A huge thank you to Buck and Jooniper fo

Progress! A huge thank you to Buck and Jooniper for their help the past couple days getting the insulation on the roof and the first blue panels!

These shorter days are a challenge (can we get rid of Daylight Savings yet?!) but I’m very thankful for this nicer weather to keep moving forward.

With the funds from our Fall Harvest Fundraiser a couple weeks ago, I tallied every last penny and then spent a ridiculous amount of time measuring every inch of the gazebo roof and my pile of leftover metal from building our house. I had a stack of the copper colored ProRib from our house roof and thought I’d use that. But in tallying it all up I realized I had a bit more leftover blue, and just enough funds to buy the rest I’d need. So blue it is.

Jooniper said today that it perfectly matches the sky so that makes me very happy. I always wanted this structure to look like it was growing out of the hillside, like it belongs right here.

I’ll be using every day that it’s not raining to keep plugging away, so we will see if we can get all the metal on before snowfall!

#gazebo #outdoorclassroom #metalroof #diy #earthwarriors #natureclub

Our new little tree arrived last week! Many than

Our new little tree arrived last week!

Many thanks to @willow_river_company for gifting us this several year old sugar maple, and for planting it so expertly into its forever home.

I asked the Earth Warriors if they could help welcome it, so they decorated these bits of fabric with all sorts of blessings, while we chatted about how perhaps their kids and grandkids might enjoy the shade of this sweet tree when it is fully grown.

“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.” — Greek Proverb

#sugarmaple #maple #babytree #treeplanting #earthwarriors #natureclub #naturecamp

Remember that Earth Warrior with such a skillful e

Remember that Earth Warrior with such a skillful eye for photography? He made this drone video for me!

I love seeing this different perspective of the land! You can see our curved house, the terraced medicinal gardens, our little greenhouse, the game circle in the pasture, the gazebo classroom with its tarped roof waiting for the metal roofing I ordered…

And he captured the beautiful colors in all directions from our place! I’m so thankful for his gift!

#drone #dronevideo #dronephotography #earthwarriors #natureclub #naturephotography #hudsonwi #hudsonwisconsin #homestead #home

A closer look at our Herbal Apothecary Farm Stand…fully stocked and currently open all day every day.

The Ashwagandha Cacao blend is packaged and ready for you. Our Sumac Honey has been poured into its sweet little bottles. A dreamy remedy to soothe a sore throat.

Tinctures, bitters, teas and salve. Books and prints and catnip toys.

All the plant medicine is grown in our south-facing terraced garden beds.

Feel free to message me with questions.

#plantmedicine #plantmagic #hudsonwi #hudsonwisconsin #herbalapothecary #apothecary #farmstand #farmstands #medicinalherbs #tea #teas #tincture #tinctures #bitters #salve #salves #herbalsalve

A gigantic thank you to everyone who came out on S

A gigantic thank you to everyone who came out on Saturday, everyone who helped set up, sent all the beautiful silent auction items, donated and generously made it a magical day! I am overwhelmed by your support. You helped raise $1808 for the gazebo classroom roof!

I didn’t have a chance to take any photos but these were captured by some of the Earth Warriors and parents. I have to say, it was truly a dream come true watching all the kids run through giggling, making art, playing, and all the grownups chatting and connecting around the fire. I shared with some friends there on Saturday that many years ago, back in 2012 before we had even moved to the land or had any real community at all for our little family, I stood in that exact place and imagined such a gathering. Good people, fall colors, kids playing, creative projects, nature in its glory. I definitely shed a few tears thinking back to that time and all that has come to fruition.

So I spent yesterday recovering a bit, and now today I am placing orders for the first roof materials. I’ll be sharing more soon as we get started again.

Oh, and the 3 raffle winners of the Summer Camp registrations have been notified! Thank you all for your support!

Look at all these sweet wood paintings the Earth W

Look at all these sweet wood paintings the Earth Warriors made for the fundraiser tomorrow!

They will be available down in the Farm Stand for you to take home with a free will donation! We hope you can make it!

The Earth Warriors have spent the last few weeks w

The Earth Warriors have spent the last few weeks with this big project. We haven’t done these masks in awhile, because they take quite a bit of time and they require the willingness to lie still with the feeling of wet plaster on your face (see last photo).

But I offered up the idea and they were very excited to try!

The first week we made the plaster masks right on their faces for a perfect fit. The next week they were dry so they painted their animals. The final week we added ears, whiskers and such.

I absolutely loved helping them with these. I’m always inspired by their creativity!

#earthwarriors #natureclub #naturecamp #kidsart #plaster #plastermasks #natureart #animalart #animalmasks

So many fun activities planned for tomorrow!

I’m honestly blown away by all the support from so many people. We have several absolutely beautiful items donated for our Silent Auction…jewelry, macrame plant hangers and art, a fishing pole and bucket of lures/tools, furniture, some pristine apples from my beekeeper mentor…and many more wonderful things!

We are looking forward to seeing you tomorrow! 11am-4pm
456 Old E East, Hudson, WI 54016

It’s candle time! We’ve been sold out for a st

It’s candle time! We’ve been sold out for a stretch, so we warmed up the beeswax today and spent the afternoon making a new batch. And yes, that’s Run Rudolf Run in the background. We’ve got to listen to Christmas music while dipping them, no matter the time of year. It’s tradition!

#candles #beeswaxcandles #beeswaxcandles🐝 #dippedcandles #handdippedcandles #beeswaxcandlemaking #beeswax

Y’all! This ashwagandha hot chocolate is out of

Y’all! This ashwagandha hot chocolate is out of this world!! We were up late testing the recipe, making little adjustments to nail that magical synergy when it hits your taste buds. This morning we tasted it cold too and it is decadent! I am so excited about this one!

The blend is organic cacao, ashwagandha root, reishi, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg and Himalayan salt. You add a heaping tablespoon to 8oz of the milk and sweetener of your choice. Froth and enjoy!

For tasting at our Fall Harvest Fundraiser Saturday, we’ll be using oat milk and maple syrup.

And we will have the blend packaged and labeled for sale in the Farm Stand too!

Many thanks to @helfenliesa @rebelqueenapiaryco for her recipe wrangling expertise late into the night with me!

#ashwagandha #ashwagandhahotchocolate #cacao #chocolate #hotchocolate #reishi #medicinalchocolate #adaptogens #immunesupport #apothecary #plantmagic #plantmedicine

Here’s their “lock and dam” system with the

Here’s their “lock and dam” system with the little shovels!

#kidplay #sandpit #waterplay #natureclub #naturecamp #kidsandnature

Sometimes I feel like my place is a series of “i

Sometimes I feel like my place is a series of “if you build it they will come” moments. Remember how the kids all helped backfill our new earthbag retaining wall behind the gazebo?

Well, I merely mentioned the idea of turning that area into a sandpit. They immediately jumped into action, and their creativity has taken over the past several weeks. The space has become an engineering experiment each week, with plenty of teamwork negotiating together the flow of the “river”, the bridges, dams, and levees to prevent erosion…

All this with one sentence “Hey, I was thinking maybe we could turn this into a sandpit.” And about $30 worth of little shovels and rakes from Menards. This makes me so happy.

#sandpit #kidplay #kidsandnature #earthwarriors #natureclub #naturecamp #sandplay

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