• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Bluestem Gables

Gardening with vegetables and native prairie plants

  • Home
  • Around the yard
  • In the Kitchen
  • Dear Old House Reno
  • Contact

Dear Old House Reno

80 Year Old House Reno 17: Installing Siding

July 15, 2026 by Erika Leave a Comment

Back to work on the old house renovation! Summer is well under way, but the siding on the addition is finished. Let’s take a look at what we’ve done! A long time ago, Kent decided he liked the board and batten siding. To be honest, it didn’t ...

Read More

More Posts

wonderberries in a small bowl on a place mat with a plant on weathered wood

Wonderberry: Is this Success or Failure?

green oat stalks laying on a log

How to Grow and Dry Milky Oat Tops

floor plan for our old house remodel

80 Year Old House Remodel – 6

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
closet shelving in mudroom

Simple Mudroom

April 7, 2026 by Erika Leave a Comment

Another very important secondary room! Just like our pantry, this mudroom is designed to be a simple workhorse – a room to hide the mud. Check out what we have accomplished, and what we have planned for this simple mudroom. Small war or post war ...

Read More

More Posts

Johnny Cake Cornbread stacked on a wooden cutting board

Johnny Cake Cornbread and Freezer Corn

homemade pizza with golden crust and golden cheese

Homemade Pizza Crust

water halfway up windows in window wells of old house remodel. Frog in water.

80 Year Old House Remodel – 7

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
stocked pantry shelves

Build a Pantry

March 16, 2026 by Erika Leave a Comment

This might be the most anticipated room in our old house remodel. At 6x12 feet, this pantry is almost as big as our old kitchen. Let’s explore how we build a pantry and what we have planned for this workhorse of a space. Our old kitchen was an ...

Read More

More Posts

crane raising the roof trusses over the addition of the old house remodel

80 Year Old House Remodel – 5

native prairie flowers blooming

Starting a Native Prairie Flower Garden

Cuban burrito on plate

Cuban Burritos

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
green kitchen drawers with copper pulls

80 Year Old House Remodel #14 Kitchen

October 31, 2025 by Erika Leave a Comment

Ok, time for a kitchen update I our old house remodel. In keeping with our country setting and love of rustic, our kitchen is a definite reflection of this, with its green cabinetry and butcher block counters. Check out the progress we’ve ...

Read More

More Posts

Entryway ripped off by truck and lying on the ground of old house remodel

80 Year Old House Remodel – 2

staining wood trim with brush

80 Year Old House Remodel 11: Finishing Trim

mug of iced coffee and potted flowers

Homemade Iced Coffee Concentrate

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
Old farmhouse enamel sink in our old house remodel

Old House Remodel 13 – Farmhouse Sink

June 12, 2025 by Erika Leave a Comment

Farmhouse enamel sink? Yes, please. Found one in an old building on our homestead? Perfect! Join me as our sink goes from garden storage to a functional sink in our new kitchen in our old house remodel. This is one of the coolest things in this ...

Read More

More Posts

four large leeks on wooden cutting board on grass

Grow Your Own Leeks

Ground cherries and grond cherries in husks in a bowl on a place mat on weathered wood with a plant

Ground Cherry: Tropical Taste in Zone 3

jars of chokecherry syrup on a stump with flowers

Harvesting Chokecherries and Chokecherry Syrup

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
comparing flooring and stained baseboards, dark teal wall with snake plant

80 Year Old House Remodel 12 – Projects

June 5, 2025 by Erika Leave a Comment

Our 80 year old house remodel is slowly but surely becoming a home. The projects are getting smaller for now, as we get ready to move to the other side of the house, although that won’t last.  Join us for these projects in our 80 year old house ...

Read More

More Posts

rusty rim against a tree

Homestead Garden Decor

sweet and sour beans on rice on a plate

Sweet and Sour Beans & Cooking Dry Beans

young mugo pine evergreen drought and cold tolerant shrub

Drought Tolerant, Cold Tolerant Evergreen Shrubs

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
staining wood trim with brush

80 Year Old House Remodel 11: Finishing Trim

May 5, 2025 by Erika Leave a Comment

This article is packed with everything on finishing wood, from wood conditioner and wood bleach to stain and polyurethane. Join me on the nitty gritty journey of finishing our trim for our old house remodel addition. I have completed a bunch of ...

Read More

More Posts

homemade chicken salad tortilla wrap on a white plate on place mat with greenery on weathered wood

Homemade Chicken Salad

onion flowers growing in the garden

Grow Onions From and For Seed

elm trees with yellow fall foliage line a road

Plant a Tree: Native vs. Introduced Trees

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
yellow door with wood looking concrete pavers and a dwarf snake plant

80 Year Old House Remodel 10 – Epoxy Floor

March 31, 2025 by Erika Leave a Comment

We’ve had several projects on the go in our old house remodel. Check out how we applied epoxy on the basement floor, foam rollered paint onto some doors, and got a concrete paver hearth for our wood stove. Things are getting close to being livable in ...

Read More

More Posts

Summer squash in a basket on a place mat on a stump with a wildflower bouquet

Summer Squash Success

Beef barley soup

Beef Barley Soup Recipe

jar of hulless pumpkin seeds on placemat on weathered boards with greenery

Hulless Pumpkin Seeds

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
paint swatches for old house remodel on pine with deep red and gold fabric

Old House Remodel 9 – Colour!

March 17, 2025 by Erika Leave a Comment

How fast can an experienced amateur paint a house? As we continue our old house remodel, we add colour, yes, colour. Join the journey! There was one thing Kent and I agreed on – no white paint! He may have regretted that statement. He probably ...

Read More

More Posts

gnocchi soup in bowl

Gnocchi Soup and Making gnocchi

bubble glass vial and teaspoon with painted flower background

80 Year Old House Remodel – 8 Trades & Treasures

chokecherry BBQ sauce in a jar with a spoon and snake plant on a place mat on butcher block counter

Chokecherry/Chokeberry BBQ Sauce

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
bubble glass vial and teaspoon with painted flower background

80 Year Old House Remodel – 8 Trades & Treasures

February 15, 2025 by Erika Leave a Comment

Getting back to the old house remodel. The only thing worse than working slowly, by oneself, is waiting, especially for someone else. Life lessons, kids. In the last few months a lot has gotten done, but it hasn’t seemed that way while living in ...

Read More

More Posts

Sorghastrum nutans indian grass native prairie seedlings in pots

Planting Native Prairie Flower Seeds

three jars of dry beans

Grow Your Own Dry Beans

potato salad in wooden bowl on place mats with whole potatoes and potted plant on butcher block

Homemade Potato Salad

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

WELCOME

WELCOME

Welcome! I'm Erika, I live on eighty acres in the northern prairies of southern Manitoba with my husband and four kids. Here, we enjoy the outdoors and try to be more self sufficient as we try new things in the garden and learn about our land and the world around us.

GET UPDATES!

Leave us your email to receive new posts and special offers for members only! Don't miss a thing!

Featured Posts

Ground cherries and grond cherries in husks in a bowl on a place mat on weathered wood with a plant

Ground Cherry: Tropical Taste in Zone 3

wonderberries in a small bowl on a place mat with a plant on weathered wood

Wonderberry: Is this Success or Failure?

Summer squash in a basket on a place mat on a stump with a wildflower bouquet

Summer Squash Success

garlic stalks pulled from the garden, on the lawn

Part 2: How to Grow your own Garlic

Footer

WELCOME

I'm Erika, I live on eighty acres in the northern prairies of southern Manitoba with my husband and four kids. Here, we enjoy the outdoors and try to be more self sufficient as we try new things in the garden and learn about our land and the world around us.

COME AND GET IT!

Leave us your email to receive new posts and special offers for members only! Don't miss a thing!

· Midnight Theme