John Hein Woodcarver

01/07/2025

Keeping busy as there are only 324 days until the Christmas Market opens.

01/04/2025

January may just be beginning but in my dreams I am sitting by the lake, carving Loon ornament heads at our place up North.

01/03/2025

That feeling you get when you find out that the person (Partric Michelle), who saw and wanted to purchase one of your carvings on Whittling Club, turns out to be a scammer.

01/02/2025

And so begins 2025 with about 30 Chick-a-dee ornaments.

12/24/2024

To all of you who follow this page and those of you that we met at the 2024 German American Institute "Christmas in Germany" or the St Paul European Christmas Market, Karen and I wish you the merriest of Christmas' and all the best in the upcoming New Year.

12/13/2024

St Paul European Christmas Market tonight.https://www.facebook.com/share/1F8RE24hZC/

🎄👹 Get ready for a festive fright! Come to the European Christmas Market tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 13, and catch Krampus in action from 7:00 - 8:30 PM!
📍Union Depot, St. Paul, MN

12/11/2024

And so begins another batch of small Cardinals (approx 2 1/4" length, 1" thick). Aiming to have at least half of them finished today.

12/02/2024

The opening weekend of the St Paul European Christmas Market featured some low temperatures but was well attended. #1 selling item was our Loon ornament followed by our Cardinal pair at their bird house.

11/23/2024

The 2024 St Paul (MN) European Christmas Market starts next week-end. We will be among the 70 vendors on-site. We have the good fortune of being located just outside the depot on the 2nd floor nearby the Berr/Gluwien tent and a pretzel vendor.
The market gets busy so I recommend that you take advantage of a free Light Rail ride for you and the family. Follow the link below.
Stop by and say Hi! (If I am not in our hut, check the Beer Tent.

Enjoy Free rides to Union Depot Hub for the Holidays with Metro Transit! Download the free ride pass and take the Metro Transit Green Line right to the front doors...

11/09/2024

The vendors are set for this year's Christmas Market. Let's hope the weather is as pleasant as it was last year.

Vendors Enjoy the wonderful atmosphere of an authentic European Christmas Market while supporting our local crafters and artisans selling unique, handmade holiday gifts and delicious European and festive foods! Would you like to be a vendor at the 2025 European Christmas Market? Just fill out the fo...

11/04/2024

Please READ ME. Someone is "phishing' using my e-mail .account. Appears to effect only those who have purchased wood from me.

10/27/2024

Circa 1952 in the mountains above Los Angeles. My Mom loved to drive up to be in the snow. Bald tires, no chains, no gloves, no hats? Nothing would deter her. The little guy on the left is my brother Jim, whose birthday is today. On the right is my sister Dee Dee and brother Bobby. Jim is sporting a new jacket, as is my sister. Me? I'l l have one when Bobby outgrows his. Middle children understand this.

10/25/2024

Karen and I have been carving and painting our handmade ornaments since last year's market ended. While our Cardinals remain everyone's favorite we will have several new items available.

10/24/2024

Answering the important questions of whittling wood... is a 1"x1"x4" piece of wood scrap?

10/10/2024

This week from the archives we meet Alonso Varela (1568 - 1632), my 10th Great Grandfather. He arrived in Nueva España (present day Mexico) with and his brother, Pedro Varela, from Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain at the end of the 16th century. They presented themselves at Las Minas de Casco, Nueva Vizcaya, as soldiers prepared to travel to the far northern territory of La Nueva México in the army of Juan de Oñate.

The Onate Expedition completed the 700 mile march across the desert arriving in present day Santa Fe in 1598. The Varelas and are recorded among the Founders of Santa Fe. Nearby, it was in the area of La Ciénega that Alonso Varela, established his estancia in 1628. The Varela estancia was located in the general area of the modern-day living history museum of Las Golondrinas, southwest of Santa Fe.

My Grandfather would be born in La Cienega some 225 years later.

10/07/2024

Meagan joined 19,999 other runners in the Twin Cities Marathon. Here she is at the half-way mark.

10/04/2024

I thought I'd post another bit of Family History before someone comes in and take my keyboard away.
Here is an interesting newspaper article on the death of my mother's Uncle Paco Baca. It sheds some light upon where the family lived prior to moving to Las Colonias, San Miguel County, NM. I had read that my Great Grandfather Jose Maria de la Merced Baca was listed on the roster of Pioneers of the Santa Fe Trail. I do wonder what the family was doing in Janos, Chihuahua in the early 1800's. It lies in Apache territory and Geronimo has ties to Janos.
Enjoy!

Santa Fe Trail Freighter Dies
Policarpio Baca Made Trip From St Louis

SANTA ROSA, Aug 26 1944 (AP)

Policarpio (Paco) Baca, ox-team freighter until railroads came,
died Friday night at a daughter's home. He was 100 years old.
Baca was born at Jano (sic) Chihuahua, Mexico. When he was nine months old his parents moved to Santa Fe and thence to old San Miguel, 30 miles west of Las Vegas where his father opened a freighting business on the Santa Fe Trail. Baca had taken an active part in the business by the 1860's and with the the late John Hicks made an ox-team freight trip from St Louis to Santa Fe. He was well
acquainted with other frontier personages: Kit Carson, Lucian
Maxwell and others, and often hunted buffalo in the Staked
Plains of West Texas.He moved to Las Colonias on
the Pecos River, 10 miles north of here, in 1860 and became one
of the first settlers there. With the coming of the railroad in
1879, he freighted between Las Vegas and Roswell until therail-
road reached Roswell in 1897.

In 1900 he moved to Agua Negra and acquired irrigated
lands.

Surviving are a son Emiterio Baca, Puerto de Luna: Mrs
Serapia Sanchez, Santa Rosa: Mrs. Casimira Gonzales, Las Vegas:
Mrs. Angelita Padilla: and Mrs. Josefita Nieto, both of Puerto
de Luna: all daughters, and several brothers and sisters.

The sisters include Mrs. Juan Giddings and Mrs. Tomas Unioste
of Albuquerque and Mrs. Damacio Gonzalez of Santa Fe.
The funeral will be Sunday at Santa Rosa. Burial will be at
Puerto de Luna

Albuquerque Journal
Albuquerque, New Mexicso
27 Aug 1944 - Page 4

10/01/2024

"We didn't cross no border; the border crossed us. We don't need no stinkin' border."
When my Great Grandmother Maria Estefana Gallegos was born on 5 August 1834, in San Miguel, Nuevo Mexico (also known as New or Northern Mexico, a part of New Spain) her father, Jose Fernando Gallegos, was 28 and her mother, Maria Juliana Padilla, was 23. She married José María de la Merced Baca on 22 October 1848, in Ribera, San Miguel, New Mexico. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 3 daughters.
Northern Mexico would become New Mexico Territory, United States, on September 9, 1850 and the border moved northward.
The name "Gallegos" refers to someone from the province of Galicia which lies in the northwestern corner of Spain. The Gallegos and Padilla families first appear in New Mexico history around 1650. The Baca name appears in 1604 when Captain Christobal Baca led a relief column into the area in 1604. He would become a founder of the city of Santa Fe.
Ribera, San Miguel County lies to the east of Santa Fe and lies along the Pecos River and the land opens to the west Texas plains. There is ford across the river nearby and settlements here might have been used to discourage raids by the Commaches, who were present in the area.