A Homestead Checklist For Every Season

Last Updated on November 5, 2023 by Michelle

We all need some great to-do checklists for life, no? Today let’s dive into a to-do checklist of 54 things to do every year for your homestead. For every season.

For a downloadable, printable set of checklists (& useful homestead-related coupons & offers!) join my Subscriber Library. Or just keep scrolling for the complete lists.

It’s hard work, but it’s doable

I chose my brand name “SoulyRested” back when I was new to this homesteading “thing.”

Even then I realized there was nothing easy about trying to live life a little more simply.

I remember wondering if I would ever truly “rest” again… there’s just always so much to be doing around a small family farm. I knew I’d have to fight for rest in my SOUL, because I might not find time for a lot of physical rest.

In the end, this effort our family has made to live life a little simpler has been harder–and yet easier–than I thought it would be.

You just need a plan

But one thing that is imperative if you want to make a homestead run smoothly?

A plan.

A good plan.

A good plan for every season.

This book will help you make the best plan

My friend, Lisa Lombardo, has itemized exactly what I’m talking about in her brand-new book, The Beginner’s Guide to Backyard Homesteading, and I’m thrilled that she was happy to let me share her list here, with you guys.

Take a second to pre-order Lisa’s insightful, encouraging book here on Amazon or over on my favorite online bookshop, that gives back to your local bookstore with every order… while you’re there tell them I said “hi” and pick up a copy of my book too, if you haven’t already.

It turns out the pages of Lisa’s book are filled with all kinds of practical tips, charts, ideas, and encouragement for anyone who wants to use what they have–their own backyard–to start taking charge of their food supply and living life a little more simply.

But for today, I’m excited to share this helpful checklist with you.

A checklist for your homestead, for every season

As Lisa Lombardo points out in The Beginner’s Guide to Backyard Homesteading, every homestead will have different daily and seasonal chores.

So you’ll want to tailor this list for your own homestead, in fact I already did just that.

I added sugarmaking chores to Lisa’s lists.

The fact is, most folks just don’t know that they can make sugar from the sap of 31 different tappable trees, so many folks have what they need to be backyard sugarmakers, they just don’t know it.

Go here to peruse the list of 31 tappable trees–you might have a few yourself!

The Ultimate Homestead Checklist

This list is printed here with permission from Lisa Lombardo & Rockridge Press, the author and publisher of The Beginners’s Guide to Backyard Homesteading.

Spring Checklist

  • Start seedlings
  • Till the garden and grain fields
  • Transplant the seedlings
  • Grow cool-season crops in cold frames
  • Sow grains and vegetables
  • Order and care for chicks
  • Assist livestock births
  • Mild dairy animals
  • Make cheese and dairy products
  • Set up new beehives
  • Fertilize fruit and nut trees
  • Harvest early-season crops
  • Weed, mulch, compost, and amend soil
  • Spray fruit crops
  • Clean out root cellar
  • Clean up an store away sugaring equipment

Summer Checklist

  • Weed, mulch, and compost
  • Water the crops
  • Harvest the crops–dive into my free ecourses on
  • Prepare the beds for fall crops
  • Preserve fruits, vegetables, and herbs for winter
  • Butcher early meat harvest (chickens, rabbits)
  • Milk dairy animals
  • Make cheese and dairy products
  • Spray fruit crops
  • Remove excess fruit from trees
  • Harvest honey (here are some Great Resources for Beekeeping)
  • Check the hives and add supers as needed
  • Catch swarms when available
  • Check the hives for pests and disease
  • Repair or replace sugaring equipment, if needed

Fall Checklist

Winter Checklist

  • Care for livestock
  • Breed livestock
  • Butcher livestock
  • Check on the bees [on warmest days] and feed them when necessary
  • Plan the vegetable garden and grains
  • Purchase seeds and materials (this is my favorite source for seeds)
  • Prune fruit trees (late winter)
  • Apply dormant oil spray to fruit and nut trees (late winter)
  • Build beehives and supers
  • Repair fences as needed
  • Split firewood
  • Total expenses and plan next year’s budget
  • Tap trees for syrup. This article explains the ideal time to tap.

Download the Homestead Checklist For Every Season

If you’d like a printable ebook loaded with these seasonal checklists that you can download and print out every year, just hop over and join my Subscriber Library. (BONUS: the ebook is also loaded with special homestead-related coupons and offers on some of my favorite products. Seriously.)

You’ll have instant access to the printable lists, as well as 3 pages full of coupons perfect for homesteaders, on my favorite products I use every season here on our own homestead.

It’s not easy, but it’s worth it

Is this homesteading thing easy? Is living simply a simple thing to do?

Not on your life. But it’s worth it.

And if you’re armed with the right tools and checklists, you can definitely find a way to be souly rested, even in the midst of all the hard work.

Find out how ill prepared I was for this simple living and how if I can do this thing, anyone can, in my premiere podcast episode. And catch up on over 7 seasons of inspiration on the podcast right here.

More Articles About Homesteading, in Every Season:

12 Things to Ask Yourself if you Think you Want to Own a Farm

How Homesteaders Make Money

8 Things Most Homesteaders Won’t Tell You

How to Make Your Own Syrup & Save $100s a year 

So you think you’re ready to be a homesteader? Take this quiz & find out!

 


“In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.”  Proverbs 14:23

 

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1 thought on “A Homestead Checklist For Every Season”

  1. Hello would you mind letting me know which webhost you’re working with? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different internet browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most. Can you suggest a good hosting provider at a honest price? Kudos, I appreciate it!

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