January
While the cold, winter weather forces us to slow down and take a much needed “season of rest”, the month of January is not spent idle on the homestead.
This time is used for planning and forecasting for the upcoming season. I find myself slowly taking inventory of the food in the pantry, the seeds on the shelf and attempting to plot out the new garden. I say “attempt to plot out” because usually I get distracted by the seed catalogs, ha!
In my previous post on New Year Goal Setting, https://littlefarmfolk.com/2022/12/new-year-goal-setting/, I mentioned taking some action steps to meet your goals. Here are a few action steps I am taking this month to help get my homestead ready for the summer.
Start a garden journal- For this I recommend some sort of graph paper. It could be a super fancy hardcover one or free sheets you put in a spiral binder. Honestly, don’t spend a ton of money on it because you will probably leave it outside at some point in time. It’s great to keep a record of where you are planting. Partly for personal enjoyment but also for practicality like future crop rotations. One square on the graph paper can represent one square foot in the garden. Don’t over complicate it! Or check out my Garden Planner, launching soon!
Inventory Seeds/ perform germination test- If you don’t own any seeds then skip this step but odds are there’s a few packs laying around your house. If you’ve had them for a few years or they haven’t been stored properly then it might be a good idea to test the germination rate to see if the seeds are still viable.
Buy Seeds– The absolute most enchanting part of gardening. Don’t forget to use your garden journal and know how much space you actually have to plant, that way you don’t accidentally over buy.
Place an order for spring poultry- If you are planning on raising laying hens for meat birds it’s best to place your order early so you can get what you want. Also, some hatcheries have a minimum number to ship so it might be a good idea to combine an order with a friend, plus it helps to split shipping costs. Don’t worry they won’t ship right away! Post Offices won’t ship live animals during cold temperatures. In the past we’ve had good luck ordering from Murray McMurray Hatchery and Cackle Hatchery.
Find a butcher to process your animals– 2021 proved to be an extremely difficult year to find a butcher. With all the shut downs, most butchers were booked up for months to the whole year. If you have animals set to be processed, do it sooner than later. As an average estimate, most meat birds (Cornish Cross breed) reach full maturity at only eight weeks old. Most of our birds dress out to be 7 lbs in just eight weeks! Pigs go around eight months old and cows go to the butcher at eighteen months old. Keep in mind, these are just general timelines and they may differ for you and your homestead.
I hope this list gives you some practical ways you can be preparing your homestead for the upcoming growing season. Check back next month for another “To Do” list!