The homestead journal, step by step
Interactive lesson: what to record in the garden, the barn, the pantry and your wallet, how to measure success and how to learn something from every season for the next one.
Free sample Chapters 1 and 2 (8 steps) are free. The full lesson comes with the Homestead journal module. Already bought? Unlock
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The whole lesson as text
1. A little, but every day
If it isn't written down, it didn't happen.
- Three jobs — A journal remembers when you sowed what, measures what the homestead produced and cost, and teaches you: without records you repeat the same mistakes.
- The learning cycle — Plan in winter, do it in the season, measure with scales, egg counts, hours and costs, then improve in December. Without measuring, the cycle doesn't close.
- Ten minutes a day — A notebook and pencil on the kitchen table. Every evening one or two sentences and the numbers: the weather, what you did, what you picked or collected.
- Calendar and phone — The wall calendar is for quick notes, frost and deadlines, and at the end of the year it goes into the binder. A phone is good for photos, but a notebook needs no battery.
Why: Every smallholder thinks they'll remember when the peppers were sown and which variety did best. By next spring it's all mixed up, and all that's left is a feeling that last year was better. Your records tell you why.
- Don't try to record everything. Start with the minimum and add more once it's a habit.
- The best combination: notebook outside, spreadsheet inside. Keep a photo of each notebook page as a backup.
2. Weather and signs of nature
The frost dates on your own homestead are worth more than any average from a book.
- Rain gauge — A rain gauge shows how much rain actually fell. 1 mm of rain is 1 litre of water per m².
- How much fell — If 20 mm (about ¾ in) fell in a week, the garden got 20 litres per m² and you can skip watering. 3 mm only wet the surface.
- Min-max and frost — The min-max thermometer goes in the shade, 1.5 m (5 ft) above the ground. Write down the date of each frost, the lowest temperature and where the frost lingers longest.
- Flowering and soil — Write down when blackthorn, hawthorn, lilac, elder and lime come into flower (in the US, for example forsythia, lilac and dogwood) and compare the years. In March and April, measure the soil temperature at 10 cm (4 in) for sowing.
Why: After five years of records you know how much you can risk with tomatoes outdoors and when to sow salads for winter. All you need is a rain gauge, a thermometer and a pencil.
- Also note the number of days above 30 °C (86 °F): heat is dangerous for hens and rabbits.
- With a rain gauge you also know how much water you collect from the roof: a 100 m² roof × 20 mm = 2,000 litres (about 440 UK or 530 US gallons).
3. The garden journal · Locked
Buy the Homestead journal module and you get the PDF to download and print, plus lifetime access to this interactive lesson: all 6 chapters, 24 steps.
4. Livestock records · Locked
Buy the Homestead journal module and you get the PDF to download and print, plus lifetime access to this interactive lesson: all 6 chapters, 24 steps.
5. Pantry, money and hours · Locked
Buy the Homestead journal module and you get the PDF to download and print, plus lifetime access to this interactive lesson: all 6 chapters, 24 steps.
6. The yearly review · Locked
Buy the Homestead journal module and you get the PDF to download and print, plus lifetime access to this interactive lesson: all 6 chapters, 24 steps.