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October– The year is wrapping up in the gardens now, the rest of the pumpkins and squash are in. The final apples are ripe and ready to process. The first frosts and hard freezes have come and it’s time to clear the dead plants out of the garden beds and prep them for next year. I highly recommend you prep immediately for the next year. I get to look at my half mulched garden covered in snow for the next several months until it all thaws and I can finish what should have been done already……..
The birds are still laying eggs, and the milk cow is still in milk. One of our ducks will probably try and sit on a nest of eggs so there may be some fuzzy ducklings running around. Our pigs are hopefully at the locker or will be going soon, and we will hopefully have duck, chicken, and possibly a goose or two in our freezer!
November-Thanksgiving month!!!! My goal every year is to have the homestead put to rest by thanksgiving. That means, gardens closed down (although I am not good at actually get it done), and all the food is processed and stored.
Eggs are slowing down, and we are still milking the cow. The calves are getting weaned by their mothers and we are starting to halter train them! We are hoping to have a fall batch of piglets this month.
December– A calmer month for us. The processing is done, the homestead is at rest, and we are thinking and planning for Christmas!! So often, I find myself already planning for the next year, and we have barely finished this one!! I get so excited, and often pre-order any plants, seeds, and potatoes I might need.
The piglets are growing, the birds have stopped laying or are very nearly done, and things are winding down.
DISCLAIMER!!! This is the ideal we strive for. This is NOT always what happens. As I said above, I try to prep my gardens in the fall, but I will often end up finishing the work in the spring because I did not get it done. Our fall butcher pigs, aren’t going into the locker until January this year because I didn’t call in soon enough to get a fall butcher date. Our calf has been weaned for a couple months, and we haven’t gotten her into the stall yet to halter train because we didn’t have a stall built. We had to dry off our dairy cow earlier than we would have liked. She is due to calve in February which is a month or two earlier than we would prefer.
Homesteading is not a perfectly rigid thing. Last year, our Honey crisp apples were ripe in August, This year, they weren’t ripe until mid September. Last year, I lost multiple blueberry plants to bunnies. I didn’t plant most of the foods I wanted too this year because family circumstances meant I didn’t have a place ready for planting.
Don’t get too focused on the ideal, work each day as best you can, and it’ll work out just fine.
This is a beautiful yet busy life, and worth it in so many ways.