While homestead chores look different for everyone, I wanted to give you guys a list of chores that I run on throughout the year. Some of these may not apply to you. There could be things that you haven’t thought about or maybe you are researching before adding to your own homestead. But these are the things that I do every year no matter what is going on. This list of homestead chores is LONG, so I’ve added a table of contents. I’m also going to set up this post so that in each section the list is first and then I’ll explain more below it.
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Below is my homesteader checklist. It also gives you access to our members only library so you can access all of our freebies!
Why Homestead Chores By Season?
I set up this system to be used by season because sometimes the month is not “month-ing” properly. For example, our first frost is supposedly October 15…. but really, it’s November 15th. By setting this up in seasons, it allows us to be more flexible in our plans.
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Homestead Chores- Spring (March-May)
Chore List:
- Add soil to beds
- Start rotating animals throughout property
- Continue to plant seeds for transplanting.
- Clear goat barn and chicken coop
- Plant spring garden
- Prep gardens for summer planting
- Plant flowers
- Garden Journal
- Breed goats (March-May)
- BABIES!
- Goat boluses
- Goat hooves
- Pregnancy testing
- Prep Firewood
Garden Chores
This is not an all consuming to do list, so there is a fair amount missing from this list. The reason for that is because springs are hit and miss here in NE Georgia. Sometimes we have extremely cool/cold and wet springs. Other times it is blazing hot. And there is no telling which one you are getting until it’s here.
If I were to plant a spring garden, with frost hardy plants, there is a really good chance they will bolt before we EVER get a chance to harvest. BUT, I still plant a spring garden in hopes of getting seeds and some food.
We also make sure to start PLENTY of seeds for transplanting. We have had freak storms take out our plants, so we make sure to have way too many, then not enough.
Spring is when I really get into the guts of my garden journals. I’ve got a bunch of bullet journals that I love to use for this. I’ll go into how I set up my journals in the winter section.
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Animal Chores
For the animals, we are finishing up kidding season so this is the time were we are shuffling kids and mommas around. We are also starting to rotate any other does that are not kidding through our property to get them to help bring back the land.
This is also the time that we are starting the monstrous chore of cleaning out the coops and barn. We use the deep litter method in the middle of winter to help keep them warm. We also use all that beautiful (and smelly) bedding as compost for our beds.
We will put our chicken’s bedding straight into new beds without allowing it to compost for a year. But when we do this, we are covering with several inches (up to a foot) of soil. This will keep it from burning the plants and it will compost down in the beds.
Spring is also when start working on pregnancy testing, hooves, and other treatments that need to be done to prepare them for summer.
Homestead Chores- Summer (June-Aug)
Chore List:
- Order meat chickens
- Get harvest weights
- Rotate animals through pasture
- Repair fencing/ buildings
- Mulch
- Seed orders
- Drain standing water daily
- Projects
- Plant bumper crops
- Start fall seeds PRN
- Garden Journal
- Sit in the garden
Garden Chores
From June to October, we keep running tallies of our garden harvests in pounds. This helps us decide if our interventions are working or not. It also tells us if the varieties we bought are good for our area. We are also mulching like crazy to help keep weeds under control and adding organic matter back to the soil.
During summer, we will keep planting bumper crops of corn, summer squash, beans, peppers and tomatoes. I would rather have too much, and be able to share the bounty, than not enough and be stuck buying from the grocery store.
One of the other things we do, is take cuttings from our tomato pruning and let them sprout roots in water and then replant them. This cuts months off their harvest time!
Animal Chores
I order all of our meat chickens in June for October butchering. We’ve tried spring/summer and it’s so hot and buggy that it’s just not worth it. This past year we struggled with yellow jackets. How no one got stung is a miracle.
We continue rotating the goats throughout the property. We create pens and “hay bomb” the area. This allows the goats to move around, organic matter to be put back into the soil and keeps them free from parasites.
Homestead Chores
During the summer, we get all outside chores done that we put off in the fall/winter. Because our fall and winters are so wet, it’s pretty hard to get any outside chores done. In 2024, that includes building decks, a gazebo and redoing our garden spaces. In 2025, that includes working on new siding for the house.
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Summer is also the time were we split any firewood that we let dry over fall and winter.
Homestead Chores- Fall (Sept-Nov)
Chore List:
- Gather soil from compost for next year’s seed starts
- Clean pots/ tools
- Sharpen tools
- Take next years trees
- Mulch
- Plant fall gardens
- Start restocking pantry for winter
- BABIES!
- Seed pastures
- Butcher chickens and goats
- Purchase hay
Garden Chores
This is prime fall garden season! We plant our garlic and onions around Halloween for July 4th harvest. The bulk of our cool loving crops are planting no later than September 15th. We will continue to plant after Sept 15th, but we don’t waste a lot of garden space on it.
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Before we put the gardens to bed in November, we will grab a couple shovel full’s of soil and compost from our best producing bed. We will then add some extra chicken poop/ bedding and throw it in there to compost in the greenhouse. I have found this works a lot better than grabbing it from the beds or compost pile in February when the ground is still cold.
Animal Chores
This is the the second time of year that we are kidding and breeding. We don’t allow breeding on the farm from mid December to March. After consulting the breeding plan for the year, we start rotating does and bucks through to do their thing. All while we wait for babies to be born.
We also make sure that the goat barn cameras are up and running with plenty of batteries charging.
Our meat chickens are also butchered during this time. We start lining up help about a month before we are ready to butcher. If you help us butcher chickens, we teach you how to butcher and break down a chicken, plus you get a couple of chickens to go into your own freezers!
We are also stocking up on hay, bedding and other items the animals will need to get through winter. We go through about 1500# of hay for our main herd, that doesn’t count any babies that are born. We purchase a total of 2000# just in case. Rarely, though it does happen, do we have to purchase hay in the winter.
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Homestead Chores
Fall is our get stuff done time of year. We have a TON of stuff planned in the fall every year. Here in Georgia, fall is more stable, weather wise, than spring. So this is when we are able to get a ton of stuff done. We spread grass/ pasture seed just before the leaves start to fall.
This is also when we start splitting next years firewood. We will take trees that we have marked as dead or dying, and turn them into rounds to dry over winter. Then we will start splitting and stacking the rounds that are mostly dry and leave the rest for spring.
We also start working on sharpening and cleaning ANY tools that were used in the gardens or on plants. We clean them throughout the year but fall/winter is the time were they get scrubbed, sharpened and oiled for storage.
Homestead Chores- Winter (Dec- Feb)
Chore List:
- Plan next year’s garden
- Plan next year’s projects
- Review garden notes
- Plant long out seeds
- Plant spring seeds as applicable.
- Next year’s budget
- Next year’s breeding plans
- Animal bedding weekly as needed.
- This years expense/ income reports
- Beds to “rest” for the winter
Garden Chores
As you can see, winter is our planning and maintaining season. Garden plans are necessary for figuring out how much space we actually have and what grew well for us last year. I go through my garden journals to figure out what worked, what didn’t and make changes to our core garden plans.
We also order any seeds we are low on, which is rare because I am a seed hoarder. February starts planting season… Well, seed starting season. We are starting long out things like peppers, tomatoes, melons, etc and spring stuff like herbs, flowers, and brassicas.
Animal Chores
This is the time that we start working on our breeding lists. We go through our Herd Tracker and figure out who bred with who last year, when they kidded, how much milk they produced, etc. This helps us really look at our breeding program and decide what we want to do.
We are also in maintenance mode with the animals too. Our goals are to keep them fed and warm. That’s it. We are also preparing for any kids that were bred for in the summer, usually we try not to allow this but it’s not a deal breaker for us. Our rut starts in July, so it’s not uncommon for the boys to get out and go nuts.
Homestead Chores
Winter is the time for inside chores, renovations, etc. We are still, slowly, working on getting the house updated. This takes a fair amount of time and resources that we don’t like to pull away from the farm. But at the same time, living with the wood paneling isn’t my idea of a good time.
We are planning gardens, budgets and trying to figure out where and what we are doing next year to hit our goals for a successful homestead. We are always trying to push the needle towards our retirement goals, while also understanding that the best laid plans can go to hell in a handbasket.
What Are Your Homestead Chores?
What are some of the things you do to keep your homestead running? Leave me a comment below!
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