My 2014 Calendar (Gardening, Preserving, Liturgical Holidays, Solar Festivals and More!)

For the last few years, I have been using a homemade analog daily planner to help me organize my life. (Some might call it a “homemaking binder.” I just call it a planner. Whatever.) I depend on it every day to help me focus on what needs to get done, keep track of important dates, and keep track of important homesteading activities. Every year, my planner evolves and improves as I learn what works and what doesn’t.

I thought I’d share a few resources, and enable you to skip a few steps if you, too, are interested in gardening, food preservation, celebrating the liturgical year and solar festivals (i.e. solstices and equinoxes), lunar phases, etc. I’ll provide you with some important dates to note, some ideas for monthly household deep-cleaning, etc.

(I had hoped to share this with you before January started, but you know — Life. It’s okay though because not much happens in January, anyway.)

In my binder, I keep track of what and how much food I preserve, how much meat I freeze, gift ideas, and keep track of bigger life goals. But most of the space is devoted to my daily/weekly planner.

My Planner

I use the one-page weekly planner from Organized Home to keep track of daily tasks and to-do lists. I print it out on one side of paper, so that the back of the previous week is always blank for me to keep track of bigger-picture projects. It looks like this:

When I’m done with a week, I just rip that page out and recycle it.

If you’re interested in keeping track of the phases of the moon, I found this lunar calendar. I just went through my calendar and drew in the major phases (New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon, Last Quarter) throughout the year. It only took about 15 minutes. I did this last year and I loved always knowing where we were in the lunar phases. It feels good to have this heightened awareness with the natural world.

Starting last year, I also divide each month with a Monthly Overview Sheet. On my overview sheet, I keep track of my monthly deep-clean project, upcoming gardening and preserving work that needs to be done, and upcoming holidays that need to be prepared for. That way, whenever I’m about to start a new month, I can look over my sheet and see what I have coming up, and start thinking about it. Just to get the wheels turning.

(I also put tabs on them so they act as dividers.)

I thought I’d share what I’ve got on each of my monthly overview sheets, in case you would like to follow along.

You can download the PDF and print out your own overview sheets, if you’d like; but I’m also sharing the contents below for you to look at. Take what you want; leave what you don’t.

Download 2014 Monthly Overview Sheets (Becoming Peculiar).

A few Explanations/Definitions:

Household Deep-Clean

Each month, I try to seriously clean one part of the house — something that tends to get neglected. Things like purging closets and shampooing carpets. Sometimes I focus on a particular room. Feel free to borrow ideas.

Pantry/Freezer

This section is referring to using up last-year’s preserved foods, to make room for new stuff. A month before the fresh fruits and vegetables are due to be ripe and ready for harvest, I make sure to clear out my freezer and pantry of the old stuff.

Garden

This section only refers to planning and planting that needs to be done (i.e. not harvesting. That’s the next section).  The exact dates will only really be relevant to you if you live in the same growing zone as me (I live in Southern Ontario), of course; but even in a similar climate, my notes might help give a general sense of when things are planted.

Preservation

Here, I list what fruits and vegetables are in season, and make plans to harvest and/or buy them, and preserve them in my favourite ways (freezing, canning, etc).

Holidays

Here I keep track of both Christian holidays (including some of the lesser-known ones, like Epiphany and Pentecost), as well as the solar festivals (i.e Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, etc).

Preservation

• (N/A)

Holidays

• Easter – April 20

 

May

 Household Deep Clean

• Bedroom (dust trim and vents; go through closets; move furniture to sweep; etc)

Pantry/Freezer

Use up:

• Frozen strawberries
• Strawberry jam
• asparagus

Garden

May 1-10: plant cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spinach, parsley, beans celery, potatoes, corn

May 15-20 – plant peppers, tomatoes, cukes, squash, basil; transplant new lettuce

 Preservation

• Rhubarb – can sauce; freeze
• Asparagus — freeze

Holidays

• (N/A)

June

 Household Deep Clean

• Carpet and floors (i.e. shampoo carpets)

Pantry/Freezer

Use up:

• frozen zucchini
• frozen peaches
• blueberries
• raspberries
• green beans
• canned peaches
• all jams/jellies

 Garden

• Sowing and planting for fall: greens, lettuce
• Plant sweet potatoes  in ground

 Preservation

• Strawberries  freeze, jam, dehydrate
• Strawberry-rhubarb pie filling
• Freeze peas?

Holidays

• Pentecost – June 8
• Father’s Day – June 15
• Summer Solstice – June 21

July

Household Deep Clean

• Bathroom

Pantry/Freezer

Use up:

• Canned tomatoes/tomato sauce
• Salsa
• Frozen peppers
• Sundried tomatoes

Garden

Fall crop:

• 1^st week – greens, lettuce, carrots, beets, cabbage, kale, collards, broccoli
• Mid-month: root crops (beets, etc)

Preservation

• Zucchini – freeze grated and chunks
• Blueberries – freeze, dehydrate
• Peaches – freeze, can
• Raspberries – freeze, jelly
• Green beans – freeze, pickle
• Dry garlic

 Holidays

• (N/A)

August

 Household Deep Clean

(None – too busy with garden/preserving!!)

Pantry/Freezer

• (N/A)

Garden

• Fall crops: greens, peas, spinach

Preservation

• Can tomatoes and salsa
• Dehydrate tomatoes
• Freeze peppers (sweet, jalepeno)
• Pickle/dehydrate/freeze hot peppers
• Fermented salsa
• Fermented cole slaw, kimchi
• Make sriracha from jalepenos

Holidays

• (N/A)

 

September

 Household Deep Clean

• Cleans vents and trim (one floor a week)

 Pantry/Freezer

• (N/A)

Garden

• (N/A)

Preservation

• Can apple sauce
• Dehydrate apples
• More tomatoes and peppers
• Fermented cole slaw

Holidays/Festivals

• Fall Equinox – Sept 23

 

October

Household Deep Clean

Kitchen. One thing a week:

• Move appliances to clean floors and scrub sides
• Vacuum/dust insides of cabinets/drawers
• Scrub sinks

Pantry/Freezer

• (N/A)

Garden

• plant garlic

Preservation

• remaining apples, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage
• root cellaring: squash, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic

Holidays

• Canadian Thanksgiving – Oct 13
• Halloween – Oct 31

November

Household Deep Clean

• Laundry Room

Pantry/Freezer

• (N/A)

Garden

• Season extension
• Cover crops to remain in ground

Preservation

More root cellaring – carrots, potatoes, onions

Holidays

• Start preparing for Advent (Nov 30) and Christmas

 

December

 Household Deep Clean

• Furniture (vacuum couch cushions, wipe down chairs, etc)

Pantry/Freezer

• (N/A)

Garden

• Harvest remaining leeks

 Preservation

• (N/A)

Holidays

• Advent and Christmas
• Holy Innocents Day – Dec 28

 Again, you can download the Overview Sheets here!

Is there anything missing that I should totally be keeping track of?