How to Create a Helpful Homesteading Journal or Binder (2024)

Every winter, I start planning. While I’m shoring up winter housing, finding a way to fit twice as many chickens into half as much space, keeping everyone warm and fed, and storing the harvest so that I don’t lose it – I tell myself that this year, I’ll keep track of everything better.

But each year, I get too busy or distracted to stick to my plans. That is, until I changed my record-keeping approach.

I started keeping a separate “homesteading binder” or homesteading journal.

Instead of expecting all my planning for homemaking, homeschooling, and homesteading – not to mention writing, reading, and specialty baking – to fit in one planner, I divided them all up.

Now, I have a few notebooks going, but each one is organized, and I won’t end up going off on journalling tangents when I should be recording this month’s eggs.

If you want to get your own homestead in order, I can’t say enough about the homesteading binder system.

What is a Homesteading Journal or Binder?

Simply put, a homesteading journal or binder is a place for all the information you need to keep track of on your homestead. That means it’ll look a little different for each homesteader.

Generally, a homesteading journal or binder has space for keeping track of your garden, animals, pantry, woodlot, and other aspects of your homestead. Most of the time, a homesteading binder is separate from a housekeeping binder or a homeschool planner.

Even if you do all three of these, they usually do best kept in seperate planning spheres using multiple individual binders.

But if there’s a lot of overlap, or if you really only need to spend time planning one area of your life, it’s fine to create a giant homesteading binder with room for everything. If it’s well laid out, neat, and organized, you’ll still be able to find what you need.

But I find that having an individual binder for each section of your life makes things so much easier to track and reference.

Of course, you don’t have to use binders. You could also choose multiple journals or even use a digital system.

Homesteading Journal Sections

If you have an orchard or a woodlot, solar, or fishing, those may be sections to add in as well. And, of course, if you’re a homesteader who spends a significant amount of time teaching traditional homesteading skills, that might need a section of its own, even if you do earn income from it.

Most homesteading journals should have at least five sections to give enough space to each. Within those primary sections, there are subcategories as well.

Homesteading Journal Subcategories

Within each section, divide your binder or journal into subcategories. So, in your Livestock section, you might have subcategories for chickens, ducks, rabbits, and goats.

In the chicken subcategory, you can make space to track egg laying throughout the year, molting, predator loss, infighting, and other factors affecting your flock’s overall health and productivity.

You can track breeding, litter size, losses, health problems, and butcher dates in your rabbit subcategory. If you sell breeding pairs, meat, or pelts, you can note that as well.

Each category will have at least a couple of subcategories. Let me give you a few more examples:

• General Homestead: Resources and contacts for livestock hauling, butcher, vet, and seed companies. Include customer contacts, seasonal and downtime projects, and goals.
• Yearly Schedule: A yearly schedule is a helpful category to keep a few consistent yearly projects easy to find at a glance.
• Pantry/Food Preservation: Pantry inventory, freezer inventory, canning log, pickling recipes, schedule.
• Garden: Design, crop rotation, planting guide, seed inventory, fertility rates of seeds, garden journal, including pests and diseases, weeding, and garden chores.
• Livestock: Animal types, egg/milk trackers, butchering schedule. Medical supplies and health issues. Losses, vet visits, sales, and acquisitions. Changes in feed/location.
• Income and Expenses: Garden and animal expenses, equipment costs. Repairs and maintenance. General expenses, income from animals (eggs, milk, dairy–soaps, etc), and income from gardens (selling flowers and vegetables). Homemade products/small business income.

Using Your Homesteading Binder for Goal Setting

I like to include a separate subcategory in my general homestead section for goal setting and looking forward to the future. In fact, the goal-setting section is one of my favorites. It gives me an opportunity to look around me and really take stock of my homestead.

How are my animals? What do I want from them? Which ones are truly a productive part of the homestead, and which aren’t really fitting in with our plans and goals?

How is my garden? Which plants have been consistently successful, and which are a yearly battle? Which plants end up not getting used? Do I plant too many pumpkins, or do I find ways to use them? What would I love to grow and why? What do I need to change about my garden to make that work?

If a project is languishing on the back burner, my goals section is a great place to recommit to it. I like to divide my goal setting up seasonally and start by imagining how I would like to see my homestead in that season.

Once you’ve developed your goals, you’ll have a better idea of how you want to structure your homestead binder to help you reach those goals.

Getting Started: What Do I Need to Create A Homesteading Binder?

While I love making my homesteading binder as beautiful as possible, it’s not strictly necessary. All you really need is a basic three-ring binder and writing paper (lined, blank, or grid). Ideally, some planning sheets, dividers, or distinctive pages to mark the end of one section and the beginning of others would also be helpful.

Fortunately, you can find free, printable homesteading planning pages all over the internet. While not all these pages will apply to you, a good, basic collection is a great way to get started.

That’s it! Of course, if you’re extra crafty, you can make a pretty, illustrated bullet journal-style homesteading binder. It’s a fun project for a long, snowy winter, but don’t delay starting your homesteading journal or binder just because it doesn’t look perfect right away.

Putting It All Together

Once you have all the materials, start putting them together. Make a section for each divider. Add in some writing pages and planning pages, and make sure everything looks organized to you.

Then, start creating some goals and using those goals to get the basic information down. Early on, your binder will look pretty basic. It’ll have a few days of egg tracking, a few goals, and a couple of phone numbers.

Eventually, it’ll have your new garden layout or some notes on treating worms in young goats. But with a few months of consistent use, your binder will start to look like the amazing resource it is.

After a year or two, you’ll be able to flip right to your “Goats” section to see when that doe was bred or how much milk she gave last year. You’ll be able to see when the grasshoppers invaded last summer and what you did to get rid of them.

If you find yourself not using a section often, you can reduce it to a subcategory. Or you can cut it out of your binder altogether. It’s ok! Your homesteading binder exists to help you live out your homesteading goals well.

“Comparison is the Thief of Joy”

In this social media age, it’s easy to compare your messy, busy binder with someone else’s Instagram creation. Don’t.

If looking at images of beautifully curated, neat little binders with color-coded egg collection trackers and pretty sketches of frolicking lambs brings you joy, then enjoy them. But if those pictures make you less satisfied with the homesteading binder that works with your life, block them.

It’s important to plan for your life and your goals. Your life may not include two to three hours each day for journaling. It may not even include three hours each week for journaling.

A homesteading journal or binder can still work wonderfully for your homestead. In fact, it will help you keep track of things quickly and easily for last-minute reference. But only if you leave comparison and competition at the door.

Add anything to your binder that will help or inspire you. Keep receipts in it so you can track the rising cost of grain. Keep a simple calendar in it so you can write down appointments with the butcher, farrier, or farmer’s market.

Collect some photos of inspiring homesteads, interesting articles, or notes from friends. Keep it personal.This is your binder; let it reflect the homestead you want to build.