I'm sure this will be invaluable for a homesteader, I found much of use in planning my own largeish back garden.

The season by season picture of the homestead is charming and inspirational but I feel like it's not quite aimed at me. Most is aimed at people with at least a small acreage rather than a suburban backyard, so though the sections about field, pasture, orchard, beeyard, barn, coop, woodlot, and equipment shed fill me with no small measure of joy, the only piece that is really relevant to my little yard is the garden section.

I think you have to be at the right level for this book: needing the guidance, but having the capacity to start up at least a few of the projects. That said, I really appreciate the author's preface that includes a reminder learned over 25 years doing this: "You can't do it all at the same time" - a good reminder that's easy to forget, when even when doing just a garden seems a bit overwhelming.

The garden pieces that were relevant to me were very useful, and what I had hoped for from this book. Even though I've managed by veggie garden for several years, I often tend to falter, and the season-by-season breakdown of what to do, in little bite-sized pieces, helped a lot.

<i>An e-copy was provided by Netgalley free of charge in exchange for an honest review</i>

A extensive guide to maintaining your farm season to season. Wait, what do you mean you don't have a farm?

A continuation of the wonderful The Backyard Homestead series which covers a planner that is a valuable resource to beginner homesteader or those seeking an easy to use reference. I found it to be valuable but would want to own the spiral bound edition instead of the Kindle copy. Full Disclosure: I was allowed to read a copy of this book for free as a member of NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review. The opinions I have expressed are my own and I was not influenced to give a positive review.

A great planner for your backyard homesteading........

The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner is the book every novice homesteader should be seeking. Anne Larkin Hansen divides each of the four seasons into an early, middle and late stage. She then takes the myriad tasks that a small homesteader faces in the garden, field, pasture, orchard, beeyard, barn, coop, shed, woodlot, and wildlife habitat and provides a workable schedule to tackle what should be addressed in each stage of each season. Furthermore, interspersed throughout the planner are useful articles and tables of information on various topics, along with charming pencil illustrations. To make matters even easier, each section opens with a summary page of seasonal priorities that includes space for the homesteader’s own notes. The genius of this book is that it brings together and organizes so many possible aspects of homesteading in one volume. Indeed, Hansen makes what at times feels overwhelming seem very workable. And, who knows? The backyard homesteader might even discover some new endeavors to try.

I have always wanted to have a homestead, but for a variety of reasons, that may never happen. But I have enjoyed learning about how to do it, just in case that dream ever does come true. Because of that, this book will be one that I will definitely use!

The book is logically laid out by seasons, beginning in mid-winter (approximately January). Each season is divided into early, mid, and late sections. The author points out that there is no hard and fast rule on dates, but she did say that she bases her decisions on air and soil temperatures and rate of growth of grasses. She also points out that no book is comprehensive and that this one is meant to be a starting point.

Each section is further divided into different areas to consider on the homestead. First is the overall focus (for example, in midwinter, focus on paperwork and woodlot). Then she lists several concerns in various areas of the homestead: garden, field, pasture, orchard, beeyard, barn, coop, shed, woodlot, wildlife habitat. Under each area, she includes several blank lines for readers to insert their own notes. Then she takes each area and discusses more seasonal chores more in-depth. Finally, she tackles a subject of general interest at the end of each chapter, such as soil compositions, types of crops and crop rotation, etc.

I found myself turning page after page, astounded at all I was learning. I grew up with parents who had both been raised on farms, and my father had a HUGE garden, so I thought I knew quite a lot about all these various subjects. All this book did was highlight how very much I actually did know, because I found myself constantly filing away tidbits of knowledge on every page.

This book is clean, clear, concise, and very companionable. (Sorry! Had to keep the alliteration going!) When I say companionable, I mean that this book will become a very handy reference for newbie homesteaders. The author knows firsthand the confusion that overwhelms new homesteaders, and she has set out admirably to relieve a great deal of that confusion with this excellent book. Readers with more than an acre or so will probably benefit most from this book, although those with less than an acre will still gain quite a bit of information.

I gratefully received an eARC from the author, publisher, and NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review. But I loved it so much, I’m going to buy a hard copy to keep for myself.

This is a spiral bound resource for anyone wanting to homestead. Whether you have a couple of acres or a few hundred acres the ideas in this book will work for you. The book clearly and concisely breaks down each season and the things you should be doing to keep your homestead running properly and efficiently.

The author notes and I definitely agree with the idea that you can't do things on the same day each year. That sure would make life easier for the homesteader, but it's really about the seasons and when those occur naturally. You can't just mark your calendar on a date and do the same thing each year. Depending on the weather you could be off by a couple of weeks easily.

"Doing a thing in its proper season when it would naturally occur, or when conditions make the job most efficient and comfortable is how you spread the work more evenly through the year. This is what makes it possible to get it all done and still have some leisure time."

"This book is about timing, as important an aspect of raising plants and animals as any other."

"As a culture, we've gotten into the habit of looking at the calendar to determine planting times and other such decisions, no matter what's going on outside. But a few generations ago, instead of looking at the calendar, farmers and gardeners looked at what the local plants and birds and wildlife were doing -- a much more accurate indicator considering how different seasons are from year to year."

The author gives a list of each season and defines them. When you are homesteading there aren't simply Winter, Fall, Summer, Spring. There are seasons in between as the weather changes. A homesteader has twelve seasons that get them through the year. Each season bringing different priorities and chores that need to be done.

Ann lists the Seasonal Priorities and Seasonal Chores for each chapter in the book. She clearly tells you what you should be doing when the ground and outside temperatures are at certain levels. Using this guide you will become accustomed to using ground and outside temperature as your gauge rather than dates.

"Mud, flood, blossoms, and babies signal the arrival of spring, though the surest sign is the frost going out of the ground -- and staying out."

Chapter 1 - Mid-Winter, Topic of the Season: Soil
Chapter 2 - Late Winter, Topic of the Season: Plants
Chapter 3 - Early Spring, Topic of the Season: The Lives of Poultry and Livestock
Chapter 4 - Mid Spring, Topic of the Season: Rotational Grazing
Chapter 5 - Late Spring, Topic of the Season: Cover Crops and Honey Bees
Chapter 6 - Early Summer, Topic of the Season: Making Hay
Chapter 7 - Mid Summer, Topic of the Season: Starting and Maintaining an Orchard
Chapter 8 - Late Summer, Topic of the Season: Tools and Equipment
Chapter 9 - Early Fall, Topic of the Season: Weed, Pest, and Disease Control in Garden, Field, Orchard, and Pasture
Chapter 10 - Mid-Fall, Topic of the Season: Sustainable Forestry Principles and Practices
Chapter 11 - Late Fall, Topic of the Season: Biodiversity (a variety of plant & animal life)
Chapter 12 - Early Winter, Topic of the Season: Quality of Life

These chapters are followed by an Appendix that gives a quick-glance at each topic (Garden, Field, Pasture, Orchard, Beeyard, Barn, Coop, Shed, Woodlot, Wildlife Habitat) and a simple breakdown of what you should be doing in each season. 

I highly recommend this book to anyone thinking about homesteading or those already doing it who want a quick-glance guide to help them through the seasons. The lists Ann includes are very helpful to planning out each season and tracking your production in years previous.

Some of my most treasured possessions are the garden journals I inherited from my paternal grandmother. They're full of notes, clippings, drawings and information which she wrote down over more than 50 years of active gardening and permaculture. It's a habit which I've carried on myself. This book, an adjunct of the wonderful Backyard Homestead series, is a similar guiding hand from knowledgeable understandable people who -want- to help others be successful gardeners and homesteaders.

My access to this book is an advance reader (electronic) copy, but the published version is listed as spiral bound and has room for personalized notes. The chapters are arranged by season and include tasks and what-to-expect for each time period.

This book will be a very useful addition to any active gardener who needs a little help and guidance putting pen to paper along the way, and also to new/wannabe gardeners who occasionally feel overwhelmed and confused about what to do when.

I found information in this book which would be useful for beginning to advanced homesteaders.

A very well designed and logically arranged book.

Excellent not only for those starting and struggling with what to do when, but also for those doing much as reminers for busy times. Excellent reference to use and definitely one for my desk. Not shelf. Use it.

Book is ideal for the small time farmer or if you are wanting to get into homesteading. Ann Larkin Hansen has written a series of excellent books dedicated to the backyard homesteader. Lots of useful tips. This one deals with planning according to the seasons.

The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner by Ann Larkin Hansen gives readers advice on when do necessary chores on the homestead. It includes chores for the garden, orchard, barn, pasture, and equipment upkeep. This book provides good guidelines but definitely no hard and fast rules regarding the seasons. According to this book, my area would be in early summer for the majority of the year. It is geared more toward those on a larger homestead. People with established homesteads of that size might find the information too basic. The information on garden and orchard crops was good. While the book does include a wealth of information, readers should skim through to see if the information would be helpful for their homesteads.

Great information for gardening! This will be invaluable.

This book seems to be for readers who have at least an acre of land and sufficient free time to work it.
It may offer plenty for a hobbyist like myself. However, the book's format does not lend itself to the hobbyist. The book is broken up by season and further subdivided by land type (e.g. woodlot, pasture, bees). Personally, I have one third of an acre in which I grow fruit, veggies and herbs. While there was useful information for me in this book it was hard to find. For example, I learned about seasonal changes in soil firmness which is useful, but I only found that because it was in a rare breakout section. Most of the divisions in the book are rather high level (e.g. pasture) and I find myself not feeling it worthwhile to read most of them as they don't offer the promise of a payback anytime soon.

"This book is just a beginning. It gets you to the starting line. From there you have to run the course: do the thinking, planning and experimenting over the years to fill out the details of your own personal farm calendar."

Although I am reviewing from a digital format via Netgalley, I can see that in the print, paper version this book will be very useful. It is very organized with adequate space for making notes, easy to refer back to. The information included covers a variety of topics and the author sounds quite knowledgeable. Additional graphs are educational and easy to understand. I also appreciated the extra illustrations braking up all the text. It made the book more pleasing to my eye.

Complete guide to everything one needs to know about Homesteading. Love that includes blank spaces for readers to jot down information of there own for note taking and easy reference.

I loved how this was laid out with both the workbook that you can write in and the checklist that you can print off. It comes in a binder, so you can add some notes, if you wish, and is very well organized. While it is written from the perspective of a particular zone, it also gives information and helpful hints so that you can take the text and adapt it successfully to your own planting zone. It covers plants, animals, tools, recipes, and rest....all very useful skills on the farm! Overall, an A+ and perfect for any beginning homesteader.

Arranged according to season, this book has worksheets to help property owners sort out the chores that need tending at different times of the year as well as specific topics relevant to that season – like bee-keeping, making hay, or maintaining and harvesting an orchard. This is no coffee table book, rather a serious guide to maintaining a home and land.