Homestead Binder and Inventory Update
I've been inspired by some of my new instafriends to finish my homestead binder and do a complete pantry/freezer inventory. I finished setting up the homestead binder last week but the inventory was lingering and I'm happy to report that I now have a complete inventory of my yarn, wine, freezer, pantry, and spice cabinet. I won't bore you with the details of the homestead binder other than where it applies to inventory or was left incomplete in my previous post.I started yesterday with inventorying my yarn which I cataloged on ravelry, including taking pics and also inventorying my needles. You can find the details on ravelry. I will keep track of my 2018 fiber and fiber-related purchases in the homestead binder. There's a picture and more info on that below.Next on the list was inventorying my wine collection. I used to have quite a collection and have had some nice wines throughout the years (working at a liquor store with an eclectic wine selection will do that). I also had a very nice and thorough spreadsheet with all those wines listed on it. But I lost the spreadsheet with one-too-many computer changes. It's heart breaking. But I've started another one. I listed all the wines I own and/or ones I've had recently. I also list such things as where it was purchased, for how much, and if I liked it. And then I have a section for notes so I can report anything that I did or did not like about it. I even have a hyperlink to a picture of the label. In theory I will have this downloaded to my phone or tablet so when I am in a store I can look to see if I've had the wine and if I should purchase another bottle (because drinking one bad bottle of wine is enough. No need to purchase another one and put yourself through that torture). Neither the yarn nor the wines are kept in the homesteading binder, but I felt it was important to inventory them both and have a record of them.On to the pantry. The first picture below is of my pantry. It's not as big as it once was but we are living in a shared space for about 5 months out of the year so I have to make do with what I have.
Below are the pages from the binder with the freezer, pantry, home canned goods, and I added a sheet of paper with the spice inventory. I decided to break the inventory down by month. I'm not sure if you can see it or not, but there are Jan-Dec tabs and I've shown what is included in the monthly portion of my binder. 
I have a monthly calendar were I can keep track of important dates and the weather. 
Next are my weekly pages. In the past I haven't been a fan of weekly pages. I'm more of a notebook with lists kinda girl but I thought I would try to write down weekly goals. I still have my notebook with my master list too. 
I also have this monthly list view as well. I've been using it to keep track of little things and also the high/low temp for each day. I would like to get this thermometer to help me keep track of each day's temps but I just haven't purchased it yet. So for now I do an internet search and then input the temps on this monthly page. 
There's also this very handy month at a glance page where you can keep track of what you are planting, harvesting, and preserving. Obviously this page is blank so far for February but I will keep track of things like making soap, handsoap, making and canning mustard, etc. All things that I do and make year round. 
Same for this outdoor checklist. This will be very handy once it warms up and I can spend some time outside. 
Now for the good stuff! The freezer inventory. At this point in the season we don't have much. Actually I think we have a lot of stuff left in the freezer. So much so that the Mister and I agreed to not purchase meat for a while. We really need to eat down the freezer. We currently have 2 freezers: one that is connected to the refrigerator and one upright freezer. Because we are living in shared space during the fishing season, we will also have to share the freezer space. I'll talk more about my kitchen and space sharing plans in a future post. 
Here's a pic of the post-inventory upright freezer: 
And one of the refrigerator freezer:
My inventory of the home canned foods. Again, this will done monthly and so this is under the February tab. I'd like to keep better records of how much food we purchase and can each year and then how fast we consume it. 
Same with the pantry. I put anything that is not home canned here. In theory I will also associate a cost to each of the grocery store purchased items. I normally do not buy canned food unless it's one sale (i.e. Shop Rite Can-Can sale). But I've also been shopping at Aldi's lately and am addicted to their organic items. 
The Homestead Binder pages did not come with a spice inventory so I just wrote it down on a sheet of paper. Eventually I'll either find something else that works or build something of my own. For now the only info I wrote down other than the spice is if I am running low on it. I would like to also know how much of something I have but that will have to wait for another day.
Here's the spice cabinet post inventory. In the future I will try to put everything in glass jars but for now they are in their original containers. I marked each one and faced the label to the front to make it easier to see. I buy my spices in bulk from a local store. 
Everything from here below is just an update to my last post on the binder. I wanted each section to have the goals for 2018 written out. Here you can see what I want to do for the garden. My next steps will be to start planning the garden space. 
Same for flowers
I like that the binder pages also include a page for expenses. Here is where I've recorded the one purchase I've made so far for sweet peas from this lovely lady. The picture below that is where I'm keeping the seeds for now-in the front of the binder! 
I've updated the chicken section to include goals for 2018
Each chicken has their own page with their information. 
And under the chicken section there is a monthly egg tally sheet. I've been debating just putting these under the monthly section but so far I've just kept them under the chicken section. I'll let you know if I decide to do differently. 
And in my last post I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the last section or two in the binder but I finally decided:
Here's my fiber expenses. This will really help me see how much I'm spending on yarn and knitting accessories. As I mentioned above, I'm keeping track of my inventory via ravelry. 
Also under the Yarn section I will keep track of any patterns that are not on ravelry or any yarn related crafts. For example, I have the instructions that I use for dyeing yarn with kool aid. I would like to learn more about natural dyeing and I'll keep track of that here. The green yarn is some that I dyed with kool aid. I wish I'd kept better records of what kool aid I used to come up with each color. Oh well! I'll just start that now in my new fancy homestead binder! 
And this was the section that I really wasn't sure what I was going to do with. But I decided to have a section on canning instructions and recipes, pantry recipes, soap making instructions and recipes, household recipes and instructions, and then the last tab is for crafts. Each of these sections will be for housing those looseleaf pages or copies of things that I make or want to make. For example, the canning section has a list of which recipes I want to try from Preserving by the Pint. The household has recipes for laundry detergent, handsoap, and those sorts of things. In theory I will keep track of what I try, how often I make it, the yield, the ingredients, and the cost. But for now, it is holding all the notes, instructions, lists, and recipes that I've handwritten through the years. 
I think that's it. i always think of something else once I hit publish. What questions do you have? How are you setting up your homestead binder? If not a binder, how do you keep track of your homestead and goals? This was a HUGE undertaking but I feel so much more organized now that it is all done and in one place. Happy Homesteading!