2017 food production calendar

I can't believe how much easier it's been to keep track of things through blogging.  I used to write everything down on calendars or scraps of paper but then it would get lost. These are some goals that I'll add to this over the season. We are in zone 5 here.

2017 food production schedule:

March - innoculate mushroom logs. Buy a small covey of quail locally.
March 8 - 12 wks from last frost date.  Start seeds for leeks, shallots, onions, cabbage, brussel sprouts, strawberries.
March 13 - TSC should have red ranger meat chicks in by now. Buy 12.

April 3 - meat chicks out of brooder and into the chicken tractor
April 5 - 8 wks from last frost. Start tomatoes, eggplant, pepper, herbs, flowers.  Till spring garden, mulch pathways, outline permanent strawberry bed.
April 15 - opening day of trout season. Go get 'em. Don't come home with a deer tick like last year.
April 19 - Plant potato, greens, cold hardy seedlings, snow peas.

April 24 - waterfowl order from Metzers arrives. 4 geese & 6 ducks in the brooder.
May 3 - 4 wks from last frost.  Start cucumber, melons, zucchini & winter squash
Early May - harvest excess quail. Decide if I want to incubate quail eggs for an August harvest.
May 15 - till summer side of garden, mulch pathways. Start planting transplants & direct sowing if weather permits.
Mid-May - hunt morel mushrooms. Dehydrate extras.  Egg production should be in full swing.  Make sure I am freezing excess eggs for winter.
May 22 - waterfowl out of brooder and into goose coop.  Clean out the freezer and have knives professionally sharpened in preparation for the following week.
May 29 - harvest TSC meat chicks.

May 31 - last frost date. Get all transplants & direct sows in the ground, along with dahlias and cannas.

June 12 - Order arrives from McMurry. 9 egg chickens (mostly Cochins), 7 red ranger meat chickens, 1 free mystery chick

June 24 - Amish benefit auction. Buy up some $1 roosters. Into chicken tractor.
June 26 - call & make date to have auction roosters processed.
July 3 - McMurry chicks out of brooder and into chicken tractor. Re-sow beans.
July 10 - re-sow zucchini.
August - canning.  We are going to need a ton of tomato pints along with jelly.
Aug 14 - Order 10 red ranger meat chicks for this date.
Aug 20 - re-sow greens.
September - canning
Sept 4 - Enter and kick ass at the local fair. Harvest McMurry meat chicks, any extra roosters and drakes. New meat chicks out of brooder and into tractor.

Sept 15 - Think about putting up a cold frame for greens.
Oct 1 - First frost date. Harvest anything left in the garden for winter poultry feed.
Oct ? - After first hard frost, dig up and store dahlia and canna tubers.
Nov 1 -  Have extra geese processed along with last batch of red ranger meat chicks.
Dec - Deer season.

Reflect on things that went well, things that failed.  Resolve to do better in 2018 or just buy meat at Wal-Mart like everyone else.  Is it worth it?  Inventory seeds and order for the new year. Cook. Bake. Rest.