THE PRESERVING YEAR, WRITTEN DOWN
SO YOU ACTUALLY DO IT THIS TIME

A month-by-month companion workbook to Elisabeth’s Forgotten Kitchen Wisdom — twelve seasonal calendar pages and a full set of fillable log pages for tracking every ferment, jam, and canning batch you put up.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★  

A NOTE FROM ELISABETH

For years before I made a proper one, I kept a notebook beside my crocks — a coffee-ringed composition book with pages that stuck together in the August humidity. My mother kept hers on the backs of seed-catalog envelopes. My grandmother kept a ledger. None of us were ever sure we’d done it right until we wrote it down, tasted it again in February, and compared.

That’s the whole practice, really: doing, recording, learning, and doing again a little better the next year. This workbook is the notebook I wish I’d had from the start — and the companion that turns Chapter 5 of my Kitchen Wisdom book from a list of things you mean to try into a rhythm you actually live by.

— Elisabeth Dunkins, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

WHAT’S INSIDE

The Monthly Calendar
Twelve month pages. Each one tells you what’s coming in from the garden or farm stand, what to put up that month, and a short note from me on what that time of year feels like in the kitchen. Every task points back to the exact hack number in Kitchen Wisdom, so the two books work as a set.

The Ferment Batch Log
Multiple blank copies. Record start date, what you’re fermenting, your salt percentage, taste-tests at days 3, 5, 7, and 10, and notes for next time. The fermenters I trust most are the ones with the most written-up log pages.

The Jam & Fruit Log and Canning Log
Track fruit-to-sugar ratios, set tests, jar counts, process times, and seals. Over a few seasons, these pages become your own house recipes.

The Pantry & Cellar Inventory
A running grid of everything you’ve put up, so you never lose a jar in the back of the cellar or run short of the thing you make every year.

The Year-End Reflection
A free-writing page for late December: what worked, what ran short, what to try next year.

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING

★★★★★
“I’ve started three ferments this year and actually know what I did to each one. That’s never happened before.”
— Dorothy H., 66, Ohio

★★★★★
“The month pages took the guesswork out of it. I know what to buy and when now.”
— Barbara T., 71, Virginia

★★★★★
“Reads like sitting in Elisabeth’s kitchen. The notes for each month are my favorite part.”
— Ruth Ann M., 68, Pennsylvania

★★★★★
“Bought it with the Kitchen Wisdom book and they belong together. Wouldn’t want one without the other.”
— Carol J., 73, Indiana

WHY THIS WORKBOOK IS DIFFERENT

Built for your climate, not a generic one.
The calendar is timed for Lancaster County and similar mid-Atlantic growing seasons (USDA zone 6b), with clear guidance on shifting the timing if you garden warmer or colder.

A companion, not a repeat.
Every task is cross-referenced to the methods in Kitchen Wisdom, so you’re never left guessing how to actually do the thing the calendar tells you to do.

Meant to be written in.
A clean workbook at year’s end means you didn’t use it. The log pages are the point.

Gets more valuable every year.
By the third or fourth season, the workbook is full of your own ratios and notes — a record no recipe book could replace.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

DO I NEED THE KITCHEN WISDOM BOOK TO USE THIS?
You’ll get the most out of it alongside Kitchen Wisdom, since each task references a hack in that book. But the calendar and log pages stand on their own as a working preserving record.

I DON’T LIVE IN PENNSYLVANIA. WILL THIS STILL WORK FOR ME?
Yes. The calendar is written for zone 6b, with simple guidance: shift tasks two to three weeks earlier in warmer regions, later in colder ones. The principles don’t change — only the timing.

IS THIS A RECIPE BOOK?
No. It’s a calendar and a set of fillable logs. The recipes and methods live in Kitchen Wisdom; this is the tool that helps you put them into practice across the year.

DO I GET PRINTED PAGES OR A DIGITAL FILE?
This is a digital workbook you can read on any device, or print the log pages so you can write in them by hand.

I’VE NEVER FERMENTED ANYTHING. IS THIS TOO ADVANCED?
Not at all. Start with the October sauerkraut — it’s the most forgiving — and the safety notes are written plainly so you’ll know a healthy ferment from a failed one.

CAN I PRINT THE LOG PAGES MORE THAN ONCE?
Yes. Once you’ve downloaded the PDF, you can print any page as many times as you need. Many readers print a fresh set of log pages at the start of each new season.