Monthly Garden & Animal Tasks

I know it is January, and it may seem a bit early to think about gardening, but I need to get plans in place before life gets more chaotic.

In an effort to simplify my tasks and create a more peaceful routine, I had already made up a file card system… the problem is that I keep misplacing it as it doesn’t have a true home yet. I will attempt to outline the major tasks in this post, so I can access it from anywhere 🙂 You may feel free to use it or copy, if it suits you.

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Podcast Episode 08: Biblical Feasts: Key Dates for 2026

Pip: Welcome back to Pollywog’s Place — where the calendar is not a passive object but a living document requiring lunar consultation.

Mara: Susie at Pollywog’s Place Blog has been mapping out the Biblical Feasts for 2026, walking through what each one means, when it falls, and how families can actually observe it. Let’s start with the dates themselves and the theology behind them.

Biblical Feasts: Key Dates for 2026

Mara: The core question this post answers is practical: when, exactly, do the Biblical Feasts fall in 2026, and what is each one actually commemorating? It’s a reference guide with real theological grounding underneath the dates.

Pip: The post sets up why you even need a guide like this: “Unlike holidays, where the dates usually fall at the same time every year, Holy Days are not set dates. I always have to check the Jewish calendars as the Biblical Feasts vary according to certain signs like cycles of the moon and sun, which I have no way to accurately calculate.”

Mara: So the upshot is that these aren’t dates you can memorize once and move on — they shift with lunar and solar cycles, and the start time shifts too, since Jewish dates typically begin at sundown the day before.

Pip: The post lays out all seven main festivals across two seasons. Spring opens with Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, both running April 1 through 9, followed by the Feast of First Fruits on May 21 through 23. Fall brings the Feast of Trumpets on September 11 through 13, the Day of Atonement on September 20 through 21, the Feast of Tabernacles running September 26 through October 2, and the Feast of the Eighth Day on October 2 through 3.

Mara: Each feast carries its own weight. Passover marks both the freeing of the Israelites from Egypt and the crucifixion of Jesus. The Feast of Unleavened Bread remembers the Israelites leaving in such haste they couldn’t let their bread rise. Pentecost, fifty days after Passover, foreshadows the coming of the Messiah.

Pip: The fall feasts shift in tone. The Feast of Trumpets looks forward — the post notes kids get to blow the Shofar. The Day of Atonement is described as solemn, often marked by a 24-hour fast. And Sukkot is framed, memorably, as “Thanksgiving and Christmas rolled into one.”

Mara: The post also notes that Sabbath, while not a Biblical Feast, is treated as a commanded observance — and links out to companion posts including Starting Our Sabbath and Sabbath Day Resources for families building that practice.

Pip: There’s an honest note running through all of it — this is a family learning alongside their readers, not a finished authority handing down conclusions.


Mara: Two seasons, seven feasts, and a calendar that asks you to pay attention to the moon — that’s a different relationship with time than most of us are used to.

Pip: Next time, we’ll see what else is taking shape at Pollywog’s Place.

Biblical Feasts

Key Dates for 2026

Sabbath Day Resources

Starting Our Sabbath

A New Year of Old Traditions

We have been on a mission to bring our family closer together. This is something we have prayed long and hard about, and GOD is working!

We love a lot of old traditions and customs, along with some of the new ones. We try to have at least one or two ‘family get-togethers’ here at our home. The biggest is probably our annual Polar Express party around Christmas time… this has been happening for a while now, and everyone looks forward to it. Why stop at that? We were trying to have a special Sabbath meal each week, and also trying to plan a monthly family dinner with Papa and Nanny, but those got sidelined a bit.

Why? Well, our priorities shifted, and other things seemed more important. We have to make room and time for the people and things we truly love, so I am on a mission to bring back our family dinners. They may not be quite as fancy as they once were, because I’m still exhausted from all the challenges we had last year, but they will be fun.

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Finding PEACE Amongst the Differences

We have been working our way through the ‘PEACE like a River’ Devotional with our homeschool. On day 9, we had this optional activity listed:

Watch ‘The Rare, Tiny Flower’ by Kitty O’Meara on YouTube.

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Finding PEACE By Losing The Labels

Have you ever been scrolling through social media and compared your life to the pictures you saw?

Have you ever felt like a failure? Have you felt like you weren’t enough?

Have you had a case of the ‘if only’? If only I were richer? If only I had a nicer home? Etc, etc.

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