D. Capensis is the easiest volunteer plant in collections. The seeds are plentiful and they get around and they'll grow wherever there's water and light.

That said:

How long does it take from blooming flower to harvest-able seed pods?

The flowers are typically self-pollinating. As the petals close up, they pollinate themselves. Once the closed flowers are brown and dry, the seeds are about ready to go.

When do I cut off the stalk and let the pods ripen? When the stalk is shriveled, brown, and dry up to the last flower, or when you feel like it.

I have read a few articles on it but they dont go into much depth or definition - I want to avoid self seeding the mother plant in its own pot? Ok, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, no? They can grow in the same pot, just lightly pinch and break up the flower right there over the soil. The seeds will be just fine. Unless you want them in a different pot.

for the seedling mixture, should I mill down the perlite into powder or leave as chunks? That seems like too much work when blending the seeds with a little dry sand and sprinkling them on a 50/50 peat/sand mixture will work just as well.

When seedlings sprout should I feed it food on its first carnivorous leaf or will it grow a few more seeds just fine with just water and the sun? I'm of the school that you don't feed plants. They'll catch whatever is around and is attracted to the plant. Darwin would approve. I also don't take them outside and put them in direct light on a sunny day because they aren't an animal and they don't benefit from that. Instead, spritzing once a month with a lightly diluted foliar fertilizer like "epiphytes delight." Leaves will grow larger and look nicer if there aren't carcasses blocking light.

Also, you can grow many plants from cuttings. You can place bits of capensis leaves on top of moist soil and they'll sprout plantlets faster than seedlings. You can also place a clipping in a clean ziplock bag with clean, distilled water in an indirect lighted spot and it'll grow plantlets there. Growing dionaea from seed is painfully slow, only really worth it if you're a sadist with patience or cross pollinating them in order to make new weird cultivars-- but growing them from tissue or cuttings is about 4 times faster.