Sometimes , the most useful tool a Fannie Merritt Farmer can have is n’t apowerful machineor atried - and - true handwriting tool . It ’s punctilious recordkeeping .
Whether you keep ajournal , scrawl key details in a notebook , scribble must - remember data on scrap of paper , or punch notes into your data processor or phone , retain detailed land records can be helpful on so many front .
just what your recordkeeping might entail will depend on the case of farm you engage . But to give you an idea of the possibility , let me share a few real - world examples of howmeticulous recordkeepinghelps me with my annual farm , garden and orchard harvests .
Planting Memory
I have a lot of garden bed , and though I have a good memory for details , I ca n’t trust myself to remember with 100 percent accuracy which beds contain which ejaculate and seedlings . One year , I planted two potpourri of pumpkins and forgot which was which .
Fortunately , the result pumpkins were dissimilar enough to say the plant aside once they fruited . But that might not always be the case . Ever since , I ’ve deal more care to note the location of every planting .
Seed Planting Dates
When I plant garden beds each spring , I compose down the particular date the come went in the earth and then take note when they sprout . I also keep track of the estimated days until adulthood lean on the seed packets .
after , when the plants are mature and harvest time is approaching , I check my notes to determine when I should harvest — not too early , and not too late .
Note Blossom Dates
Every class , I compose down the date when my fruit tree blossom in the leaping , and then commemorate down when the fruit mature in late summertime and fall . These dates can vary a routine from year to twelvemonth , but maintain government note across multiple years gives me a in force ballpark of when to expect ripe yield .
Recordkeeping Is Just Handy
Some kinsfolk might get along just fine without all this farm recordkeeping . After all , the ripeness of an apple can be guess by appearing and savouring , assuming you lie with what to expect from any given motley . And I know my dear odoriferous clavus is ready when the silk have dry to brown and popping a sample center reveals milklike liquid state rather than clear .
Even still , there are benefits to recordkeeping . If you ’re a hobby farmer trying to raise a small of everything , perchance there are only a dozen pieces of corn on your handful of clavus plants . roll in the hay when you set them ( and when they sprouted ) can help you nail down incisively when they ’re ready pick . From experience , I be intimate that bloom taste and quality can fall in a very narrow-minded windowpane of time .
Here ’s another example : I’vepurchased many fruit treesfrom a nursery about an hour in the south of where I live , and the ripening dates they list for each form tend to be before than the dates I live on my farm far northward . Yearly shopping trip-up have revealed that the tree diagram at the nursery flower a little earlier in the give than the tree on my farm , so the greenhouse apples are quick in the first place .
If I were to harvest fruit from my tree diagram according to the dates provided by the nursery , I would be harvest home before they ’re ripe . Instead , thanks to my recordkeeping , I screw my trees systematically ripen a routine later and I can plan my harvest accordingly .
These are fairly dim-witted examples , but you’re able to take your recordkeeping to higher stage if you like . You could enter the phone number of hours you spend on a give land project , so you could separate the income generated by the hour worked to work out your “ hourly wage ” and determine if the labor is worth replicate . Or you could tag the telephone number of eggs lay by your chickens each yr to figure out which breeds are most productive in your specific situation .
The takeaway ? Recordkeeping makes farm living so much easy . Take good notes , and you ’ll take well care of your farm .
