Garden Journal/Diary Option
I am SO happy with some ‘freeware’ that I found recently that I just had to share it.
I hike and like to keep a record of all my hikes ….. where, when, what happened, weather, what wildflowers are blooming, etc. I also want to keep track of birthdays, when I visit certain folks, and what I plant in the garden and when. I’ve kept the old timey hand-written calendar diaries, but my biggest problem with them is that they are not ‘searchable’. I might be wondering where and when & on what hike I saw that gorgeous “Blue Flag Iris” ….. but I would have to look back through all my handwritten notes on hikes that occurred in a spring timeframe…. and probably a couple of years worth to boot.
The solution to my “problem” has been RedNotebook (full disclosure: I am a happy user only!!). It is freeware ….. it downloaded without a problem and I just love it. It is ‘html’, but they have some shortcuts built in which means you pretty much just start typing and you’re good to go. You can post pictures and links. It is SEARCHABLE ….. there is a ‘word cloud’ so you can click on a word, but I use the ‘tags’ extensively that they allow you to set up. For instance, I have a tag called “Gardening”. If I put ‘Gardening’ in the search box, it will pull up every entry made under that tag, in date order. Today, I have had two entries, both about the new camellias we bought. I can look at the date list under ‘Gardening’ and see exactly when we got those camellias. I can also just search under the word ‘camellia’ and every time I used that word, the entry will show up.
I also have a tag called ‘Hike Tag’. I initially used the word ‘Hike’ as my tag, but it then pulls up every time I used the word ‘hike’, not just my tag entries (lesson learned: tag names require a little thought). If I type ‘Hike Tag’ in the search box, it will pull up all of my hikes I’ve listed under the ‘Hike Tag’ tag in date order. Or, I can type in the name of a hike like “Rag Mountain” & it will pull up every time I have mentioned Rag Mountain in my writing.
I think you can see the value of this for gardening – you could have a ‘Tag’ for individual vegetables, plants, or products you are using for insects/weeds, a planting tag where you could list the dates you plant things.... the possibilities are endless.
I even have a ‘FReeper Posts’ tag where I keep up with all of the recipes I post on on the Recipe Thread, pictures I post, etc.
Again, RedNotebook is FREEWARE. Additionally, you can have more than one journal/diary ….. you could have one only for gardening, one for family, one for trips you take ….. etc. Currently I only have one where I’m keeping everything together, but I could see splitting off a separate one or two if I keep adding to RedNotebook at the rate I’m going now. If you think you might be interested in RedNotebook, here is the link:
http://rednotebook.sourceforge.net/
That program sounds excellent! Thank you so much for the link, I am going to check that out for sure. I can think of 4 or 5 of my activities that I could track.