Complimentary Blueberry Juice

For four years (going on five) I have been intensely journalling all the things on the farm. This is invaluable to all farmers, but also to hobby gardeners, backyard gardeners or plant nerds in general.

It is useful for many reasons…but most useful is that in my pocket field journal, it is full of emotional entries I do not remember writing. Reviewing this when I am assessing and planning the upcoming farm season is a powerful reminder of things that I do not wish to repeat.

And, so…they won’t be repeated!

Growing anything is a process that occurs over many months, and thousands of decisions later, it is easy to forget what happened that one time 30 days ago, 120 days ago, or 471 days ago, or 895 days ago. It is easier to remember great disappointment, a crushing realization, or super fun times when everything worked out.

This method of journalling, revisiting, re-assessing, planning, executing, and then the following year…journalling, revisiting, re-assessing, planning and executing again is a big ball of all sorts of things that result in continuous improvement. For a small or large operation with many moving parts, that means big wins each season.

Someone recently asked me for “garden tips” and I didn’t know what to say. A loss of words, if you will. Every family of plants you can grow is different and likes different conditions, the reason you are growing or experimenting affects how you view outcomes, and whether or not you need to make a profit or serve a community is something that has a major effect on your approach.

But the one thing that can apply to all of them is journalling: writing down your seed dates, first date of harvests, unexpected weather, your feelings that day, something you notice that seems odd, an idea you have, or a question that comes up, things you don’t know the answer to, or simply writing down problems that need to be solved (somehow), generally leads to you finding the information you need or devising new methods.

So if you’re a farmer, grower, gardener or houseplant enthusiast…get a little notebook and keep it handy.

If you’re outside all the time like me…getting a notebook with waterproof paper is something you will wish you had when you get caught in the rain (or leave it on the ground turn your irrigation on oops).

Stay curious!

Graham

thanks for reading complimentary blueberry juice