Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Whatever works. Putting it on paper also keeps it safe if the computer does
down. Or if the power goes out. And things get out of hand if we try to
keep it all in our head. Like you say, certain things have to be done at a
certain time, and other things have to be out of the way first. I've found
this to be the biggest hangup in getting the garden startup and maintenance
done. I've even made "to do" lists but have trouble following them. Some
jobs take a lot longer than time allotted, and then there's the weather.
Helps to prioritize somewhat. Right now I'm trying to set up to do starter
plants in one end of the greenhouse walled off from the rest for heat. An
early start on the farmers market is at stake. But too much wind and cold.
Meanwhile the beds are too frozen to finish topping off with aged manure
and molasses and fish emulsion, and the new ones really need to cook a
couple months before the first onions and carrots go in. Oh well. 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 1/1/2008 at 12:33 PM McBride & Putnam wrote:

>Well, it's not the ideal solution, but I use a month calenday
>planner--Sierra Club is my choice, for the pictures.  Using my own
>shorthand, I can write down, not only the events of the day, but the
>expected events of the day: when babies are due, when they actually
>arrive, when animals are in heat, when they are bred, the planting dates
>for things I plan to plant, dates when seeds need to be started in the
>greenhouse or in the garden, the actual date they get planted--you get the
>idea.  The calendar becomes both diary and a planner.  I tried a month
>calendar once, but there just wasn't room, even with my shorthand.  You
>have to have room for animals, garden, appointments, planned and actual
>occurrences.  I put things that are actually scheduled like, Vet  9 a.m,
>Chicks Arriving, Dr. Appt 2 pm., right under the date.  Things that could
>happen can go to the side of the date, TAFFY DUE  and you can draw a line
>thru to the dates you might need to watch for this occurance.  Being able
>to look at the entire week is a big help in planning.  If you see you have
>baby chicks arriving Tuesday morning, you know you need to get the weeding
>done on Sunday so you have Monday to be sure the brooder is ready and all
>your equipment is in place. Then you can put off transplanting seedlings
>until Wednesday when the baby chicks will enjoy having any seedlings that
>need to be culled.
>
>This isn't a great solution, but I've found it helpful.  And tho' I
>suppose it's a holdover from my stone age youth, I still find it easier to
>keep and read notes in books, rather than on a computer.
>
>Claudia
>
>
>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>  From: Carrie Shepard 
>  To: E. E. Mitchamore Jr ; Healthy soil and sustainable growing 
>  Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2007 12:35 PM
>  Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Garden Planning
>
>
>  LOL,
>
>  OK, maybe this means I'm trying to do too many things at once, but I've
>been mulling this same question over for a month.  I know that individual
>breeds of livestock have cool computer softwares now like for rabbits: 
>http://evans-software.com/
>
>  but I need like a master planner  that would include lambing dates,
>kidding dates, worming dates for each animal on the place (chickens, dogs,
>one cat, etc.), lactation dates/rates for each doe along with the
>gardening plans.  That reminds me I need to tattoo the rest of the does
>I'm keeping in the rabbitry before I start breeding them here in another
>month.  I need something to help keep track of the pigs ages so I don't
>miss their heats as dd#2 wants to breed them and we don't have a boar so
>that means a little extra planning.
>
>  At one point I started notebooks for each separate enterprise, but that
>doesn't help you compare info and combine tasks onto ONE calendar.
>
>  For succession planting it seems I've seen some forms somewhere (maybe
>Eliot Coleman has some charts or something), but it sure would be great to
>have the individual seed info listed on a spreadsheet I guess with a chart
>of what needs to happen when  and where as the plants mature and be able
>to overlap or overlay all that info so I'm not just running circles and
>being a crisis manager instead of planning things well out.   
>
>  Hoping someone has some great tips for this question also!
>  Carrie
>
>
>  "
>
>
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