I started to keep a little garden journal in 2002. It was a
pretty book with a cottage on the cover and I jotted a few notes about the
veggies. I bought a similar journal in 2003, but it was becoming evident I didn’t
have enough space to write what I felt was important. By 2006 I was using the
journals for reference and it was obvious my system needed revising, as each
book had to be thumbed through to get to the month I was looking for.
I decided
to use three-ring binders, one for each month, with the pages in plastic
protectors so I could add pages as needed. I combined Oct/Nov/Dec and
Jan/Feb/March. Aside from that, each month has its own notebook. Now when I
make entries in June, for example, I have at my fingertips every June since 2006.
In my garden journal, I began to add details such as fence,
pergola or porch building and repairs and painting, trips we took and visits
from friends and family. I also record any event that impacts my thoughts and
feelings and philosophical notions as they come into my consciousness.
Now I have a record of not just the weather, new plants, planting
and harvesting and personal and world events, but my inner landscape. I can
easily see where I have grown and developed alongside the
Garden
of Nemesis. I like it because it is
my record and if I don’t want to add
a comma or form a complete sentence I don’t have to. It’s usually abbreviated and
sometimes almost illegible. Sure, I could write and print out my entries via
the computer, but for some reason it’s more personal to scribble them.
These journals may someday be a puzzle for my children or
grandchildren to piece together to maybe get to know a side of their ancestor
they never suspected existed.
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