I don't know about the rest of you guys but keeping good records is one of our real short comings. Yet, every excellent book on farming/homesteading makes it clear how important good records are. Several months ago, Pat Mikul introduced her Homesteading Journal on this web page. It took me a whle but I did finally order it for my husbands birthday. I thought I might pass on a quick analysis to those of you who were contemplating the journal.

WOW - was I impressed!!!!! I was at first a bit put off by the price ($20 including shipping) as I envisioned a "glorified calender". This is far from that! It is a very thick journal with pages and pages of everything you can imagine wanting to keep a record of, plenty of room to add things particular to your own homestead as well. I've looked at plenty of "farm record books" but they tend to be centered on chemical use and not really relevant to our day to day routine. This book is. If you truly homestead I think this book is worth purchasing.

There is a web page (http://www.homesteadjournals.com) but frankly I don't think it does the journal justice. There is so much more to it than the web page suggests. I think this is going to be a real asset to our farm!

Anyhow, I'm not trying to sell this as I don't even know Pat Mikul but I thought a review might be useful for other folks who are sitting on the fence! Kim

-- kim (fleece@eritter.net), July 18, 2000

Answers

Thanks, Kim, I've thought about getting one. Hope I can soon.

-- Vaughn (vdcjm5@juno.com), July 18, 2000.

Kim, I've been using my Homestead Journal since it arrived last May. I write in it everyday, well, almost everyday. Pat has put ALOT of thought into this & I appreciate all of her hard work & research. I agree, the web page does not do the journal justice, it's much more than it shows. It is definitely an asset to anyone's homestead, it surely helps me keep track of the livestock & their contributions (eggs, meat, etc). After I've filled in this journal, I plan to purchase another one. Once again, many thanks, Pat, for a job well done.

-- Phyllis (almostafarm@yahoo.com), July 21, 2000.

I keep my journal on Word Perfect on a running document.

-- Ed Holt (goat@sssnet.com), July 25, 2000.