I recently got the Flowers software from Plantstep, I have been messing with computers since the 80's and this without a doubt is the one nicest programs I have ever bought at any price. Anyone should look at getting it whether you use it for crosses or not, as it has so many other features and is constantly updated FREE. I use it for all my plants and am in the process of loading pictures in which is very easy. The to do and diary features are handy as well. There are a lot of features I haven't even explored yet. I can't imagine trying to use Excel when there is something like this out there for 29.95 I have never been happier with a purchase EVER! And in case you wonder I am not affliated with it in any way,I just like to speak up when I find a Great product as it seems to be harder to do anymore.

Oh, You are not anal at all--LOL--I'm an electronics engineer by trade and software engineering manager in practice. That makes me really, really anal about data. Many fields in my db are drop-down or checkbox type. When I upgrade to the next version of base db software it will also handle attaching photos and export to HTML web page. Like Excel, it is very easy to add/subtract fields with this program and easy to sort on any field. Here are the fields my db has for each cultivar: 1. drop down for: want/really want/no thanks/have/ordered/auction bid/auction won 2. variety name 3. hybridizer 4. year registered 5. scape height 6. bloom size 7. foliage type 8. bloom season 9. bloom description bloom form nocturnal rebloom extended fragrant awards tet/diploid pollen fertile pod fertile 1st yr grown source property where grown (I've moved and not all plants I've grown came with me but still want to track my experience with them) landscape location (drop down that can be easily customized) additional notes (degree of info here varies by my interest/use of the plant. It might include: parentage, offspring, $ paid, when I expect order to arrive, etc) I'm trying to see if there is a way to link db's with this program so that I could use this initial data as the base for a hybridizer's tool that would link seedlings listed to the parents in the original list. It exports in a standard format so I was thinking about making my data available in exchange for DL trades sometime in the future as I get more of the data verified and/or importing data from other's Excel files to customize a db for them in exchange for DL trades if they were interested in purchasing the base program from Illium (I use the db tool for a lot more than DL too. I use it to keep all my shopping lists, recipes, inventories (books, reading lists, movies, collectibles, etc), to do lists, medical and perscription histories for my family, household/auto maintenance, special quotes, and much more- just about anything you want to organize in a list or small db format and carry with you on your pda. You can password protect any sensitive lists. So its a handy tool anyway. In fact I was already using it for all this other stuff before I decided to use it for DL & plants. LOL- adding plants was just another extension of my already over the top data obsessions...

Marla: I agree. The benefits of a data-oriented approach to farm/garden management grow significantly over time as more data is collected. In the beginning the data will be too sparse to see clear trends or come to firm conclusions about, for example, profitability of a crop within a season or profitability of attendance at a market. However, over time I think the ability to draw objective conclusions will become clearer. In other words, trends will start to show up. I only have anecdotal evidence at this point, but I believe many small farmers and market gardeners manage the financial aspects of their farm or garden in an ad-hoc manner. I think one reason for this is a lack of approachable financial management tools targeted specifically at the small farmer/gardener (that's why I thought this thread was interesting). The tools I've tried out so far strike me as too general (Quicken) or too complex (custom Excel spreadsheets). So I think a lot of farmers and gardeners use paper which makes it harder (and more time consuming) to see trends and make data-driven decisions. Businesses in other industries create relatively detailed annual budgets (the planning cycle) and then do their best to stick with them during the year by tracking revenues and expenses. They then iterate over time in an attempt to maximize the likelihood that they will generate a profit each year. I'd love to see these same principles intuitively applied to small farms and market gardens because decisions based on data are (generally speaking) more likely to result in long-term (financial) success. I'm asking the questions above in an attempt to define a good set of features for online (web-based and/or mobile-device-based) tools that do a good job of hiding unnecessary complexity from the small farmer/gardener while still providing sophisticated views into budgets, revenues, expenses, and trends. If you think I'm nuts, let me know! Brett

That is the beauty of our country's secondary education system, there's a fit for everyone and there's really no "right" or "wrong" school scenario for everyone. So, as parents and future college students, you just need to do the best you can to find a school that fits your child's interests and personality. As parents, I think we need to just resist the urge to intervene and make right every adversarial situation a young adult comes into contact with. They are adults at 18 and need to learn how to fend for themselves. That's what I actually like about college - it gives them 4 more years to grow up and mature before they're really on their own. As far as the FASFA, at the schools we applied to, it wasn't necessary for merit based awards - ie awards for grades/test scores. There was a long list of private grants/scholarships if you qualified for specific criteria - ie you had a family member that was a nurse, or an iron worker or a member of a specific union etc. We didn't qualify for any of those $$ although I did read each one carefully looking for a fit! I do believe that you need to complete the FASFA to apply for any of those, even if they stated it was a merit award and not soley need based. At a state public school here in Ohio, the awards are either financially driven (requiring a FASFA) or merit based. My son did get a merit scholarship, but taking into account the money he got from his athletic scholarship, I knew based on our income, he would not get any need based money. I'm sorry, but that form is a PIA and really didn't want to disclose all of our financial situation when I knew we wouldn't qualify. When I went to college a gazillion years ago, my parents filled out the FASFA because my brother and I were both in school and my mother was a school teacher and my dad a bricklayer. We thought while we were definitely not poor, with two kids in college, we were also not feeling flush with money. Of all the things I saved in the college scrapbook, I saved the response I got when I applied. Back then tuition/room& board was about $3300 a year for a state school. My FASFA came back and said my parent could afford $5800 a year for college expenses - and that was with my brother also in college. I truly do not know how they could come up with that number with two parents who had definitely middle class incomes, but again, they had no debt and no mortgage, so if you're financially responsible, you get no help. Granted if I had gone to a private school with a much higher tuition, we may have gotten something but, I was happy going to the state school, so while I did have alot of student loans, they weren't as much as if I had gone to a private school.