ROBIN: Rich Colosimo sent us this photo of a robin he saw in Bradford on Sunday.

Rich tells us, “This little fellow was seen in the 900 block of High Street yesterday, Jan. 29. Funny he should show up before the groundhog. If it is the same one from Kane, he is going in the wrong direction!”

Ron Housler of Lantz Corners contacted us Jan. 12 after he saw his first robin of the year.

JOURNALING: Looking for a way to pass the winter days until spring comes and you can start your garden?

How about garden journaling.

Pamela T. Hubbard, a Penn State master gardener from Monroe County, talks about the hobby in an article she wrote for the Penn State Extension.

“A garden journal is your own personal diary of what happens in your garden, starting with the planning in January through putting your garden to bed in October,” she wrote. “It provides a place to keep together all information, plans and notes about your garden.”

There are many forms your garden journal can take, according to Pamela.

The journal can be a composition book, a scrapbook, a calendar, note cards or a computer file or online blog — which can be printed and put in a three-ring binder if you want something you can page through. Pamela said you can even find garden journals in bookstores.

For her own gardening, Pamela keeps a “monthly calendar with a large square for each day and a desk calendar with a page for each week. I use the former to record seed-starting activities and the latter for more detailed notes.”

She has a blog where she posts photographs of her gardening projects, too.

The journal can be used to plan ahead, as well as to record your garden as it grows. Keep track of what you planted, as well as where and when you planted it. Having a record of how well each plant grew and what the weather conditions were can aid in your future gardening plans, too.

Find her entire article at extension.psu.edu/plants/gardening/news/2016/garden_journaling.