The most fragile moment of an app like this is the day after you install it. You open it, it's December, the diary is empty, the forecast says what it can say about a user you don't know — and you're tempted to postpone it until September. Postponing, however, is precisely the choice that makes you arrive unprepared.
The releases you have already made are written now
To fill the diary you don't need to go out. You only need what you remember, and it doesn't help much:
- the day, even approximate, even from two years ago;
- the forest, which you look for on the map and mark where it was;
- mushrooms, which ones and how many, if you remember.
You don't have to look up the weather for that day: the app retrieves it on its own, even years later, from the archive of real conditions. It's the part that no one would ever remember: how much rain had fallen in the previous two weeks, what temperatures it was. And that's exactly what prediction is for.
Since then the place has existed
As soon as you wrote it, that forest is not a memory put aside: it is a place that works. It enters the ranking of «where to go today» and has its own twelve day calendar. It reappears in «happened today» when the date returns, counts in the statistics as tomorrow's releases, and can send you a notification.
The difference is all here: those who install the app in September start from scratch and wait months before they get to know their woods. Whoever rebuilt three old exits in December leaves in September with three woods that already have a history.
Where to get memories from
If you don't trust your memory, almost everyone has three archives they don't know they have:
- phone photos, which have a date and often a location: the basket photographed on the hood is worth an exit;
- the messages sent to those who go mushrooming with you, which are dated to the minute;
- the paper notebook, if you have it: a few lines at a time are poured into a rainy afternoon.
The empty exit also applies
Even the Sunday in which you found nothing is a given, and is worth as much as a full basket: it says that in that place, in that weather, in that week, there was nothing. Without the "no" there is no probability.
It is worth writing them precisely because memory does the opposite: it keeps the good years and erases the bad ones. Not the diary, it keeps everything as it was. It's the same reason why the app learns faster by those who also record the bad laps.
How many can be written
The outputs reconstructed from memory are three in the free plan and unlimited with Premium. It is therefore advisable to choose them well: the three most representative of your woods, preferably in different periods of the season.
Be careful not to confuse them with normal findings: scoring a mushroom is never blocked, in no plan. What is limited is reconstructing aexit entire history of the past, including weather.
One hour of winter, and you're ready
The order I would recommend, if you have an evening:
- first mark the two or three woods where you always return;
- for each one, reconstruct the exit you remember best, the "good" one;
- put among the places to keep an eye on those where you would actually go — notices look at those;
- choose the three mushrooms to follow for the coming season.
From then on the work is done by time: the diary grows on its own, exit after exit.
Frequently asked questions
How far back can I go?
Even years. The weather of that day is reconstructed the same, because it comes from the archive of real conditions and not from the forecasts of the time.
What if I don't remember the exact day?
That's fine too: put the most probable day. For the forecast, the period and location count, not the date per minute.
Is Premium needed?
No: in the free plan you can reconstruct three past releases. With Premium they are unlimited. Saving a find, however, is never locked into any plan.
What if I make a mistake in marking the place on the map?
It moves and renames itself whenever you want, and the new name applies along with all finds and exits of that place.
Does it make sense to start in December?
It's the best time. You have time to calmly write down what you remember, and in the open season the app already knows your woods instead of having to learn them while you want to use it.
