Article Index (For Countryside Magazine)

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It's finally done after several years of work! I became very frustrated with looking through my copies of Countryside magazine for that article with the perfect solution to my current problem so I started listing the article titles from each issue on a database in Microsoft Works. I've finally caught up from 9/91 to current issue, over 3400 entries and find it to be SOOOO useful.

My husband asked me the other day when I was going through the data base looking for information on rotational grazing if the people on the forum would like to have the database too. I hadn't thought about it, didn't know if I could post here about it or if Countryside would be upset with me doing it. I've mauled it over for several days and decided I'd just put a posting on and see what happens. The database lists the article title, date of publication, page, category (example: Food-bread)and magazine name. I also have lots of old Mother Earth News magazines I'm going to put on the database too.

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, or Steve if I've overstepped some rule, let me know.

-- Betsy (betsyk@pathwaynet.com), June 10, 2000

Answers

Response to Article Index

WOW!!! I am impressed and humbled. I would be very interested in this. Bless you for taking that all on and willing to share!! However you decide to do this is fine with me. Thank you.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), June 10, 2000.

Response to Article Index

Steve -- I think you'd better put Betsy on the payroll!

Betsy -- I don't see why if you get this burnt onto CD (with Countryside permission, of course!) you couldn't have Steve put a small ad in the mag and offer it to subscribers. What format is it in???

-- Tracy (trimmer@westzone.com), June 10, 2000.


Response to Article Index

Betsy, that certainly is a lot of work. I've been doing the same thing with all my magazines, only on paper, not the computer. It sure is helpful.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), June 10, 2000.

Response to Article Index

OK, Betsy and Gerbil, Do you two ever sleep? How did you ever find the time for such a monumentous project? Sounds great! I'm very humbled, now I have to get to work and do some organizing myself. Lets see, do I give up sleep, cleaning stalls, ironing, cooking, canning, vacuuming, ?????:) Jan

-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), June 10, 2000.

Response to Article Index

Wouldn't have to be CD. That would actually be a fairly small database, and would easily fit on a diskette. Buy pre-formatted diskettes in bulk (50's or 100's), run off a heap of ordinary small labels (can get them on sheets which will go through a laser or inkjet printer), remember to include a copyright declaration on the label and in a text file on the diskette (just "Copyright Betsy Kxxxx 2000"), run them off at home and set your price low enough so it's not worth people's while being tempted to take illegal copies, high enough to pay for your materials (including packing material and postage) and time and a reasonable profit. Save a second copy as a tab-delimited text file - people could import it to other databases or spreadsheets, or even search it with a word-processor program.

Or get Steve to do all that and pay you something.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), June 11, 2000.



Response to Article Index

Keep us posted on the outcome. I think that there would be lots of interest! Tami

-- Tami Bowser (windridg@chorus.net), June 11, 2000.

Response to Article Index

I would definitely be interested. Let me know when you have it ready to go. I have been trying to put this together myself but just because I wanted it for myself but since you have already done the hard work, I think I'll take you up on the offer. Whatever the price, I'm sure it will be worth it and I'm more than happy to help a fellow homesteader make a living.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), June 12, 2000.

Response to Article Index

My hubby & I would be interested also! It is all I can do to keep up with my business inventory--can't seem to keep it up to date on my computer--so we would be very interested in purchaseing this! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), June 12, 2000.

Response to Article Index

Sign me up! Do you want cash, check, money order, canning jars or strawberries?!!

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), June 12, 2000.

Response to Article Index

We have a printed index from volume 69-83 covering the years 1985-1999. We sell this 27 page 8 1/2 x 11 booklet for $10. You can see the ad on page 106 in the 84/4 issue. It comes in really handy for looking up something with out having to page through 14 years of Countrysides.

Betsy

I think as long as you email it only to the people that ask for it (don't post it on this board as it will get over loaded) I say go for it. If you make any money then you have to buy me a cold one sometime.

-- Steve Belanger (Steveb2win@yahoo.com), June 14, 2000.



Response to Article Index

Thanks Steve, you answered my question. I'm not out to become Bill Gates with this, just thought I could share it with folks for a small fee. Since it is on the computer in a database form a person can search it by category or even by a word. I really wanted a way to use the valuable information in the magazine as I spent a lot of time looking for something I knew I had read. Needless to say, I frequently started out looking for one thing and got sidetracked since every time I pick up Countryside I find a new article, sometime wonder if you've added it magically cause I read the magazine from front to back as soon as it arrives. It's hard now, with the forum page changing two or three days before my copy arrives and I'm have to wait knowing there's going to be lots of GREAT reading. I really appreciate your magazine, learn something new with every issue and obviously save and return to it for reference often. It's the best publication I receive, and getting to be the only one, except sheep magazines.

Betsy

-- Betsy (betsyk@pathwaynet.com), June 14, 2000.


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