The cover of The Maine Nature Journal

Guides Maine

The Maine Nature Journal

Twelve printable month pages: a reference side built from public nature data for your state, and a field-notes side that is yours.

  • Twelve month pages, one per month
  • A reference side built from public data for your state
  • A field-notes side that stays blank until you fill it
  • Undated — print it again every year
  • Designed for Letter and A4, one page per sheet

$14.00one-time

Instant download · yours to keep, with no account and no renewal · full refund within 30 days

A look inside

What the Maine pages actually look like

From the Maine edition

Some of what is actually in it

Each Maine month page carries that month's reference side — the blooms, trees and butterflies Maine actually has then. Names you will meet in it:

  • Bunchberry
  • Pink Lady's Slipper
  • Lupine
  • Rhodora
  • Marsh Marigold
  • Fireweed
  • Eastern White Pine
  • Sugar Maple
  • Paper Birch
  • Balsam Fir
  • Red Spruce
  • Quaking Aspen
  • Monarch
  • Atlantis Fritillary
  • Canadian Tiger Swallowtail
  • Mourning Cloak
  • White Admiral
  • Clayton's Copper

How the Maine year breaks down

Counted, not claimed

Across the twelve Maine month pages the reference side draws on 6 wildflowers, 6 trees, 6 butterflies and 7 things coming into season locally.

In the box

Exactly what you receive

Maine pages15 pages — twelve month pages plus covers and how-to
FormatPDF, laid out for both Letter and A4
DeliveryAn instant download link, plus a link you can re-open for 72 hours
AccessYours to keep — no expiry, no account, no subscription
RefundsFull refund within 30 days, no questions

How it works

From checkout to the field

  1. Buy it

    Checkout takes a card and an email address — no account to create.

  2. Open it straight away

    The download link appears immediately and the Maine files are yours to keep.

  3. Use it through the year

    Print the Maine pages you want and take them outside; they are laid out with room to write on as the season moves.

Free and paid, side by side

The Maine pages here stay free. Here is what the edition adds.

The free Maine pagesThe Maine Nature Journal
What it coversThe month Maine is in, free and alwaysAll twelve Maine months, planned before they arrive
Garden timingThe notes for your zone, once the site knows itEvery Maine zone from 3a–6b, side by side on the page
Where you can read itOn a screen, wherever Maine has signalOn paper, in the field, with no signal at all
PriceFree, and staying that way$14.00 once — no renewal, no account

Before you buy

Who this is for

Made for

  • People who keep a record and want the reference already on the page
  • Teachers and parents doing a year of nature with a child
  • Anyone who prefers paper to another app

Not for

  • Anyone wanting a dated planner — these pages are deliberately undated so you can print them again next year

Everything here describes typical timing across Maine, drawn from long-run records — weather, elevation and how close you are to water all move the real dates around. So the Maine pages say "usually early May" and never "May 4th", which is not hedging but the most the data can honestly carry.

Where it comes from

Compiled from

USGS Breeding Bird Survey · State fish & wildlife agencies · USA National Phenology Network · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center · Cooperative Extension (land-grant directory) · International Meteor Organization. How each of these is used in the Maine edition, and which figures are measured rather than modeled, is set out in the methodology.

Questions

Before you decide

Is this specific to Maine, or a national guide with the name swapped in?

It is built from Maine's own data. Each month's reference side is written from Maine's data for that month, not a national average.

Maine spans several hardiness zones — which one does this cover?

All of them. Maine runs 3a–6b, and the guide carries each zone's timing rather than picking one and hoping it fits your garden.

How accurate is the timing for Maine?

It describes typical timing across Maine drawn from long-run records, and because weather, elevation and habitat move real Maine dates around it says "usually early May" rather than "May 4th".

Is it worth paying when the Maine pages here are free?

The free Maine pages are the month you are in; this is the whole Maine year, planned before it arrives and printable, so you are not holding a screen in the garden.

Will it work for my part of Maine, or just the big cities?

It is written at state resolution — Maine as a whole, with regional notes where Maine genuinely differs end to end, and nothing behind it is recorded finely enough to honestly promise more than that.

What format is the Maine edition, and can I print it?

A PDF laid out for both Letter and A4, one page per sheet — printing it is the point, since the Maine pages are made to be carried outside.

What if the Maine guide is not what I expected?

Email hello@birchcompass.com within 30 days for a full refund on the Maine edition, and keep the files either way — asking for them back would be theatre.

The rest of the Maine shelf

Also for Maine