a small program

A log does not need much machinery. It needs a stable format and a place to put the next observation.

#!/bin/sh
set -eu

stamp=$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)
printf '%s\t%s\n' "$stamp" "$*" >> field-notes.tsv

Run it with a short observation. The result is plain text: portable, searchable, and boring in the useful way.