Field Notes No. 001 — Planting Season
The first entry in a garden log. Notes on starting a digital garden, and why the metaphor is not a metaphor.
Every garden starts as an ambition larger than its soil. This one began with a single question: what would my thinking look like if it were allowed to grow instead of being published and forgotten?
First principles
- Write for the future reader, who is usually me.
- Let ideas be seedlings. Not everything must be an evergreen.
- Revise in public. The log of changes is part of the garden.
- Link generously. A garden is measured by its paths, not its plants.
The soil
The tools matter less than the habit. A folder of plain-text files, a quiet theme, a fast build — the technology should be as unobtrusive as good topsoil. This site runs on Next.js and MDX, but the important part is the discipline: tend it weekly, revise honestly, let the half-formed stay visible.
Season one
Planted: six essays, a library shelf, four projects. The first season is always the hardest, because the garden looks mostly like dirt. That is normal. Gardens are patient, and so is this one.