A New Venture

So, here it is, my very first attempt at a blog post.  Those of you who know me well are probably chuckling and thinking, “Well. this should be fun.”  Not because you see me as a fun person, but because everyone knows that I am really, really technically challenged.  You might have already guessed that from the appearance of this blog page.  It is pretty weak, embarrassing actually, but it’s the best I’ve been able to manage so far.

About a year ago, as I began thinking how I would spend my time once I closed Carolee’s Herb Farm, I began toying with the idea of doing a blog.  Yes, I know…there are already hundreds and hundreds of gardening blogs, and cybernet probably doesn’t really need another one.  And, since I struggle to get out an e-newsletter just once a month, how in the world will I manage a blog that should appear at least a minimum of three to five times a week? (That’s the word from the experts I’ve heard at countless conferences.)  Still, the idea of writing a blog kept niggling into my thoughts, so I bought “Getting Started with WordPress,” because the tagline was “Easy to understand, friendly style, perfect for beginners.”  I would have been more comforted if is had said “perfect for idiots” but of all the instruction books on the shelf, this one seemed like the tool I needed.

Ideally, I should have read the book and begun at once, but life was overwhelming at that time, so it lay on the table beside my bed, collecting dust until a couple of weeks ago when I hurt my back and was ordered to stay prone.  I don’t do “prone” well, but I took a positive attitude and thought, “This will be a perfect time to start my blog.”  So, with the computer on my lap and the book in my hands, I began reading.  The first chapter seemed to be trying to convince me not to do a blog at all.  The next pages appeared to be saying I should use something other than WordPress.  Despite this perplexing situation, I pushed on.

Finally, in Chapter 3, “Starting A Free WordPress Blog,” I felt a twinge of hope.  It was short-lived.  When I began trying to follow the step-by-step guide (each step was accompanied by a photo of the screen I should see when I clicked) my hopes began to wane.  By step three, the photo of the screen I should see did not match what I saw.  My guess is that my book is already out-dated and the procedure has been upgraded.  In addition, some of the “perfect for beginners” terminology was just over my head.

I have a totally new appreciation for those people who do beautiful, informative blogs.  I always knew it wasn’t easy, but I didn’t expect it to be quite so complicated.

Hopefully, this will not be my one and only blog post, because I’ve taken lots of photos of the new potager I am building that I’d like to share with you.  I’m sure getting photos actually on this blog will be another mind-twisting, multi-clicking, creative-swearing battle, but I’m going to try.  I’ve already written a dozen posts about various stages of the potager process in “Word,” but who knows if I will ever be able to figure out how to transfer them onto this site.  Wish me luck.  Herbal Blessings, Carolee

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