(Un)surprisingly enough, Sarah describes the site as the “weblog of a weed-eatin’ herbalist”.. whatever that means..perhaps a short description of that would have helped? The layout, simple as it is, was too simple for my liking, and although the colour scheme is relevant to the title of the weblog, I’m less than keen on it.
Whilst reading through the weblog, I progressively noticed that there were a fairly even mixture of rants, poems & also featured an extended letter and reports regarding the likes of pharmaceutical companies, the legalisation of cannabis, and the legitimacy of war. Some of which I would have appreciated if I was tempted not to skim-read the rest due to the sheer length. Highlighting the key points and then clearly stating your thoughts on them would have provided me with a concise & clarified take on the situation.
I admire Sarah’s capacity to write several entries a day and appreciate her ability to paint a seemingly precise picture of particular days; namely the Eugene Saturday Market, which almost reminds me of Camden Town. I’ve noticed she quotes in detail, exploits conversations effectively & some of the poems & lyrics published are varied in content, depicts her somewhat whimsical manner, but again, fairly long. Although there are a month’s worth of entries on the index page, it would be advisable to cut down the number, simply because some of her entries are particularly extended & some people prefer things in small portions!
Although there is no commenting system available, Sarah interacts with some of her regular visitors via a forum. It is fairly difficult to follow subject conversations as each entry is ordered chronologically, and if you wanted to reference a particular entry from the weblog, there are no titles, only dates, and remember that she posts several times a day on average.
The archives are collated in weeks rather than months, which I find odd, as it would be more appropriate to have the index page in weeks, and the archives in months. Unfortunately there is an error in the template for the archived entries, resulting in visible broken links. The entries themselves give you more of a clue on what a herbalist is, and follows the consistency of her interest in current affairs regarding herbalism.
In summary, the content itself is good, however Sarah needs to focus on the presentation of some of the material (ie. letters, reports) and shorten them. In addition write a separate section about her general background and perhaps some links to other sites on more information about herbalism. I wouldn’t necessarily return to this website, however I’m sure that if you have a keen interest in herbalism, it may be something that will attract you.herbivorous