How to Add Content to This Site

This guide covers how to add content to the Synergia Ranch Agroecology website using Obsidian. No coding required — you write markdown files, and the site updates automatically.

Setting Up Obsidian Git

This only needs to be done once per computer.

1. Install Obsidian

Download from obsidian.md and install it.

2. Clone the repository as a vault

You need Git installed on your computer first (git-scm.com).

In your terminal:

git clone https://github.com/travbetravelin/Synergia-Ranch-Agroecology.git

Then open Obsidian → Open folder as vault → select the cloned folder.

3. Install the Obsidian Git plugin

In Obsidian, go to Settings → Community plugins
Turn off Restricted mode
Click Browse, search for Obsidian Git, and install it
Enable the plugin

4. Configure the plugin

Go to Settings → Obsidian Git and set:

Auto pull interval: 10 (minutes) — keeps your local copy up to date
Auto push interval: 0 — push manually so you control when changes go live

5. Configure the Templates plugin

Go to Settings → Core plugins and enable Templates
Go to Settings → Templates and set Template folder location to _templates

Now when you create a new file, run Templates: Insert template from the command palette to pre-fill the correct frontmatter.

6. Publishing your changes

When ready to publish:

Open the Command palette (Cmd+P on Mac, Ctrl+P on Windows)
Run Obsidian Git: Commit all changes
Run Obsidian Git: Push

Changes go live on the site within a few minutes after pushing.

Always pull before you start writing. Run Obsidian Git: Pull from the command palette to avoid conflicts with other contributors.

Folder Structure

All content lives inside the content/ folder:

content/
  blog/        ← blog posts (visible at /blog)
  people/      ← speaker and contributor profiles
  topics/      ← conceptual subjects (water, biochar, etc.)
  places/      ← locations
  events/      ← conferences and gatherings

Templates for each content type live in _templates/ — use them when creating new files.

Writing a Blog Post

Create a new file inside content/blog/
Name it with lowercase letters and hyphens — this becomes the URL: water-and-soil.md → /blog/water-and-soil
Insert the Blog Post template from the command palette
Fill in the frontmatter and write your content below

Frontmatter

---
title: "Water and Soil Health"
date: 2026-07-15
author: Your Name
excerpt: A short summary shown on the blog index page.
tags: [water, soil, agroecology]
---

Field	Required	Description
`title`	Yes	Displayed as the page heading
`date`	Recommended	Used for sorting (YYYY-MM-DD format)
`author`	Optional	Shown below the title
`excerpt`	Recommended	Preview text on the blog index
`tags`	Optional	Displayed as colored chips

Creating a Knowledge Node

Knowledge nodes are the entries in the graph — people, topics, places, and events.

Type	Folder	Template to use
People	`content/people/`	Person
Topics	`content/topics/`	Topic
Places	`content/places/`	Place
Events	`content/events/`	Event

Name the file using the node's slug: mark-nelson.md, biochar.md, etc.

Frontmatter

Person:

---
slug: mark-nelson
title: Mark Nelson
type: people
role: Ecologist and co-founder of Biosphere 2
---

Topic, Place, or Event:

---
slug: biochar
title: Biochar
type: topic
---

Field	Required	Description
`slug`	Yes	Must match the filename exactly (without `.md`)
`title`	Yes	Display name shown on the page and in the graph
`type`	Yes	`people`, `topic`, `place`, or `event`
`role`	People only	Short descriptor shown below the name

Connecting Nodes with Wikilinks

The site builds its knowledge graph automatically from [wikilinks](/graph/wikilinks) in the body of any file. No separate configuration needed.

To link to a knowledge node, wrap its slug in double brackets anywhere in the body:

[biochar](/graph/biochar)
[mark-nelson](/graph/mark-nelson)
[the ranch](/graph/synergia-ranch)   ← custom display label after the pipe

These render as clickable links on the page and automatically create edges in the graph. If a blog post mentions [biochar](/graph/biochar), that post will appear under "Related posts" on the Biochar node page, and the Biochar node will appear in the "Connections" panel when reading the post.

The slug is just the filename without .md. For example, content/topics/biochar.md has the slug biochar.

Connections are bidirectional — add the wikilink in one file and both nodes show the relationship.

Tips

Filename = slug: keep filenames lowercase with hyphens. My File.md becomes /blog/My-File, which looks odd in URLs.
Pull before you write: run Obsidian Git: Pull before starting to avoid conflicts with other contributors.
Wikilink autocomplete: Obsidian will suggest existing filenames as you type [[ — use this to avoid slug typos.
The graph updates on every deploy: new nodes and edges appear automatically after you push.