I thought I'd better have a go at this question from the Hive Garden community Question of the Week - it's a group I've been faciliating these last few years so I guess I'm in a unique position to talk about it!

A Very Brief History of the Hive Garden Community

I used to run another group on Hive which kinda got bigger than I could handle, and I learnt a lot about the importance of the Hive communities there and their function in the larger Hive ecosystem. I took over the #gardenjournal challenge from a old school hiver @simplymike, whose real life committments meant they couldn't spend as much time here as they would have like. It felt like a responsibility to keep it going, as I knew I had the skills to do it and wasn't about to abandon the platform anytime soon. It's quite a big ask to have a challenge running for this long so I'm pretty proud that I've kept the ball rolling.

I actually didn't expect to like it a much as I did, and taking over the @gardenhive keys from another Hive user so that I could run the Hive Garden community felt like a real honour. With the help of @minismallholding and @owasco the foundations of the community were laid, and though they've also had real life commitments, they still help out when I'm desperate! The thing is, this is a community that almost runs itself through the engagement of the users and the dedication of many gardeners to writing their monthly #gardenjournals without promise of reward and now the #hivegardenqotw where people can have a writing prompt every Saturday for inspiration.

So Why Is the Community So Awesome?

I get a lot of warm and fuzzies from the Hive Garden community. It's a really supportive social environment - not only are people talking about plants, but they are talking about their gardens and gardening journeys which give us a glimpse into people's lives all over the world. Sure, people are showing off their tomatoes or bonsai but they're also sharing their cultural backgrounds, family life, philosophies, world views, personal highs and lows, and more.

I think we all love it in some way as we feel a shared connection and shared learning - I mean, Hive is already a social interaction model that rewards us not just with crypto but with a feeeling of being heard and valued. I've tried to foster that sense of people's contributions being recognised and valued, and I love it when people say that feel this way. It means a lot. It really feels like a supportive gardening club than a typical social media site. There's no animosity, bitching, trolling here either - I can count the dramas I've had in this group on one hand, so it feels super safe and supportive.

You can't help but be inspired by people's gardens here either. There's so much to be inspired by - how people use recycled materials, unique methods, recipes for organic fertilisers or pesticides, or trying new things. I've experimented with a lot more in my own garden because I've seen someone do it on Hive.

It's also been such a good thing since COVID too - so many people have started a garden because they had always wanted to, and their stories about how it's influenced their family budget or their mental health is really heart warming. There's a lot of negative stories in the world and this isn't one of them. I always feel such a sense of hope here. Hive gardeners are living proof that there are good people caring about nature and the environment.

Sometimes - often - I'm so busy in real life I have no time to comment and sometimes days go by and I haven't even voted or reblogged, which I feel guilty about, but I'm just a human doing their best. I have to say though it's not me that makes this community - it's all the incredible gardeners sharing their knowledge and their passion and coming back each month, each week, sometimes every day, to share their gardening journeys with others.

It's so good to contribute something to Hive through the Hive Garden community, and I hope that I can continue doing so into the future. I've still got some gardening life in me yet, both on chain and off.

With Love,

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