the support you need for building and maintaining a digital garden
how I can help you finally start
Before you dive in, rest assured this essay was written using 100% human intelligence. I do not use AI in my work. I’m AI Sober and it feels delicious. You can read my full AI Policy here.
Starting on Friday, I’m teaching a new class all about how to build and maintain a digital garden called The Week of the Archivist. I wanna go through a couple of questions that have probably come up for you when considering if ya wanna sign up for this class, if you really need a digital garden, what the purpose is, and what to do if the timing doesn’t quite fit your schedule.
Next week, I’ll be back with the final essay in my cycles series about the Learning and Research cycle of creative practice. If you haven’t read the essays about the productive, reflective, and integrative cycles, definitely check those out! As a reminder, there are podcast versions of them now on Apple or spotify if you’d rather listen ; )
What exactly will I learn?
The key you’ll unlock in the class is how to have fun, experience joy, and seek novelty by looking through your own ideas and archives. If you’ve been trying to take breaks or detox from social media over and over and it just isn’t working, this class will give you scaffolding to try something new.
You’ll walk away with techniques for looking through your own work instead of the thoughts, dreams, ideas, and viral posts of people giving you a seven-second-hot-take in the infinite scroll. I want you to crave the ritual of tending to your own ideas instead of always taking in what the algorithm feeds you.
Who should take this class?
If you feel super pulled into doomscrolling on your phone and wish you had a better relationship with it this class is for you
If you feel like you just wanna understand your systems of how you intake information and what you do with it, this class is for you
If you are someone with a chronically messy computer or phone and you wanna stop paying so much for cloud storage for things that you don’t even really need to keep, this class is for you
How do you start? What app(s) should I use? How much will this cost?
Starting simply requires that we begin the process of going through our collections of digital stuff. You will be amazed at what’s hanging out in there! As we go through our files, notes, and photos together, you’ll learn to build your garden around what you want to save, and what kind of garden is most important to your creative goals.
Remember though, not every garden serves the same purpose. I’m not going to be giving you a template to copy, but instead show you how to build something that works for your brain and practice.
Let’s leave the digital realm for a second that think of your own balcony or backyard. What could you grow with the space you have?
You may decide you want a vegetable garden, with the goal of giving you some fresh produce. Space might be limited so you can try just growing fresh herbs. You could also just plant a garden for beauty or fresh cut flowers. There’s also the option to rip out your lawn and build a native pollinator garden. So many different approaches to the same idea of a garden, see?
The approach you take is adaptive to your space, to what you have on hand, and to what you ultimately want to do. That adaptation mindset is what we’ll apply to our digital gardens. We will survey what we have in our notes or screenshots or files, and then find the appropriate containers and ecosystems to support them.
All of the apps I currently use, are free or have low cost plans to sync things across your devices, if you want to. I use Obsidian, Notion, Notes, and Voice Memos. None of these companies are sponsoring me, and I’ve turned off any AI features they’ve enabled.1
Do you really need a digital garden? Like, what exactly is the point?
I used to think that building a personal archive of knowledge, ideas, notes, images, or projects was merely a procrastination activity. As it turns out, this is the one practice that has both:
Helped me quit scrolling on Tiktok, Instagram, and Youtube Shorts. I’ve shifted that desire for novelty and entertainment into a place that will better serve me.
Enabled me to finally have a positive relationship with my existing phone.2 I no longer want to throw it into oblivion3 and see it as a really wonderful creative tool that helps me make more art.
When I was really chasing the carrot of success on Tiktok and Instagram, this kind of reflective or maintenance work was something I thought was a distraction from the goal of spending time studying, optimizing, and producing for an algorithm. If I wanted people to look at my art, and maybe buy it, my focus had to be on my next piece of content.
This is the path to volume and reach which requires being reactive and responsive to what’s current and on trend. My nervous system did poorly in the moments I tapped into virality which helped me realize I crave depth and subtle understanding4. I’ve hit this point with my work where I want to honor what I have and sit with it for awhile instead of always chasing more.
This whole idea really gets at the feeling I intuited last year about my grandma’s driving — the goals for our craft must consider how you want to feel when you arrive.
Ok, so you show us how to build the thing but how do I tend and maintain this garden?!
The hardest problem of building a digital garden is figuring out what kind you need and starting, the second most difficult problem is the tending and maintenance process. I’m gonna show you both.
Each session will start with a live demo from me walking you through exactly how I manage a portion of my digital life — you’ll get to see the messy insides of my digital mind and the process for putting things in order. Then we’re gonna co-work together (with timers!) to actually get it done.
No templates here, as we aren’t building monoculture farm digital gardens! We are going to make digital gardens that suit our unique creative practices. You’ll be able to ask me questions, test things out, and revise as you go!
Whether you want to be a writer, a better painter, a musician, or just get clarity on what and WHY you are doing what you’re doing in the world, this is gonna feel massive. Having a method to actually do something with all those little seeds that are sitting unorganized next to your grocery lists.
But the timing for each class doesn’t work for me…
You don’t have to come to every class. You can just show up to one or two, or only watch the recordings! Folks that sign up also get access to discounted tutoring sessions with me. Which means if you can’t come to any live sessions, you can work with me one on one at a special rate after you watch the recordings!
Everyone who signs up gets the replays 24 hours after each session, a secret discord channel where you can discuss work with me and your peers, and I’m gonna hold you accountable. All students will get an email from me checking in one month after class to see how it’s going and what other ways you need support.
Will I have a perfectly clean computer and phone by the end of this class?
No, that isn’t the goal. I want you to build an organic permaculture garden for your ideas which will take time and adaptation. You’re going to walk away with a clear start. If you have years and years of unsorted notes and photos and screenshots, you are like a farmer with many acres of land that you slowly need to regenerate.
That regenerative process is the thing that I’m going to show you.
What qualifies me to teach this class?
I was a tech literacy and creativity educator at Apple for half a decade, but more importantly, I am a human who found a way to quit scrolling short form video, who’s always struggled keeping my digital systems tidy, but finally found the pleasurable path for maintaining this work.
Thanks for reading, and until next time, stay creative and find your own ways to persistently bloom 🌸
We will not be using or demoing any kind of AI features or plugins. I’m stubbornly still AI sober and I wanna keep it that way. I am not a cop though, so your digital life is your own.
I still use a scratched up iPhone 14 Pro. I have absolutely zero plans to upgrade until this one kicks the bucket, maybe in a few more years. No flip phone, no Light Phone, no other expensive tech device, just learning to use what I already have and not let it use me.
think Skyrim Oblivion portal, or honestly, Frodo attempting to throw the ring into Mt. Doom, chucking it into an austere abyss never to be seen again
this is why I write long essays, go on philosophy rabbit holes, linger on the delicious process, add silly little footnotes (treats!) and take you along with me, dear reader. Thanks for being here : )