A digital garden is a collection of interconnected notes, ideas, and essays that evolve over time, rather than being static like traditional blog posts. Unlike a blog, which presents content in a linear, time-bound format, a digital garden is more like a wiki or a curated knowledge base, allowing for organic growth and continuous refinement.
— Maggie Appleton, “A Brief History & Ethos of the Digital Garden”
I started this digital garden mainly because I got very tired of digging through my countless ChatGPT conversations to find some random amazing recipe I made a while ago. It made sense to create a central spot to collect/manage all these recipes and to enforce some consistency in structure. Also, this allows me to very easily share recipes with others, instead of having to copy/paste which somehow always screws up the formatting.
It’s also just much nicer to not have to deal with SEO-maxed ad-ridden recipe blogs that for some reason think that I’m interested in the 125 year old history of meemaw’s heirloom tater tot casserole recipe.
I’ve always thought the idea of a digital garden was interesting - it’s a practical way to leave a meaningful mark on the internet as well as a chance to experiment with web development and other new shiny things.
Aside from recipes, I’ll probably add some notes, ideas, or maybe short posts every now and then. I’ve never really been into journaling, and the notes on my phone are not exactly structured or interesting, unless you enjoy reading through bulleted lists of domain names, baby names, travel packing to-do’s, or shopping lists. However, especially with AI generating more and more text for everyone, it seems like a good idea to explicitly practice writing down and clearly structuring my thoughts manually. Hopefully it’ll help me think more clearly down the line as well.
I’m not entirely sure what direction this garden will take, but you’re welcome to look around as it grows. For now, it’s basically just a place where I keep my recipes.