Torn between…. (PowerHouseCreatives Contest)

I am privileged to be part of a number of communities on Steemit. Before I get going, I must say that I am not nearly as active on the platform as I’d like to be. I could quite happily spend all my waking, ahem, working day on the platform, trawling for interesting posts, engaging with their authors and writing my own. Alas, I can’t do that because I have a relatively demanding offline life and, as many of you know, writing long posts and meaningful comments on thought-provoking posts takes time. So for me, it’s a bit of an all or not enough situation.

This brings me to what is that I am torn between…and unlike Mary Macgregor, I’m not feeling like a fool

That Poll

In the last six or so weeks, @theycallmedan has run two polls in which members of Steemit could vote for the community they felt could best benefit from delegations of substantial amounts of Steem. In both instances, and like with political campaigns, there were two stages to the vote: a nomination phase followed by a vote. Continuing with the political campaign analogy, one could have only one vote.

Call me old fashioned, but my choices are often based on ethics and loyalty. In this case a third factor came into play: a longstanding (pre-Steemit) friendship. I did, however, feel conflicted as there are two other communities in which I participate from time to time and which could also have benefited significantly from either of those delegations. Both were nominated for the second poll. This was the source of my conflict and the rationale behind my participating in this contest.

Two things important to me are: the extent to which the underdog is undervalued (ha! I hear you say - that’s why s/he’s the underdog….) and the other is our planet. I was fortunate to have a Geography teacher who, more than 40 years ago, was warning of the dangers of global warming (then known more commonly as the greenhouse effect) and extolling the virtues of recycling. I also grew up in a household where kitchen vegetable waste was was always composted. When I left home, it did not feel right hurling vegetable peelings into the refuse. It still doesn't. We compost. Whether it’s my salmon nature or my Scottishness, I’m not sure, but if I could live comfortably (and without the huge capital outlay) off the grid, I would.

So other than the Power House Creatives, the two communities that are close to my heart, are the Global Homesteaders Collective (@ghsc) and Pay It Forward Curation (@pifc). What connects all three is their ethics and commitment to helping and supporting others. In other ways they could not be more different.

Global Homesteaders Collective

The Global Homesteaders Collective's mission is global and they operate both on the blockchain and off, and have plans for elsewhere on the interweb; that said most members have their feet firmly on the ground on their homesteads or gardens and kitchens in the case of us wannabes. The discussion in their Discord is about real life issues confronting members on a mission to lead a self-reliant life. I have happened in when there have been long and detailed discussions about how to deal with anything from an errant bovine (really!) or a poorly duck, to projects that will use discarded pallets. Not because it’s fashionable (as it is in South Africa) but because it’s inexpensive and practical.

They look out for their members by finding support and raising funds for folk who fall on hard times. When it’s busy in a homesteader’s lifecycle, like spring or harvest, it’s quiet in the Discord channel.

Where did it begin?

I gather that unlike some Steem communities, GHSC began over a real life coffee conversation between husband and wife team, @freedompoint and @freedomtowrite and @steemcafe; this post sets out their vision. I do know that there is discussion about both a website and a token, but things haven’t reached a point where things are available for “public consumption”.

Among their work on Steemit, is a series about featured members. Where possible, this is a weekly event and the selected member is also rewarded with

a 75% payout, along with upvoting their posts 100% for that week

Imagine my surprise when Stacie (@freedomtowrite) nominated me? I cannot claim, by a long shot, to be a homesteader. You can read the interview here. It was fun and made me think about a few things.

I so enjoy my occasional visits there and always come away with a feeling of genuine care and that folk were happy that I popped in. Oh, and @nateonsteemit, I hope that piggy toe is feeling better?

Finally, a mention of Power House Creatives who are also members of GHSC include @simplymike, @goldendawne, @thekittygirl, @bluemist and others I’ve probably missed because our timezones don’t jive.

Zord said we could have one entry and that we should share the love. He didn’t restrict us to one community, so in that spirit, the second community in which I really would like to be much more active:

Pay It Forward

Most of us in PHC remember our early days on Steemit and how we struggled to get going. Many of us were knocked hard by both the crypto crash and then Hardfork20, but we have hung around because of the engagement and the people. While there are curation initiatives that focus on quality, what @pifc does, is in some ways very similar to PHC: it is concerned with quality and it focuses on plankton, redfish and minnows, helping them to swim in the sometimes very murky, rough Steemit currents.

I am privileged to have been twice nominated by members of PIFC. First by @reonlouw. At the time I was so new to the blockchain and how it worked, that the implications and the profundity of the selection were lost on me. Belatedly, @reonlouw, thank you for that. The second time I was selected was by @viking-ventures who also happens to be a member of @ghscollective and was, for a time, member of PHC, but withdrew because of other commitments. I have spent a little time in their discord. Their work and their mission really resonate for me.

What or who is behind PIFC?

Aptly, the person behind @pifc is @thedarkhorse who came Steemit as an investor curious

to see whether STEEM was a coin to invest in.

After lurking for a while I started making some posts and building a few relationships. As a few people started coming to my posts and some relationships were built I was hooked. It was the engagement from others that hooked me.

That sounds so familiar, doesn’t it?

He took it a step further because he wanted to give back, so The Dark Horse ran what he believed would be a short-lived contest; it snowballed.

Serendipitously, he has recently penned a post about how this initiative evolved here and how it has grown and here.

PHC members will not be surprised to see that our own @lynncoyle1 was also one of the brains behind that beginning; another PHC who contributes significantly to this initiative is @bengy, as does @viking-ventures (no wonder she finds PHC’s rules onerous...she’s working hard elsewhere andon the blockchain!).

Thanks to @thedarkhorse and @freedompoint who answered my questions and provided the links that have been invaluable to my cobbling together these brief introductions. I hope they provide some insights into two communities that work hard to enrich the lives of Steemians - and beyond.

Should this entry win, or receive an honourable mention, that income will be shared equally between these two communities.

There it is - until next time Fiona The Sandbag House McGregor, South Africa

Photo: Selma

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