Though it’s still pretty chilly out, if you’re a die-hard gardener, you’re likely already making plans for the Spring planting. Starting to browse catalogs for organic seeds? Check. Got last Fall’s leaves ground up for brown material for the compost bin? Check. Dug into the extension service website to figure out when to start seeds and get the first ones in the ground? Yep…
Gardening may be one of the greenest things you can do. It’s also incredibly rewarding to serve food that came from the back yard. But what if you live in an apartment? Or have no yard? Or have physical limitations that make gardening difficult or impossible?
Yard sharing is one solution to these challenges: neighbors and friends share yard space and the harvest. It’s not a new idea — I covered the concept of yard sharing several years ago — but it’s still definitely outside of the mainstream. Liz McClellan wants to change that with her yard-sharing online community Hyperlocavore.com. Dedicated to the premise “Because everyone loves a homegrown tomato,” Hyperlocavore aims to bring people together “to share skills and gardening resources; space, time, strength, tools or skills, in order to grow food as locally as possible, to make neighborhoods resilient, kids healthy and food much cheaper!” Here’s Liz herself explaining the site’s purpose and mission:
Introduction to Yard Sharing and Hyperlocavore.com
Help Hyperlocavore Spread the Word on Garden Sharing
Liz’s site has caught on and grown… and that’s turned out to be a blessing and a curse. Currently hosted on Ning, Liz notes in a funding request at Kickstarter.com that she needs a more flexible platform for the site’s continued growth and development. She’s looking to raise $6200 to fund the upgrades… and she only gets the money if people pledge the entire $6200.
Can you help? I’ll start off by pledging $20… let us know if you plan to contribute.
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/ / CC BY 2.0
Jess @ Openly Balanced
Yes! As a big fan of Hyperlocavore, I want to thank you for helping to get this out there. It is a truly worthwhile cause, and the kind of low-cost, flexible, personal effort that can make a huge difference.
Steve Savage
Jeff,
My grandfather planted a “victory garden” during WW2 and never stopped gardening until he was in his 80s. He supplied his family and neighbors with vegetables for as much of the year as was possible in Denver. I’ve continued in his footsteps and I love spending time in my garden.
All that said, this is not how I or anyone else actually gets fed. Show me the calculations that would say that local production (whether hyper or not) could make a significant difference in terms of the calories or protein that we need (not just us, but the world).
Should people garden if they can? Absolutely! Does this contribute to feeding the world in any meaningful sense? Absolutely not!
michelle
For all you west-coasters, there is a similar site in Seattle – http://www.urbangardenshare.org. Cool stuff.