100 Reasons

First a definition, a hyperlocavore tries to eat as much food as close to home as possible, in order to reduce the food miles that his or her food travels, to lower their food costs, to get more exercise in the garden or to strengthen their community. It is an extension of the term locavore. A locavore typically tries to eat seasonally within 100 miles of her home, to reduce food miles and to develop the local economic base. A hyperlocavore therefore wants to bring food even closer, and what’s closer than your neighborhood? We have a time crunch, we have peak everything, we have land and property that is losing value fast, we have kids who don’t know where their food comes from, and we have a climate crisis.

Hyperlocavore.com, a social network, is here to help facilitate yard sharing. Yard sharing and group growing is new. It’s different from a community garden – but the site can be used to create and manage one. A yard share might be an arrangement between an elderly couple and a young one to grow more food cheaply for both. Or friends who live in an apartment and a friend in the burbs join together to save money and food miles. Perhaps a faith community adds their yards together to grow fresh food for their struggling neighbors or people living in a shelter.

This is a list of the reasons I think group gardens and yard sharing is an idea whose time has come. The links hide some people, websites and imagery that have inspired me to build hyperlocavore.com. Have fun exploring. Every reason is not meant to appeal to everyone. See if just one make sense to you! Then join us to explore the possibilities. The site is free, and you do not need to commit to anything to participate. It’s new to most of us. It’s up to you what makes sense for you and yours. We just hope to inspire and facilitate. If you agree with more than two of these, you just may be a hyperlocavore!

(A note: I’m a North American, citizen of the U.S., so this certainly reflects some of my perspectives and biases. Please contact me if I’ve got something really wrong, I’m happy to discuss any concerns!)

Happy Growing!

1. You want to taste those real tomatoes you’ve heard so much about.
   
2. You want to decrease your reliance on fossil fuels.
3. You want to teach your kids where food comes from.
4. You want the smell of soil in your nose.
5. You want to pick your salad from your porch.
6. You want your neighborhood to have positive street life.
7. You want to be less isolated.
8. You want to build food security into your life.
9. You want to get more sun!
10. You want to develop some upper arm strength.
11. You want a hotter bootie!
12. You want to help that nice old man down the block. He works too hard!
13. You want your neighborhoods to have cheap access to healing herbs!
14. You want to be a farmer but you have no farm.
15. You want your high cholesterol to go down!
16. You miss the family farm.
17. You especially miss the rooster on the family farm.
18. You want to lead and not to follow!
19. You want to be more independent.
20. You want to show em how it’s done!
21. You want to walk out the door and eat mangoes!
22. You want your children to be sustainably self sufficient.
23. You want your children to eat their veggies.
24. You want to involve your family in a group activity.
25. You can’t live without fresh organic veg, and it seems to be getting too expensive!
26. You want to do something with your friends besides drink beer.
27. You’ve never been able to find that Hatch chili from where you grew up.
28. You want to shorten the distance from farm to plate.
29. You have a brown thumb and want to know what that’s all about.
30. You have a yard that is full of weeds.
31. You want to reduce the chemical load on your body.
32. You think the lawn is a sign of all that is wrong with America.
33. You hate mowing.
34. You know that cute chic down the block is a big freakin’ hippy but you wanna get to know her betta anyway.
35. You know that dude down the block is a big freakin’ hippy but you wanna get to know him betta anyway.
36. You took Obama’s call to service to heart.
37. No one sees your gardening triumphs.
38. You want to lessen your ecological footprint.
39. You look around and you see your neighborhood dying, and you want to do something.
40. You have been blessed and you want to express gratitude.
41. You remember what the neighborhood was like when people talked.
    
42. You need to pay it forward.
    
43. You need something to do besides what you been doing.
    
44. You want your food to taste as good as Gordon Ramsey’s.
45. You don’t have a farmers’ market near you.
    
46. You can’t get into the local CSA – It filled up fast!
47. You work too many hours and need some help in your garden.
48. You have physical limitations, and a garden and could use some help.
49. You are a former hedge fund manager with a lot of time on your hands now.
    
50. Your kids need to get moving.
51. You really need a new set of friends.
    
52. You know it’s the end of the world as we know it, and you want to feel fine.
    
53. You want to quit talking the talk and start walking the walk.
54. You want to simplify your life.
55. You find no joy in fragging any more.
    
56. You are an exceedingly cheap bastard, and want to save even more cash.
    
57. You are sick of living on Top Ramen.
    
58. Yes we can!
59. Si, se puede!
    
60. Chop wood, carry water.
    
61. You’ve been saving seeds, but have no place to plant them.
    
62. You want to surprise your hard working single mom with regular homegrown fruit and vegetables.
    
63. You are unutterably bored, filled with ennui, and about to jump.
    
64. Om, nom, nom, nom.
    
65. You want to live more like the rest of the world.
    
66. You want the suburban wasteland to become juicier.
    
67. You can’t afford the gas to get to the market, and your veggie ride isn’t road ready yet.
    
68. The bodega in your neighborhood doesn’t carry anything but candy, cigarettes, and booze.
    
69. Guerilla gardening just isn’t giving you the thrill it used to…sigh.
70. The force is strong with you, little one.
    
71. You are actually serious about this “reliance on foreign oil” thing you keep going on about.
    
72. Better jam.
    
73. Better pie.
    
74. Better chutney.
75. Fresh eggs! Like still chicken butt warm fresh.
    
76. You really need to step away from the computer.
    
77. You actually do have a vitamin D deficiency from lack of sunshine.
    
78. You’re afraid of the veg your freegan roommate brings home.
79. You’ve never actually tasted a fresh vegetable, ditto fruit.
    
80. You decided you didn’t like vegetables when you were 6, you stuck to your guns but you’re a big girl/boy now.
    
81. You are down with the peak oil hypothesis, and want to stop freaking the f$ck out.
    
82. You want to find like minded people and be useful.
    
83. You’ve got a hankerin’ fer something really dirty.
    
84. Your grandmother, who has been dead for 8 years keeps coming back to you in dreams – She reminds you there is an elephant in the root cellar. You want to sleep more soundly.
    
85. You really, really like potlucks.
    
86. You want to grow enough extra to donate to the homeless shelter.
    
87. You take the very long view.
    
88. Your houseplants are telling you to get out and make new friends.
    
89. You’ll be damned if your gonna spend five dollars for a sack of potatoes !
    
90. You think that you are surrounded by ugliness, and you’re right.
91. You will simply die if you don’t have a St. Germaine cocktail and the godforsaken town you live in has no reputable supplier of elderflower liqueur. You are therefore, desperate enough to make your own.
    
92. You walk softly but carry a giant gourd.
93. You have a lot of stuff, but you feel empty.
94. Your country has been embargoed by the rest of the world and you are hungry.
95. You want to live the good life, not that one! This one!
96. You want to make it easier to cook at home.
97. You really want to slow down but don’t know how.
98. You want to see this, not this when you go outside.
99. The spirit of true community has filled your heart and you want to fill your days differently.
    
100. One word – zucchini.

Join us at hyperlocavore and find or start a yard sharing group in your neighborhood. You don’t have to have a yard to share or a green thumb – This is a learning community.

* OK I admit there are a few repeats. I said the same thing a few different ways… Use the comment to add your own!

This post is part of the Fight Back Fridays Carnival.

100 Reasons to Become a Hyperlocavore by Liz McLellan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at hyperlocavore.wordpress.com.
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