TAKING A BREAK © Vossphotog... | Dreamstime.com
“You know, the tomato that’s from your garden tastes very different from one that isn’t. And peas – what is it like to eat peas in season? So we want the White House to be a place of education and awareness. And hopefully kids will be interested because there are kids living here.”
- Michelle Obama on the Whitehouse Vegetable Garden
“hyperlocavore.com,” which blends bottom-up collaboration with food production. It’s an example of peer-to-peer agriculture, and it’s a pretty neat concept. The founder of hyperlocavore wrote to me, saying that she thought this was a pretty “worldchanging” idea. I agree. Check ‘em out.”
- Jamais Cascio
openthefuture.com and worldchanging.com
What is a ‘hyperlocavore’?
A hyperlocavore is a person who tries to eat as much food as locally as possible. Growing your own is as local as it gets!
What is ‘yardsharing’?
Yard sharing is an arrangement between people 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!
Why would I want to set up a yardsharing group?
Yard sharing is a way to connect people who love to garden, people who love healthy fresh food and people who have yards! Often people who have yards have little time time for a vegetable garden. And sometimes gardeners have trouble finding soil to garden in because they rent an apartment! Sometimes older people lack stamina and are socially isolated, finding younger people to partner in growing food together works wonderfully for all. There are all kinds of reasons it makes sense.
Yard sharing works for:
- apartment dwellers
- busy parents
- older people
- frugalistas
- foodies
- tree huggers
- cheap bastards
- farmers lacking land
- land holders lacking farmers
- people sick of leaf blowers
- curious kids
- folks with a disability
- people who want to get outside more
- people that want to eat better
- people that want to eat cheaper
- people who want to make their community resilient
- people who like their food super fresh
- people worried about peak oil
- and maybe you! (if you’re not on the list – send me a note!)
Yard sharing cuts down on greenhouse gases by limiting the travel time of fruit and vegetables to your table.
Yard sharing is a great way to connect with your family, friends and neighbors!
Yard sharing helps you eat more veggies!
Yard sharing can be a workable solution for people with physical limitations who want to eat better and more cheaply.
Yard sharing is an excellent way to teach children about food and biology!
Yard sharing is a great way to get cheaper produce to older people on a fixed income!
Yard sharing helps you get enough vitamin D from sunshine!
Yard sharing is a way to avoid pesticides and other chemicals on your food!
Yard sharing is a fun activity to share!
Yard sharing helps to create independent local food systems that are less sensitive to the price of oil.
And nothing tastes as good as food you grew yourself!
Who can yard share?
Anyone! If you don’t see a group for your area just create one! Then send invites to people in your neighborhood, your friends and
their friends and maybe you will find someone willing to start with you!
OK, Sign me up! No! Wait, is it free? Yes? OK, Sign me up!
No thanks, but I do want to take a look.
This post is part of Fight Back Fridays!
hyperlocavore.com is a free social network here to help you form a yard sharing group with people in your neighborhood, a group of friends, a community restaurant and it’s neighbors, members of your family, faith communities or new friends made on hyperlocavore.
How to Start A Produce Exchange in Your Neighborhood – Share Your Extra Fruits and Vegetables!
Filed under: DIY Projects, farm nerds, frugal living, gardening, healthy food, healthy kids, healthy neighborhoods, localize, slow food, the hyperlocavore movement | Tagged: climatechange, community, DIY, frugal living, gardening, hyperlocavore, locavore, seeds, slowfood, transitiontowns, yard sharing, yardsharing
This looks like so much fun! I LOVE this idea- especially with the elderly persons who may benefit from it
I will be looking into this in my city!
very cool, i share as much of the veggie my garden produces that I can eat
I actually dont know anyone in my neighborhood and have only seen one garden in the whole thing so maybe I will send something out to the homes association on this!
Great post, really interesting, useful stuff. I’m looking into a backyard farm for this summer, but think yardsharing is a great way to grow and eat local food. Thanks!
Excellent! I am happy that the idea is starting to get traction! Happy Digging!
Glad you like the idea! We are set up to accomodate you whereever you are!
I love the concept of yardsharing. We started a backyard garden last year and had more than enough so we shared with neighbors, and they did as well.
This year, we’re tripling our garden in size (& hopefully in bounty!) and sharing with hungry families in our area. Our food bank has a wonderful program that allows this to happen. Here’s more on it: http://twurl.nl/6ghl61
Growing your own is a great experience for the entire family and I feel good knowing where our food came from and it’s entire history.
Wonderful! I would love it if you posted images and tell us how it’s going at hyperlocavore.com – would you do that? People need to see what’s possible!
Very inspiring! I know we’re on the right track! My next goal is to get Martha Stewart to cover us. Martha are you out there? I know you tweet!
[...] Yard sharing is all about being grateful for what you have, not anxious about what you don’t. It’s about responding practically to chaos, to the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns. Never in all my life did I think I would quote Donald Rumsfeld but, there you are. These are strange days, indeed! [...]
[...] Yard sharing is all about being grateful for what you have, not anxious about what you don’t. It’s about responding practically to chaos, to the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns. Never in all my life did I think I would quote Donald Rumsfeld but, there you are. These are strange days, indeed! [...]
[...] Yard sharing is all about being grateful for what you have, not anxious about what you don’t. It’s about responding practically to chaos, to the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns. Never in all my life did I think I would quote Donald Rumsfeld but, there you are. These are strange days, indeed! [...]
[...] Yard sharing is all about being grateful for what you have, not anxious about what you don’t. It’s about responding practically to chaos, to the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns. Never in all my life did I think I would quote Donald Rumsfeld but, there you are. These are strange days, indeed! [...]
[...] via What is yardsharing? « Hyperlocavore. [...]
[...] it. My name is Liz McLellan. I am, among other things the maker of hyperlocavore.com a free yard sharing community. I am also a very engaged citizen, a cultural creative, a social entrepreneur, a [...]
[...] Recent Comments hyperlocavore on DIY Project – Low Watt L…The Twitter FAQ on @… on 100 Reasons to Become a H…The Twitter FAQ on @… on What is a distributed suburban…The Twitter FAQ on @… on On Choosing – A Hyperloc…The Twitter FAQ on @… on What is yardsharing? [...]
Great idea! Jon and I knew we were locavores, but I guess we are hyperlocavores, too! We buy meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and produce locally and grow produce, too. It all must be sustainable, too. Yard sharing makes a lot of sense. Gets neighbors together, too!
[...] http://hyperlocavore.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/what-is-yardsharing/ [...]
[...] Whether its due to the recession, or to the fact that so many Americans are waking up to the fact that our food system is, well, screwed beyond belief, the fact is that this year saw an explosion in community gardening, yardsharing and urban farming. This is a great development that has real impact. The power of people growing, maintaining, harvesting and eventually cooking and eating produce that they themselves raised is incalculable. Gardening and yard sharing are not new ideas obviously, but the impact these ideas are having on the culture at large is exploding. In “What is Yardsharing?” Hyperlocavore Liz McClellan defines yardsharing as such: [...]