The Hippie Vibe Is Back

Image from Gustave Caillebotte's painting, The Gardeners 1875-77

from Garden Tools: Suszanne Slesin, Guillaume Pellerin, Staford Cliff, Daniel Rozensztroch

Helen and Scott Nearing may have started it all, but after hearing Stephen Orr talk about his new book, Tomorrow's Garden, I started researching the garden sharing movement.  Here are some resources and ideas for starting your own garden sharing movement.  Let's green America and share it!

 SANTA MONICA

http://www01.smgov.net/comm_progs/gardens
Not able to devote as much time to your garden as you'd like? Interested in having a vegetable garden but don't have the expertise to grow one? As a Santa Monica home or property owner, you can list your space with the City's new Garden Sharing Registry.

Once registered, you'll be able to choose from a list of avid gardeners in need of space to grow.  Together you and your gardener will structure a sustainable partnership that makes sense to both of you, including schedule, type of gardeing project, how the cost of seeds, supplies, etc. will be handled, if and where gardening supplies can be stored on the property, and the length of commitment.

This site also provides a good model for:

• Home Owners Registry Listing Application & Prospective
• Gardener Registry Listing Application

URBAN GARDENERS

http://www.urbangardenshare.org There is limited green space for food and flowers in this place we call the urban jungle.  Matching homeowners(with garden space) to gardeners (with experience) is the perfect solution for cultivating both food production and community.  Condo and apartment dwellers are faced with containers or p-patches as their only propects for vibrant gardens.  Homeowners can be overwhelmed by yet-another-garden-project. 
Together, we make a great team.

• Create a Garden Profile
• Create a Gardener Profile
• Dig In To The Listings

PORTLAND, OREGON

http://www.yardsharing.org

Anyone! Everyone! Can Share!

That's the very idea...We want to encourage healthy community building and I can think of no better way than growing and sharing food.

SOCIAL NETWORKING FOR GARDEN SHARING

http://www.growfriend.org
Our hybrid of community gardening and social networking is the safe, easy, and fun way for gardeners to find land and for land to become productive.

• How It Works:
• Create A Profile
• Search The Map
• Find A Partner
• Set Up A Garden
• Share & Enjoy

 A YARDSHARING COMMUNITY

http://hyperlocavore.ning.com
Join us to find or start a yard share in your town.
CSAs and community gardens fill up fast. 
Food is expensive! Grow together!
Who we want to see: healthy kids who love the smell of dirt, blocks with foreclosed homes becoming vibrant neighborhoods again, tables full of delicious safe food at costs we can all afford, and neighbors who become real friends...join us -it's free!


http://www.kickstarter.com

To see lots of urban and rural garden projects worthy of support.

"When you share with someone else you always get benefits back. My dear neighbor from childhood was the first to share her garden with me. She allowed me to help her pick peas and beans (of course I got to sample them) with her while she told me stories and just shared her life with me. That experience fueled my own gardening passion as I became a teenager but also the relationship with her gave me an anchor as I went through those teen years."
From James Cascio at openthefuture.com
 

one garden at a time, we change the world.

 

Image from The Imperial War Museum, London

from the Ministry of Food exhibition