urbangardenshare.org -- so cool I can hardly stand it!

[lhamo]

I heard a podcast by the founder of this site the other day , and have to share with you all:

http://www.urbangardenshare.org/

It is basically a virtual "dating service" for those looking for garden space and those with space to share. Most of the listings are currently from Seattle, as that is where the founder lives. But there are also listings from elsewhere in the pacific northwest and a few cities further afield (currently Louisville, Atlanta and Boise)

I think this is such a cool idea. On the podcast people were calling in with reports of fruit trees they were offering for gleaning, old canning jars for the taking, etc. And she was talking about eventually expanding the site to include that kind of matchmaking, too.

She also installs and manages edible landscapes for people (company for that is Go Go Green Garden) and has a book out called Urban Pantry -- I had seen it on Amazon and almost ordered it, but after hearing this podcast put it straight in my shopping cart. So glad DH is off to the US for business in a couple of days...

Anyway, just had to share this. She is one of my new favorite people to follow. She seems very open to getting new cities on, so if you want to start this up in your city try contacting her. You can listen to the podcast (which is mostly about the book, actuallY) here:

http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=22239

lhamo

[iris lily]

That's a good idea, matching up gardeners and available land.

25 years ago, when I was single and lived in my first house, I had a garden but it wasn't big enough and I didn't want to dig up more grass. So I advertized in the local newspaper for garden space and I got, right away, a wonderful offer. It was from an elderly woman who grew flowers, had a huge garden, and she was cutting back on what she grew.

[IshbelRobertson]

A British chef called Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has a similar scheme up and running in the UK - it has been quite successful and I'm sure there are clips from his TV series about his Landshare scheme (as it is called). http://www.rivercottage.net/landshare/

HFW (affectionately known to many British as Huge Fearnley Eatsitall, for his propensity to use all bits of animals plus plants) is an inspirational chef. He has recently taken on the amazing crass EU laws regarding commercial fishing quotas www.fishfight.net

[pinkytoe]

sharedearth.com is another similar venture. We also have a neighborhood organization called Patchwork. Their team will install a food garden in your yard if you agree to give 10% of produce to food bank. Also a local nonprofit that teaches low income kids how to grow food on a 3 acre urban plot. They sell their produce at the farmer's market. So many interesting ventures in the food world these days.

[Perplexa]

There's a version of this in Vancouver, BC, as well, though I can't find the website at the moment. Unfortunately, Vancouver is dense enough that there are a lot more apartment/condo dwellers looking for land than homeowners with garden space to share.