The following is a guest post from Helena, co-founder of Ripe Near Me...
Here's something that doesn't make sense: right at this moment there is an orange or lemon tree within walking distance of you, overloaded with fruit that will end up in the rubbish heap. So why do we go to the supermarket and pay 5, 6, 7 or 8 dollars per kilo for oranges and lemons that might be imported from interstate or overseas?
We started RipeNearMe to put homegrown and backyard produce back on kitchen tables. The site allows anyone to post fruit or veg on a map for others to find, swap or buy. You can search by location, subscribe to your favourite foods, and befriend those who're growing it. Best of all you'll get a notification each time your subscribed foods are marked as ripe and ready to pick.
The site is still a baby, but we've been excited to see the idea spread to some 26 countries at last count. It's proven what we suspected; people want better food choices. I would rather pluck my tomatoes off the plant than a supermarket shelf, and I'd prefer to meet the chickens who laid my eggs.
RipeNearMe is crowdfunding to help raise the site's profile, dramatically increase the produce on the map, and create tools that encourage everyone to become part of the food system.
If successful (we need to hit our $25,000 tipping point by tomorrow) we plan to develop
- Seed, seedling and cutting sharing.- Compost, green waste, coffee grounds, and garden worms (etc) sharing
- User-groups, so communities can form, collaborate and create events
- Partnerships with food banks and charities to allow user-groups to donate excess produce in bulk to those in need.
- Reminders, expiries and other tools to improve listing accuracy and user to user response rates.
Rewards on offer for supporting the campaign include The Formidable Vegetable Sound System's 12 track album, a celebrity dinner with Costa Georgiadis of the ABC's Gardening Australia, and you can even have your photo on RipeNearMe's homepage for 6 months!
So, why not go ultra-local? Not only do fresh eggs, berries, and greens taste better than the bland imposters on supermarket shelves, but you're saving emissions from food transportation, and there's a good chance the neighbours aren't dousing their gardens in industrial-strength pesticides. Post your produce to share, search for foods growing ripe near you, and please consider donating to our crowdfunding campaign . Together we can make a difference.
