Yard Shares. Dates! And Fresh Produce.
May 26, 2010

Two social networking sites—Hyperlocavore and Shared Earth—have launched in hopes of helping perfect strangers find each other. Whether you’ve got gardening experience, a useable backyard, or even just available elbow grease—both projects aim to assist individuals find other local lonely gardeners in a quest for the perfect summer heirloom tomato, and move towards greater self-reliant sustainability.

As WorldChanging notes of Shared Earth, the network seems like “a free service in the Craigslist mold with a dash of online dating.”

Yet both sites are as practical as they are social. In an interview posted to TreeHugger, Shared Earth creator Adam Dell stated, “I think it scales all the way up to ‘I’m gonna be a farmer,’ and all the way down to ‘I have a fire escape on my building in New York, I’m growing some food and I can use some help.’”

Differences between both networks exist—but not many. Shared Earth connects those who have space to share, and those who want to help develop it. Hyperlocavore attempts to expand this service into a larger hub—of informational videos, gardening stories and blogs, book recommendations and shared Twitter updates.

You might not find a date, but it seems you can still find love—in the organic produce of a portion of someone else’s yard.

Photo Credit: Josie B. / Creative Commons

Tags: social networking, urban gardening