Thanks to our friends at Homegrown Evolution for posting this:

Cultivating Sustainable Communities (CSC) is launching an innovative new project. GardenSwap is an opportunity to pair up urban gardeners with their neighbors who have yard space in order to grow and share in the produce profits of urban food gardens. CSC is currently taking preliminary requests for participation in this program.

How does it work?

GardenSwap is a program that pairs up people who want to garden with people who have gardening space. In urban neighborhoods, some people have yards, and some people don’t, so why not pair up those who have garden space with people who will actually use that space to grow food? In the process, everyone involved can share in the produce “profits”, get to know each other, and learn something new!

CSC is a Los Angeles-based organization - perhaps we could set up local groups here on HOMEGROWN.org where people can garden swap…

Organic Farm on Rickey Creek
· 200 Acres: Pasture & Timber
· 40+ Acres near level, tillable fields/pastures (10 irrigated, 30 dry land)
· 2 Acre garden (w/6 foot deer fence)
· 5 bedroom farmhouse on creek
· Water rights from creeks and springs for irrigation and house
· Old barn/shop
· 5 miles South of Kettle Falls, WA
· Views of Lake Roosevelt (1 mile away)
· Elevation: 1600 - 2000 feet

Potential Uses: Vegetables, Hay, Dairy, Livestock, Pasture, Berries, Timber. Management Potential Structures: Contract Farming/Profit Share, Lease Agreement w/Sustainable Ag stipulations. Lease to Own Vision: Profitable & sustainable agriculture emphasizing community, permaculture, and the environment.

More information on The Greenhorns blog. Go forth and grow!

In light of the financial mess that the world is in right now, and reflecting on what Willie Nelson said on Saturday at the Farm Aid 2008 launch, we are looking to solutions:

“agriculture is the backbone of our economy…if the bottom rung of the economic ladder is agriculture, and it falls in, everything else falls down”

Some folks in Tennessee are holding a Financial Permaculture conference using the small rural town of Hohenwald, TN as a prototype.

Join community investment experts, permaculture designers and sustainability entrepreneurs for this dynamic gathering and integrative educational experience of Greening an American Community. Learn valuable tools and skills in real life scenarios to address the economic and environmental challenges of 21st century America. In this real-time Green Business Development Summit we will explore creating forward looking sustainable businesses, money cycling, local investments, and optimizing the local natural and human resources to implement models of regenerative business and local sustainability.

Click for more info about financial permaculture and the conference.