Our Mission: Organically feed the world, one person, at a time.
Our Problem: Ensure that people are not going hungry when there is organic food going to waste.
Our Plan: Phone App for connecting heirloom gardeners, free to pick geo-tagging, and farmers markets
This app will have three main functions: Connect local gardeners, mobile mapping of farmers’ markets, and mobile mapping of “free to pick” locations.
This app has been a dream of mine for years, and with a little help I think we can bring it to life.
1: Connect local gardeners with those wanting fresh produce:
With the growth of heirloom gardening and the increase in the number of people who grow food in the backyard, there exists an opportunity to create a network of people who wish to easily share or exchange their homegrown resources. The proposed mobile application will create a connection between those who grow gardens and wish to trade, purchase, or give away food they have grown, extra plants, equipment, seeds, etc. The application will be a mobile version of a “farmer’s market/barter fair” where gardeners within local communities can post information about what they are offering or are desiring.
Have extra tomato plants and want access to apples? Make a connection.
Have extra rhubarb and want to sell or give away the excess instead of it going bad? Make a connection.
Are you a parent that wants garden-grown foods but do not have the time to grow your own? Make a connection.
2. Mobile mapping of farmers’ markets and organic stores with a simple rating/review system.
With the growth of organic produce and produce stores how do we know which ones are worth a visit. We want to help you find the places and products that have the best price and quality. We will connect you to stores that define organic in the same way you do.
Moved to a new town, or just visiting, let us help you find the local farmers’ markets which are often on set days and out of the way places. Check out rankings and discuss the benefits of each place for shopping and offerings.
3. Mobile mapping of “free to pick” locations.
Map out apple trees in a bank parking lot, or your favorite berry picking spot.
With so much food growing for free in our world shouldn’t knowledge of it be free as well? We believe it should, and through our mobile app, we will provide, at your fingertips, free mapping and sharing of all the places you can find food to harvest. The more you tag the better our database. Databases like this are already being created, and we will help them to grow while connecting you to them on your mobile device.
There is a growing trend for taking on the task of growing our own food in a sustainable and healthy way. With this app, the community of healthy food growers and consumers can finally connect and share in one another’s harvest.
Like any social network application, the wide-spread distribution of the application will be critical to Our Orchard’s success. Because the products being offered on the site will likely be perishable there will be an effort to begin distribution in focused locales where there is a strong presence of local gardeners. Without you, our greatest resource, we cannot succeed.
If you would like to help please use the contact page here, follow me on Twitter, and/or check out our language creation help request.
Also feel free to donate through my PayPal, clearly mark such donations our orchard app.
Remember that my all blog posts are put on my Patreon a week to a month before the blog.
Our Orchard 