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Why we need a solidarity economy now |
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this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2025
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I'm planning to set up a farm (farmette is probably more accurate given the size we are looking for), and one of the things I was thinking about was sharing food.
I plan on lining the edges with some dwarf apple trees (for easy reach), some berry bushes, etc, as well as a spot for a "farm stand". I put it in quotes because no one would be there, no prices set, just grab if you need and give if you can sort of thing. And probably a little library, though I don't have much in the way of paper books anymore.
One thing I was trying to figure out is how to let people know its there. Are there "solidarity economy" maps on osm, or sites where people say they have something set up? Thats not the sort of places we wouldn't recommend obviously, like Facebook.
If anyone knows of something like that, let me know!
It's naturally local, neighbors will see and gossip. No need to do anything other than sign. Also walk up to them and share something and tell. Putting stuff on the internet will not be nearly as effective.
There really isn't much reason not to do both, but I will say that word of mouth only works well if people pass by it enough. Saw that with my little library at my old home, which was off the beaten path, vs one that backed up to a well walked/biked trail, both in the same (really small) town.
Distance also matters a lot. I know where a bunch of little free libraries (no trademark) are in my community, but I don't visit them because they're too far away - I can check out books from Libby, I'm not going to take a bus ride for free books 😆
So advertising something like a free farm stand has diminishing returns, because you're going to reach a lot of people for whom the stuff at the stand isn't worth the time and effort to get to even if it's free.
Which is to say, instead of creating a farm stand and then trying to advertise it, one might want to figure out what the people in walking distance want in a farm stand first. Then you set up an email chain or something similar and let the locals know what's ripe when.
Yeah this isnt that kind of town, and nothing is "far away". I'm down the street from a shipping warehouse, multiple farms, and medical buildings.
There is a lot around, but if its not on the major roads, you don't know unless you know, which is what I'm pointing out is an issue. Same went for the last town, you could walk to my home from the trail in less than 5 minutes. More of an awareness issue than anything else.
And, as I said - there is zero reason not to do both.
I'm honestly not against using Facebook to actually do some good if you already have an account - there's something to be said for using the places people where people are already hanging out. But if you don't have one, it's definitely not worth making one.
Freecycle has local sites for different locations, there might be one for your community. And Buy Nothing has been trying to move off Facebook (to an app, unfortunately - I don't like apps) so that might also be an option. Both host the right kind of community for this kind of project.
One other thing I've had some luck with is just putting up paper flyers. I try to look for the places where people already congregate or where lots of staples and thumbtacks indicate that other folks felt it was a good spot for flyers.