team

let’s join hands
across lands
tie our hair
in rubber bands

dig up soil
share our toil
compost
in wheelbarrows
pickaxes, pitchforks,
and shovels.

if these tools had eyes,
they’d stare at each other
asking,
“did I really do that?”

you see,
this tree’s
gonna grow

and we’re
gonna eat its
fruit

together.

-Nicole Strachan participated in Crop Mob for the first time at Ofuskee Farm. She helped plant a pecan tree.

I am forever grateful for the opportunity that I had with Kristin to represent the Crop Mob on NPR. I had every mobber, past, present, and future in mind. I really appreciate all the encouragement and positive feedback.

There are a few words and phrases that were exchanged on our NPR program that make me cringe. In particular, the terms, “farm chores” and “work for free” I never associate with Crop Mob.

Chores are, menial, routine tasks that must be done. They remind me of rules and responsibilities. This can be a bit of a drag. Even people who are not actively farming have chores to do.

At a Crop Mob, we do what we want. We tackle projects, which are on-going and unpredictable and unique to farming. Like the American Heritage Dictionary defines a project as “an undertaking requiring concerted effort,” is how I feel about the type of work accomplished at a Crop Mob. And to see the outcome of one or several more projects get well underway or completed in one day is incredibly uplifting.

After spending a day with the Crop Mob I feel enlightened. This is my church. Sunday is my day off. I have faith in a new generation of farmers.

Let’s get this straight. We do not work for free. It is reciprocal.

These things are what make the Crop Mob a success. This how we make a statement. We do it ourselves without any exchange of money or formal documents. This is how we make it fun. There is next to no pressure at a Crop Mob; no pressure for time, and not for profit. We have goals and objects but, we have also many skilled or able hands, eager minds, and passionate hearts that lead us through them. We bring power in numbers and one farm of like-mindedness receives all the benefit.

And then each Crop Mobber may benefit, too. Either on land of their own, or leave with an increased desire for something, a new idea, and most definitely, in all hopes, a full belly.

“Food should be celebrated.”

Thank you to all who participate.

The State of Things on North Carolina Public Radio WUNC – An interview with Samantha Overmyer and Kristin Henry from Crop Mob.

Last month Crop Mob had a featured story in the Independent Weekly:

On a sweltering Sunday last August, a peaceful mob of 35 local farmers, armed with shovels, hoes and wheelbarrows, raided Serendip Farm in Orange County.

But instead of a traditional raid, which is about taking, this raid was about giving: The Crop Mob, as the group is known, spent five hours cutting down starter crop, tilling beds, weeding and mulching—for free. For the past year, the local Crop Mob, mostly landless, self-proclaimed farmers, has spent one Sunday each month “raiding” a small farm that is not theirs, working the land and planting and harvesting crops.

“We farm because we want to, not because we need to. At some time or another, we were infected with a desire to give and take from the dirt,” writes organizer Trace Ramsey, 35, about the group’s mission on its blog, cropmob.org.

Full article: http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A403979

I can’t believe we’ve been mobbing for a whole year!  In the past year we’ve been to 12 farms and gardens, done over 2000 hrs. of work, found friends, found  jobs, shared meals and made beautiful music.  For our first birthday party we’re going to bring it back to where it all started, Piedmont Biofarm.  For the first mob we had somewhere between 15 and 20 people show up and we harvested 1600 pounds of sweet potatoes.  We’ll be harvesting sweet potatoes again and I can’t wait to see how many we can harvest with a year of experience under our belt.

We’ll also be celebrating with live music (bands TBA), food, and birthday cake!

Here are the details:

Who: Crop Mob and friends!
What: Digging sweet potatoes, live music, eating birthday cake
Where: Piedmont Biofarn @ the piedmont biofuels industrial campus
Why: Cause it’s Crop Mob’s birthday
When: October 25th from 12pm-5pm with music on into the evening

What to bring:
We’ll need digging forks and wheelbarrows don’t forget your gloves

As usual a delicious meal will be provided by the farm

Please RSVP to infoatcropmob.org with the number of people you are bringing (lots) so that we can make sure to have enough food.  Also let us know if you can bring a wheelbarrow.

Crop mobs as agents for good is an introduction to the crop mob which is forming in Raleigh.

BY ANDREA WEIGL – Staff Writer for the Raleigh News & Observer

Published: Wed, Aug. 12, 2009 02:00AM

Contact Steven Horton at steven.p.horton@gmail.com for info on how to join the Raliegh mob! The first mob will be September 13th at Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s farm off Tryon Road.

In Steven’s words:

Date: 2009/7/27
Subject: [cropmob] Crop Mob for the Eastern Triangle

Raleigh is a wonderful place to live, but for the past decade the city has been falling steps behind the Western Triangle in the field of grassroots agriculture. This is why I am taking the initiative to create a Crop Mob for the Eastern Triangle region. A Crop Mob is a group of experienced agrarian volunteers that can go out to a site and do a lot of work in a short amount of time. This can be extremely helpful to a local small farmer trying to make a living on their next harvest or a community that wants to start a garden, but doesn’t know where to start. You can take the time to check out the successes Crop Mob has had in the Western Triangle region at their website: http://cropmob.org. They have been very helpful to a lot of people and are excited about the prospects of other Crop Mobs showing up across the country. Having a Crop Mob in  Raleigh will certainly strengthen the non-commercial agricultural efforts in the Triangle and we may start to see more of the positive changes we’ve wanted to see for years.

I am currently looking for volunteers in the Raleigh area with agricultural experience who would like to help me organize the group. This would include duties such as site prep, recruitment, tool acquiring, outreach, and anything else we can think of. Beginners are very much welcome as well and I encourage you to contact me to see how you can get involved. If all goes well I would like to call our first mob within the next month at the IFFS farm <http://www.foodshuttle.org/garden.html>. So, if you would like to share some good knowledge, good food, good music, and good works… mob my inbox! Please look through your email list and spread the word around Raleigh.

Ciao,

Steven Horton

Those technophiles Sam and Will over at Everlaughter Farm in Hillsborough don’t just send a email out to their myriad fans and customers, they send a weekly podcast. In the podcast that came out shortly after the July Crop Mob they give a report on the crop mob and give a big thanks to all the mobbers who came out.  They also recognized the farmers who have paved the way over the past 25 or 30 years and really built the sustainable ag movement in this region.  For those who were concerned they figured out why their chickens had been eating all of the eggs.

Here’s an article from USA Today about young farmers in the sustainable ag movement.  Trace was interviewed and Crop Mob gets a mention.  It’s a feel good piece that only just barely touches on some of the major issues facing young farmers such as wages and access to land.  As long as sustainable ag is considered a niche industry, rather than an essential piece of our food system, the issues facing young farmers trying to make a go of it will be glossed over.

Dears,

I don’t know how but we have discover your site and your work. This e-mail is only to contact you from the other part of the planet. We are based in the Catalan Pyrenees, in Spain. We just organized the first shepherd’s school that wants to give answer to this real necessity of young people that wants to learn and develop the cattle and agrarian job. Our project is called “Projecte Grípia” and it has a lot of success. Nowadays we have 25 young people from 21 to 34 that are learning directly in the farms of our little county who to be farmers with a sustainable activity.

We would like to keep contact with you. We are organizing in our country our little revolution. The farmer’s job is changing and a lot of people wants take part of it!

Good like with your project.

Get in touch!

Vanesa