The term “mob” has historically carried an almost exclusively negative connotation, suggesting rowdy crowds, angry vigilantes or violent criminals. Richmond’s latest mob, however, is quite the opposite: a group dedicated to the communal good, dealing in seeds and soil, rather than angst and aggression.
This spring, the newly formed Richmond Crop Mob arranged its first mass gathering, descending upon the William Byrd Community House’s (WBCH) new farmlet to haul piles upon piles of wood chips and compost from a back alley to the future home of the farm’s raised beds.
“[William Byrd farmlet volunteer coordinator] Marlene [Sehen] said this would have taken them weeks,” said Crop Mob participant and co-founder Ashley Hawkins. “But we were able to knock it out in a few hours.”
The Richmond Crop Mob was started by a group of Virginia Commonwealth University graduates, including Hawkins, for a class called “Leadership and Change in a Network Society,” in which they were tasked with using networking to create an entirely new community to address a local issue. The students decided to take on sustainable food, with the goal of creating a community of green-thumbed volunteers to assist the multitude of urban farming and gardening projects popping up around town.
“There are a ton of new groups involved in sustainable food and agriculture,” explained Hawkins, a student in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. “People are doing really great things, they’re very active, they’re very knowledgeable. The one call was for an organized force of volunteer labor [that could be organized] in a systematic and user-friendly way. That’s where the crop mob model was brought up to us by Patty Parks.”
Parks, who is overseeing the farmlet at the William Byrd Community House, a non-profit social service agency, had recently read an article in the New York Times about the original Crop Mob, which started in North Carolina’s Research Triangle. The group relies on word-of-mouth and web communication to organize monthly events in which a mass of would-be farmers descend upon one property and accomplish several days’ work in a matter of hours.
“It uses social media tools to build up a loosely affiliated organization of potential volunteers so that when there’s an opportunity to do work on a farm or in a garden, you can contact them easily and have a volunteer workforce show up and get a lot of work done,” explained co-founder Kate Redding.
“Especially for local farmers who may not have a lot of resources, having a big workforce show up, just for a day, can make a big difference.”
Redding and her classmates established Richmond Ground Up as a holding site for organizations and citizens who want to use social media to address concerns or publicize events, then launched the Richmond Crop Mob as their first initiative. With a Facebook group, a Twitter account and an email distribution list, as well as paper fliers and word-of-mouth communication with local organizations with a vested interest in the group’s mission, the Crop Mob set their stake in the virtual landscape, announcing their first event, which would take place less than a month after the group’s formation.
About 17 people showed up for the first event in March and more than 20 for the one that followed in April. During the two four-hour days, the volunteers moved wood chips and compost, spread mulch, dug holes, set up a trellis and built several compost bins and raised beds.
“They really are the ones who helped us get the farmlet going and off the ground,” said Parks, who intends to use the farmlet to feed and educate the WBCH community. “It takes a lot of time and energy and hands to do this. We just needed lots of hands, and they provided them.”
Afterward, the group enjoyed a communal meal provided by the Crop Mob leaders.
“We were anticipating people coming out to learn about gardening, but most people were there because it seemed like a great way to spend the day, to be outside, get your hands dirty,” said Hawkins. “It’s a pretty rewarding experience. Your efforts pay off in front of your eyes.”
Now that the graduate course is winding down, the Crop Mob founders are hoping to pass the baton to a local community organization, though most of them plan to stay involved with the group. As growing season continues to rev up, there undoubtedly will be community gardens in need of some extra weeders and planters.
“As long as the desire is there, there’s planting season every year and work to be done,” said Hawkins.
“It’s about community ownership. You can congregate for an afternoon, share an experience, make connections, learn about farming and take part in the community in a hands-on fashion.”
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