Farmers, want-to-be farmers and anyone willing to pitch in at local farms are forming “mobs” to help farmers.

These mobs are helping with tasks such as mulching, planting, moving dirt, inoculating mushroom logs, creating low-tech water distribution systems and so on. In the old-time spirit of “barn raisings,” tasks that could take months for a typical farmer working alone can be completed in a day or less with crop mobs.  

The idea was presented Zev Friedman of Living Systems Design of Asheville in a recent two-day, “Hands-on Forest Farming” workshop in Sylva at Vegenui Farm, owned by Cathy and Ron Arps. This workshop was sponsored by Mountain BizWorks, Southwestern Community College Small Business Center and Vegenui Farms.

The 15 participants in the workshop were put to work for hands-on experience in sustainable agriculture techniques and were amazed at the volume of work accomplished. They were inspired to form an online network to facilitate future crop mobs.

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