Start an Urban Land Army

An Urban Land Army can be a real-life, on-the-ground group of friends and family that work on projects like converting your lawns to vegetable gardens, organizing a community tool share, hosting a Bucket Brigade event, or throwing an applesauce-making party. So, your army could include your mom, your next door neighbor, work colleague, or anyone else you consider to be “up for the job.”

You could also start a virtual Urban Land Army that does all of its work on the Wide Wide World o’ Web. Just imagine talking rooftop wind turbines or the gentle art of compost with people in London, Sao Paulo, or Saskatoon, Saskatchewan! Neato.

To get started, sign up to the Urban Land Army Action Room (otherwise known as a social networking site), and then once you’re in, follow the simple instructions for setting up a page for your Army, and then invite your members and get to work! You can post messages to each other, share photos of your project, post events, add links, maps…

While you’re there you can always stop by the Discussion board to find out what other armies are up to.

A Troop Movement map shows you where Urban Land Army members live. This is a cosmopolitan group, people.

Go it alone

Let’s face it, group work isn’t for everyone. But as a free agent, you can create or join a fancy online Land Army. Or, you can just do your own thing in your own yard and check out what other people are doing in theirs. There will be loads of good information on gardening and olden days skills popping up as people work on their projects.

(If you do find yourself craving real-life compatriots, you can always join an Urban Land Army in your city or start your own from scratch. Yes, you can be the squad leader.)