On the block where I grew up, people take their lawns seriously. Not too long after the grass starts taking back its color, people migrate from their living rooms to the front yard laden with visions of perfectly arranged beds and and immaculately mowed turf. The vigor each neighbor brings to his and her work gives me hope that people still yearn to connect with the land, however trite and controlled lawn care may seem.
Yet as the years have passed and the consumerism of the front yard has grown, I find myself increasingly disturbed by how much stuff people buy to for such a small space. If you try to keep up with the Joneses your gardening shed ends up looking like a modern day arms cache with dozens of weapons to fight weeds, contain hedges, regiment grass, and trench beds. Even as I write this I can hear three separate lawn mowers whirring in a half block. Only a few months ago I would find practically the same thing as each household dragged out a personal snowblower to scrape an even smaller piece of ground.
Spending time in my own yard, I won’t deny that many of these tools are incredibly helpful. Of course I could take the greenest option and do away with the grass and put in native no-maintenance plants. But even that will require some tools. I just wish we didn’t all have to buy the same tools. Really, I just want everyone to share.
Pooling garden tools might seem like a novel idea. Historically, sharing has defined community since the times when people first gathered to share in the work and rewards of harvesting crops. The fact that communities persist attests to our ability to share ideas, aspirations and resources.
Though our individualistic consumer culture begs us to make islands of our suburban homes fully equipped with every imaginable convenience, we shouldn’t fall victim to the belief we are actually that independent. Interdependence is a strength fortified by necessity. You can’t help but share things like air and water so why not try and share relatively trivial things like lawnmowers and shovels that only intermittently come out of the garage? Garrett Harding warns us against the tragedy of the commons, but tools held in common under a collective-care agreement stand a better chance at benefiting all than digging our graves.
Talking with my father, I am amazed to hear a story of a neighborhood sharing tools in the 60’s. In one case, he told of a design professor in Eugene, Oregon who organized a neighborhood to buy an empty lot on the block. Using shared tools, everyone on the block designed and built a new house, eventually welcoming in a new family to their industrious community.
One of the biggest successes in tool sharing is the Atlanta Community Toolbank. Started in 1992 by a group of concerned citizens hoping to offer no-cost home repairs for senior citizens, the Toolbank as grown to assisted “more than 53,000 volunteers in 2005, equipping them to serve more than 830 community projects.” By providing local community service projects access to their fully maintained tool library, they allow non-profits to save on overhead costs and spend more time helping the people.
On a smaller scale, citizens have organized sharing programs in cohabitation “villages” and even regular old neighborhoods. In our own hometown of Northfield, Minnesota Joey Robison and Brian Conlan successfully organized a toolbank with nearby residents to cut down on the redundancy of everyone buying the same stuff.
Organizing your own toolbank is as easy as holding a meeting, making a list of tools and trading phone numbers. Starting from the Phinney Neighborhood Association, Seattle’s nationally acclaimed Well Home Program grew to serve the whole city, offering tools and training to low-income people throughout the city. Thus, what begins as a pet project might evolve into the next best thing for your town.
Though starting up the toolshare program is relatively easy, keeping the program running successfully requires some planning. Funding, maintenance, liability, and return enforcement are all issues that will probably arise. In his 2004 article about tool-sharing Joe Nolan offered the following checklist for would be sharers:
- Hold a meeting to find out people’s needs and available resources.,
- Determine the scope of the program; it’s often best to start with simpler hand tools.
- Determine storage—will tools be stored in homes or in a common space?
- Determine how costs will be covered for tool purchases and ongoing maintenance.
- Develop a clear set of lending, repair and tool-return rules.
- Develop a list of “experts” who can share skills.
- Organize a system to track checkout and return of tools.
- Assign responsibility for maintenance and repair.
If you have further questions about tool-sharing, the following links offer some more background and websites of successful toolbank programs.
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Worm composting is a great way to recycle your food waste into the soil, rather than burying its nutrients in a landfill never to be seen again. The red wigglers used in vermicomposting will eat their bodyweight in food scraps each day leaving behind nutrient-rich liquids and worm castings, both of which make great natural fertilizers. Compared to traditional heat composting, this method emits almost no smell because the worms consume the food before it rots. In other words, you can compost inside!
To correctly size your bin measure your total food waste for a week. Allow 1 square foot of floorspace in your bin per pound of food (if you produce seven pounds a week, you need seven square feet, so a 3.5 feet long by 2 feet wide bin is perfect). Whatever length and width, the bin should be 8-12 inches tall.