Like a good ol’ fashioned barn raising, a Crop Mob is a community of workers coming together for the benefit of one. Primarily young, landless, wannabe farmers come together at a farm that needs help with the big stuff: harvest, planting, tilling, processing, crating, etc…and does the work as a group. It started in 2008 in North Carolina when 19 volunteers showed up to pick sweet potatoes–not for pay and certainly not for glory, but for the great spirit of being of service and sharing get-your-hands-dirty-and-go-to-bed-exhausted work. There tends to be music, and a shared communal meal when crop mobs come together for a farmer’s work (there are crop mob groups now throughout the United States). It is a great antidote to overly-mechanized agriculture, and a winning facet of back-to-the-land movements.
The website has a handy map so you can find a crop mob near you, details about time and meetup spots, and go get some dirt under your fingernails helping someone else do their chores—just because you can. No big experience required, just a desire to connect the way we used to. More information on getting involved is here, including a guide to start your own mob near you.
Change by Doing 