About 1000Radishes

1000radishes exists to establish a connection between people and local farms. We want to make that connection a useful, natural part of everyday life; just like connections between people and farms a century ago.  

For the consumer, that connection starts with practical information about what’s in season, where to find it, and what to do with it. The heart of 1000radishes is a community, online, where consumers feel a relationship with local farms. Information about the farms is freely shared between the farmer and the consumer, and between consumers themselves. What is shared?  
    • Favorite produce
    • Favorite farms
    • Favorite recipes…
These are all the over-the-back-fence topics that neighbors have always shared with each other face to face. That interaction slowed in recent years amidst increasingly frenetic lifestyles and the fact that there were fewer small farms. Now, there are more farms, more consumers interested in those farms, and a crying need to figure out how to connect them. That’s the purpose of the     1000radishes community!

1000radishes will start in the Boston area, where there is great interest and support for local farms already. Ultimately, Massachusetts could be a model for the rest of the country.

The personal connection between a consumer and a farm raises the value of the produce from those farms. By extension, that connection might also raise questions about the cheap produce of unknowable origin.

The App
The 1000radishes “app” enables users to easily find the closest small farm, find what is in season at that farm, and decide what to do with those ingredients. In 2010 in Massachusetts, we see this network as already having a beneficial effect on local farms. They will find an increasing market for what they produce, and a customer base willing to pay what that produce is worth. Consumers will delight in the fresh flavors that make goods shipped from overseas pale in comparison (sometimes literally). Instead of being overwhelmed by an abundance of zucchini, or a thousand radishes, those same consumers will see endless opportunity for fun in the kitchen, inspired by the farms and people of the 1000radishes community.