Local Food Everywhere

www.ooooby.org went live last night!

This is the story of the first Ooooby food box - being installed in Auckland, NZ. This is about connecting growers and eaters in a community in the most efficient manner.

It's about the growing and intersecting communities of interest using the readily available technology and readily available resources, to organise. With a focus on the small, intensive, local growers who use the most natural soil regenerating methods, the Ooooby Box is facilitating the distribution of healthy food for local consumption.

Ooooby, by its very name, "Out of our own back yards", is about stepping towards relocalisation, reducing energy use and connecting people, through a social business and an online social network focused on local food distribution.

Grey Lynn was a natural choice, being the site of the Ooooby stall at the Grey Lynn farmers market, after some of the most focused inspired effort that I have been a part of. If the energy behind this project is any indication of its potential to go viral, then stand back.

This humble initiative is connecting people around the idea of -- local food everywhere. It has been an amazing journey already, and I can't shake the deep feeling of the massive scale with which this idea could get taken up.

Some backstory

• The team for this box project, began with these three people, that swelled quickly to about a dozen.
• This distribution system is built around a converted shipping container, functioning as a sorting hub.
• Food is sourced locally with a backup of supply, hand picked from growers supplying one of the big city markets.
• The first boxes, delivered to the doorstep, will be fruit and vegetables. Other 'boxes' will follow.
• Everything about this is easily replicated. The website is built on Wordpress, an easy to use blogging software that hosts over 30% of the world's web content. The idea is being shared, in the style of open-source - free to use design.
• Profits from this social business will go to the business, and then the community in which it operates.
• Here's a short video describing Ooooby early days in pictures and some video from the last three months.

Ooooby at Grey Lynn Farmer's Market

Early unveiling of the box

Early days of planning