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Ripe Near Me is a web-based app which shows people the location of fresh, home grown or naturally growing food. The website highlights the location of fruit, vegetables or herbs which are growing in a local area and allows everyday people to sell, swap or give away their homegrown produce.

Why?

Ripe Near Me was established to encourage and enable people to source food from their local area. It taps into the tradition of growing food or foraging for food close to home, and is designed to reduce the carbon footprint created by the storage, refrigeration and transportation of food in the modern era.

The site also aims to increase the amount of food that is grown sustainably, and to utilise more public and private space, even the humble balcony, for growing fresh food. Members can also source a greater variety of food, and expand their palette, and eat food that is in season.

Eating food grown at home or in the immediate local area was commonplace until not so long ago. Ripe Near Me plans to revive that tradition for the good of the planet. Micro farms are also provided with a platform to make their operations profitable while improving the health of people around them.

Is it free?

Membership yes, food…sometimes.

Registration for the website is free, and once registered members can find food and give it away, sell it or swap it.

Each member chooses whether they give away, swap or sell their food. Members will often give away excess food. They swap this for an item that a neighbour has in excess and thus save food from rotting or ending up in the bin. Sure, you can put excess food in your worm farm or compost, but it’s always better to eat it – after all that’s why food is grown. If you can’t eat it, the next best option is to give it to someone who can.

Ripe Near Me also alerts people to food that is growing naturally in public spaces. Remember the old choko tree that most Aussies used to have, or still have, growing in their backyard? The tree that sprouts from nowhere, in unsuitable soil, with no care or attention, and produces consistent fruit…that’s one example of a naturally growing food that might be posted on the site. And before you deride the humble choko, try adding it to a dish. Sure it has no taste, but it’s filling, and if you prepare a tasty sauce you can negate the choko’s inherent blandness.

Why not just go to the supermarket?

Supermarket shopping is convenient. You can buy everything you need at once, and the shopping is done. However, shopping for fruit and vegetables at major supermarkets, and even some local fruit shops, is problematic.

Chemicals

Fruit and vegetables sold at major supermarkets are almost never organic. Heavy chemicals are used to grow and preserve the food. It won’t kill you, but it’s not as healthy- for you or the planet.

Waste

Major supermarkets create enormous amounts of waste. They still demand that the majority of their produce conforms to standards of size, shape and colour, and this forces farmers to throw out perfectly good food just because it doesn’t look nice. This creates waste, because the enormous quantity of food that is rejected makes it near impossible to compost. It also creates financial strain for the farmers, because they earn nothing for the ‘ugly’ fruit.

Some supermarkets are selling a small amount of ‘ugly’ fruit, but still insist on putting ‘pretty’ fruit on the shelves. Ugly or pretty, it all tastes the same.

Furthermore, major supermarkets source their food out of season and from many different locations, and are forced to store, refrigerate and transport all produce, at great cost to the planet.

Is it safe?

Yes. Members post reviews of people who are giving away, swapping or selling food, and you can browse these reviews before obtaining the food. Also, the system normally allows you to meet the grower in person and see their garden. You can ask them about their farming techniques and ascertain whether the food is healthy or organic, as well as exchanging ideas. You see more of the growing process through Ripe Near Me than you do when shopping at a supermarket. After all, at a supermarket you know the apples come from Batlow, but from which orchard? How are they grown and harvested? Plus, do you know what happened to the fruit from the time it was picked to the time it ended up on the shelf?

How does it work?

Everyone’s produce is posted on the website’s map. You type in your local area and are shown what is available in your neighbourhood or region. It’s basically online foraging.

Growing or Ripe?

Red and green symbols next to the food explain whether it is ripe or still growing. Members can subscribe to any produce listing by clicking on a button, and collect the item if it’s ripe. If it’s still growing, they’ll be sent a notification when it’s ready.

Does size matter?

No. Any food item can be listed. From one tomato to a garden bed full of silverbeet, it can all be listed on the site, even that tiny amount of herbs you have growing on your window sill.

Is it like a food swap?

Yes. It is an online service which helps to set up a food swap. It is different because it allows people to swap food at any time, rather than waiting for the designated time and day of the local food swap. It is advantageous in the current reality, where the pandemic has restricted the number of social gatherings that can take place. It also allows people to swap their food before it goes off. Food swaps share a similar philosophy to Ripe Near Me, and stop food from becoming waste.

If you do go to a food swap, avoid the mistake that I once made. I arrived at the food swap on the designated day, only to find one other person there. It was the final weekend of school holidays so locals were either on holidays or getting their kids ready for the new school term. The other attendee had seeds which I didn’t need, and I was offering silverbeet – a tonne of silverbeet. She didn’t want my silverbeet, so I walked around town on a Sunday afternoon trying to give away a massive bouquet of silverbeet wrapped in a towel. I felt like a wedding planner or a blushing bride.

The founders of Ripe Near Me, Alistair and Helena Martin from Adelaide, South Australia, envisage an urban landscape overflowing with food for all. They aim to incentivise people to grow food sustainably and to distribute that food locally, as well as encouraging people to pick food off a plant, not a shelf.

For more information or to sign up, go to http://www.ripenear.me