Green Wizard Marketplace - Need Input on Rules

David Trammel's picture

One of the joys of looking over old posts as you move them is seeing the ideas that people had. One such caught my eye tonight.

"I have an AWESOME commercial-grade metal-to-metal pressure canner that Im getting pretty good with, but i dont use it as often as I'd like to because it's massive - 44 quarts - and its pretty rare that i have enough of anything to can for just my husband and i to make it worth firing up. I'd love to offer it up as a shared/sharable capital resource that could see a lot more use than it currently does, but that's not likely to be of much interest to anyone who lives more than a couple of hours driving distance from my house. Also, my husband manages an organic local-grains bakery that's currently hiring and he'd love to employ GW sorts, but again - for anyone more than 40 minutes from Waldoboro, Maine its just clutter. Maybe something to consider on the upcoming re-vamp of the site."

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I'm considering putting a "Green Wizard Marketplace" in the Community section of the new forums and would appreciate some input from everyone here.

First, is this a good idea?

Second, what kind of rules would we want?

Obviously, we don't want drive by posts by people who aren't members trying to sell their products. I'm inclined to make it just trade or give it away but some things are expensive, even though we don't need them anymore.

Thoughts, comments, opinions and ideas? 

Sweet Tatorman's picture

You may wish to accommodate seeking/in search of type listings. I think folks are like me in the regard of having stuff we would happily send to a good home but might not think to list. If you do decide to permit "For Sale" listings, it probably would be wise to moderate listings from newly joined members if the forum software permits you to do so.

David Trammel's picture

Yes, for sale listings from people who just have joined is not something I'd like to see. Most of the time its just drive by spam.

I could see something like a 3 or 4 month probation period from the time you sign up, where you can't post items for sale until that is over. That should cut down on people just signing up to sale stuff.

I probably will also insist that people reply to an email, so I know I can get a hold of people.

I definately will take this subject slow. I want to see the daily visits and weekly posts go up first.

What with city libraries going “e-gonzo”, county libraries losing funding, university libraries on the verge of becoming financially shrunken heads, book warehouses losing roofs and widespread public apathy about the act of book-reading….does anyone have an end-of-life plan to get one’s privately held collection of treasured books into the hands of people downstream in Time who love books and have the wherewithal to preserve them? Or is everybody just trusting to chance and high winds of change to do their best of times, worst of times stunt and devil take hindmost?

David Trammel's picture

Yes, I'm sure we all have grabbed a book or two at a garage sale, that once you read through it, either you already have a similar title or it doesn't cover what you thought it did, BUT its still a fascinating book you don't want to just throw away.

One of my big projects for between now and the 6 years to my retirement is to go through all of my garden books and repurpose the information in the entries for each plant, into the Plant Grimoire. I think that will be the second book we get published, after the Green Wizardry Workbook.

I've got a ton of skill based books, including the 16 volume "Popular Mechanics Encyclopedia" from the 60s that I'd like to see compiled as well into a Green Wizard style book.

I haven't talked to John yet, but I'm sure if we compile and write books that compliment his original Green Wizardry book, we can get his publisher to do them too. We all belive that eventually the Internet will price itself out of the day to day/always accessible that it is today, and that we will end up going back to print and perhaps even "letters" (what are those?).

With the new site, this year starts that effort.

David Trammel's picture

That's a good question. I don't think I have anyone to accept my books, unless the internet and e-books go away, in which case I think my son would want at least some of them. Some of my garden books are awfully specialized, such as a mid 1940's and a 1960's book on chrysanthemums, which I picked up specifically because the info is hard to find and the market horticulture of them has become so limited, so Home Depot-ized. So maybe I'd never find a taker for that. And some, such as Forest Farm nursery catalogs are storehouses of info, but I do not know anyone whose interests are that specific.

I, too, would like to see "In search of" posts. I have a weekly opportunity to buy secondhand books, and sometimes see garden books that I would love to pick-up for a beginner, but that I either already have or which I have "outgrown". Today, for example, I saw Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, and Your Window Greenhouse. These books are from a store that someone on the Archdruid Report comments once said throws away books, despite telling the public that they do not.

Of course, local sales, trades, and gifts would be preferable, but once in a while I wouldn't mind mailing something.

David Trammel's picture

I really like that idea, a "In Search of ..." style post. Great idea, we'll definately do that.

Blueberry's picture

How about something like pass it on or pay it forward, gift ? No selling maybe just the cost of shipping.

David Trammel's picture

I've moved the posts from the old forum about Seed Sharing to this forum. That seems like a good way to start, since seeds are free and the cost to ship them is very small (a stamp and envelope).