Kickstarter: Sponsor Farm, Food Trucks, and More

NYC's Cool New Backyard Farms: Growing More Than Just Produce from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.

Kickstarter has an ingenious take on micro-finance: people post projects that they’re trying to get off the ground, from cookbooks to documentaries, and set a financial target. It’s the voyeur’s way of participating in start-ups, and the poor man’s way to be a patron of the arts. My favorite projects, unsurprisingly, have a food bent. I’ve seen everything from a pedal-powered butter churn to an upstart Boston food mag, and there are plenty more to check out. Right now, I’m excited for BK Farmyards, an urban farming organization that is raising money to start a one-acre farm on the High School for Public Service in Crown Heights Brooklyn. The best thing about Kickstarter is that it inspires creative “rewards” for pledge-givers; BK Farmyards is asking folks to throw dinner parties that benefit their cause…and they’ll throw in the cocktails. Not a bad deal! For more worthy causes around the country—including a Portland Thai food cart and an urban farming project in San Francisco, check out the Web site.