The Local Lifestyle
Your guide to living locally, reducing your impact while increasing your quality of life.
The Basics...
As the world grows, and our population nears 7 billion, we must rethink our lifestyles to suit. Localizing our mindset is the future of sustainability, economic prosperity, and healthy habits. Making an everyday effort to be mindful of your impact on your immediate surroundings is how we can collectively change the world, because now the burden is on each of us to do our part to help. Globalism is an unavoidable fact of life, and it serves to the benefit of us all, and will continue to be the future, no matter any attempt to avoid or protest it. This does not mean that globalism is the only future. We can look to reducing our impact and increasing our contribution through small actions, informed and considerate choices, and wise planning every day. Not only does our personal contribution to our communities contribute to sustainability, it contributes to our sense of person and belonging. Green yourself through simple actions every day, and make the extra efforts to plan according to your good intentions. The local lifestyle is one that reflects your personal contributions to better the world immediately surrounding you, making the personal and collective effort to ensure that the places we occupy are clean, sustainable, and perhaps most importantly, places we love to live. No small action towards making the place around you that much of a better place is in vain, especially if more and more people decide to do the same, and to adopt a local lifestyle that benefits our neighbors, our city, and ultimately our world. Let this be a mission statement, and let this site be a place of both information and inspiration.
“A happy and healthy community is not a fairytale. All you need is a seed.”
— NADIA Shabazz, FOUNDER
Shabazz had to extend the garden to her front lawn but even then, it wasn’t enough to feed all who wanted to be involved. With neighbors January Blum and Lucas Dupont, Shabazz found a large vacant lot on Main Street and secured it as a farming cooperative. Word about Project Sprout spread throughout Kent County, so the team was invited to help start other community gardens.
Our Mission
Kent County is one of the most severely underserved communities in Tennessee. To combat this adversity, Project Sprout seeks to nourish our neighbors at the most fundamental level with healthy food options and a strong support network. All members get a portion of each harvest and surpluses are donated to low-income families whose work schedules prevent them from volunteering.
60%
of families bibendum eleifend
30%
interdum mauris egestas non
10%
Maecenas a ultricies elit
With ten gardens and counting, Project Sprout has seen a significant improvement in mental and physical health for all participating community members. Other than lowering obesity, blood pressure, and depression rates, the crime rate has also fallen. Our children are doing better in school, reporting higher grades and aspirations, and better job prospects.
Get Involved
If you live near one of our gardens, get involved to receive portions of each harvest. We accept volunteers regardless of skill level. There is a rotation in roles, but we’ll teach you all the skills you need to know. Teenagers 14 years and older can earn community service credits for school in addition to getting produce for their families. Donations are also vital to our growth, as we use them for seed, fertilizer, tools, and outreach.