We built a plant database and an open marketplace for homesteading folks

TL;DR (too long don't read)
Permies + free time = Permapeople.org

Use Permapeople to...
Research, grow, harvest, trade/share surplus, share knowledge, repeat.

How it started

At the end of 2019, I lost my job. I started working on a new project — a little app to help me track all the plants in the garden — so I could learn a new programming framework. I got to work and put together a little prototype - but then I got some work, and everything fell by the wayside. Several months later - I'm cruising "Recent Topics" on Permies, when I came across a post from Ben: "Would you be interested in a plant database/planner/tool focused on permaculture?". This was the exact project I had in mind. Ben had already done a ton of research, and had a solid plan in motion. Long story short, we connected, put our heads together and tinkered around - and 5 months later we've got Permapeople!

The project

We've built a plant database. But not just any database — a database that focuses on the *value* of plants; their intrinsic value within a guild, garden, ecosystem, environment. We're also building a shed full of useful tools — like custom plant lists, an open marketplace and garden design tools — that work directly with the database.

We started the database with an import from Plants For A Future. While PFAF is a loaded database full of quality information, and great for searching for specific plants - there are certain things that it just can't do. To improve our offering, we'r working through the PFAF data and displaying what we find most relevant - sprinkling in some Wikipedia information and images, and best of all - allowing contributors like you to edit or add data.

So far, we have over 8500 plants indexed, and you can create and manage lists of plants, or contribute plant information. One of the biggest differentiators for us is that we're collaborative — like Wikipedia, but for the utility of plants. Anyone can add a missing plant - and update or edit data to improve quality.

Our goal here is that everyone's input maximizes the value for every other participant in this ecosystem.

Soon enough, you'll be able to design your garden or landscape using the plants in the database and easily share your experiences with other plant slingers. Permapeople can help guide you down a path to becoming a more knowledgeable gardener.

We've also built a marketplace for regenerative and sustainable items. You can list products, which are discoverable by location, set a monetary or trade value, add images, and set conditions (available for pick-up, will ship, delivery). When a customer is interested, they send you a message. It's simple, but we like to consider it an *appropriate technology*.

The future

While there are other free plant databases out there, they're just not as active or adaptable as we need them to be, and they lack a marketplace and planning tools.

Over the past month or so, we've been doing extensive research, working to fill those gaps and design the best possible path forward for Permapeople.

There is a bright future for both the database and the open marketplace, and some new planning and design tools are coming soon. We will continue to improve this project to the best of our abilities - but we could use your help.

The ask

The database and marketplace are totally free - and will remain free forever. All we ask is that if you try it and find it useful, please add/update one little piece of information on a plant, sign up, or share permapeople.org with a friend! If you have your own database (spreadsheet or otherwise) — or any feedback on the project at all, we'd love to hear about it!

Our mission is to assist people in growing a productive future.

Thank you
We want to thank a number of you who we consulted and answered some of our questions! You've been invaluable in our process so far!

Impressive!

Thanks Judson! We’re working hard to build it to suit the needs of Permies (likes us), so let me know if you get any use out of it!

This is great! I have begun my lists.

Thank you, Joylynn. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Hey Team,

Just wanted to follow up with an update. Since we launched last months, we've managed to get a ton of support from the permaculture and backyard gardening community.

We've got almost 100 different types of seeds in the open marketplace already - the vast majority of them available for swaps or trades.

In case you're looking for a unique variety, or have some seeds of your own to sell/swap, check out the marketplace at permapeople!

We've also made some major updates to the plant database, and plant discovery is a lot easier and more powerful!

I joined up and posted some plants and seeds for sale. Thanks for another excellent platform!

Glad to hear it Derrick! Thanks for letting us know. Please don't hesitate to pass along any feedback that might make things easier for you. We're actively developing the platform and pushing updates almost daily.

Haven't ran into anything that was hard to figure out or use. Seems good to me.

We improved our lists feature. So now you can group plants in a list with your own group names and add notes to any list entry. See how it works here: https://imgur.com/a/Yoak65F