Billboard In New Jersey That Says Eat the Weeds with a dandelion

I want to spend money on advertising either with a billboard like in the title or to partner with a tiktoker and pay them to advertise foraging for weedy edibles......

please reply if you think its good

This is cool!!! Yeah !!! I do think in the end the solution is simply educational.  If we can switch to land clearing species, and primary forest and learn to use that - this could be freedom, and this could be  ultimate health!!!  

Can we start a crowdfunder? How do i tag Paul Wheaton ?? Idk if it meets his fancy or not

If you decide to go forward with this, give the viewer a place to go to take action. For example, Eat The Weeds by Green Deane. You may need his authorization to use his site on a billboard. I do not know the legal issues involved. The best place to ask for permission would probably be in his forums, located at the above link.

i considered this, but i dont know if thats needed per se necessarily. If people google wild edible plants stuff will come up ykno

i could alternately make a new short website

but i think its more distracting and harder to memorize than the concept itself ?

I would like to see a mock up of what the billboard will look like.  It might also be a good idea to come up with a realistic budget.

here i did something

a good billboard company is Blueline Media

I prefer the billboard be in New Jersey over anywhere random no offense but you probably understand

Remember that im trying to crowdfund for this. I am gonna have more difficulty paying for it myselr. And a billboard is not exorbitant, in my opinion. It costs $5,000 for the minimum deal the billboard company allows, but its for more than one month, and optionally adds an additional billboard depending on whether its a total of 2 months each, or 4 months for only one billboard more or less

If you choose to go ahead with this, when you set up the Kickstarter or other platform, you get to be the one to choose where it is located. Perhaps posting the artwork layout here, with authorization for others to use it in their region. Of course, that assumes that you own the rights to the artwork.

It would be great to have a formula whereby others could copy your steps without having to start researching from scratch.

Hi so can we do this please??? Can we start a crowdfunder for a billboard?

This is a good NJ based billboard company.
https://www.bluelinemedia.com/billboard-advertising


It costs $5,000 for a minimum contract for a billboard for three months or two billboards for one month, more or less

I am unsure if i mentioned that part already

Daphne Széles wrote:

I prefer the billboard be in New Jersey over anywhere random no offense but you probably understand

I think if the billboard were in Florida, Green Deane might be more likely to approve.

Its not a website its literally a call to action......

i have no dot com at the end....

Daphne Széles wrote:Its not a website its literally a call to action......

i have no dot com at the end....

I am puzzled by this.

I think the type of person who most needs to hear this idea would find the billboard to be just an odd non sequitor. There's no product or event being advertised, just an almost meaningless (to them) statement. Without a website or something with a bit more information, I'm not sure the billboard as conceived would accomplish much.

It may also be hard to convince anyone outside new jersey to give you money.

Hopefully I'm totally wrong!

Jan White wrote:

Hopefully I'm totally wrong!

I think you might be totally right.

well id agree with you more if you meant a highway billboard, but there are multilane thruways that are less dangerous and that might leave a stronger impression

Of course youre free to think whatever

Yeah i stand by my proposal

I think this is as fruitful as an orchard

Then I guess it is time for you to read up on the crowdfunding platforms, to discover which one you want to launch your fundraiser on.

Good luck!

but can i post my crowdfunder link here?

I kinda wanted to know what Paul Wheaton himself thought of this idea anyway..... if he thought he could do a piece about it for emails and take on the project


Thanks

I missed your latest post. Over the years I have seen a number of crowdfunding projects on Permies. Maybe someone on staff may chime in soon.

As to Paul... I gather he is pretty busy these days with his own kicktarter fulfilment and the events at Wheaton Labs this summer.

I think it's a great idea in concept and intent, but I think the only people who would understand what "Eat the weeds" means is someone who is already in the know that there are weeds that are edible.

Someone who isn't familiar with foraging could just think "What the heck does that even mean" as they drive by and not give it another thought.

That's just my 2 cents...

Well it will get a conversation going

Its only a google away

I dont know about you, i thought it was a good idea.

but thanks for showing some interest


If anybody knows Paul wheaton id ask him his thoughts on it. He is a permie after all. He might consider it a worthwhile project

Maybe this will help:

https://permies.com/t/contact

I hear that you're really excited about this idea and that's a great thing. I also think that the folks suggesting that you include a website or specific call to action are saying that because they too would like to see more people eating the weeds. I'd bet they want to see your idea succeed and are just trying to offer constructive feedback to help make that more likely. I know I want to see it work and would offer the same suggestion. If it were me and I was asking the community for their support to make my vision a reality, I would want to listen to feedback folks were offering to improve the odds.

I don't presume to know what Paul would think of this, but I do know he's a very, very busy man.  I also know that he believes in trying lots of different things with the assumption that if you try one hundred, probably only a few will work out. And you don't know which ones in advance. I wonder if his attitude might be that it would be better to put smaller amounts of energy (and money) into a diversity of ideas rather than just one? I wonder if in addition to aiming for the billboard, if there are other smaller ways you could work towards your goal of raising awareness and connecting people with the weeds around them? Perhaps before going for the billboard, since that's a big investment and other experiments could give you clues about what might be most effective.

I hope that you manage to pull together all the necessary resources to get more people eating the weeds, whatever that ends up looking like! That's the fun of visions, they almost always change and take us in directions we never expected.

To make a good quality post about crowdfunding for your billboard in NJ, please consider creating a post with a format like this:
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Heather Sharpe said "I wonder if in addition to aiming for the billboard, if there are other smaller ways you could work towards your goal of raising awareness and connecting people with the weeds around them? Perhaps before going for the billboard, since that's a big investment and other experiments could give you clues about what might be most effective.

Heather, this is the best suggestion that I have read so far.  I love this idea, so Daphne, here is what I would do:

Have some bumper sticker printed up first to get the idea rolling in your state or local area.  The bumper stickers would look like what the billboard will look like and include a website where people can make donations.

I haven't priced bumper stickers lately, though I know they are a lot cheaper than a billboard.

Another suggestion would be to contact local folks who are interested in promoting an "Eat the Dandelions" promotion. Have them help to get the bumper sticker on area vehicles.  

To me, it seems to start local, then going statewide is more practical than trying to do a national promotion.

I wish Daphne the best with her campaign!

Anne Miller wrote: Have some bumper sticker printed up first to get the idea rolling in your state or local area.  The bumper stickers would look like what the billboard will look like and include a website where people can make donations.

I haven't priced bumper stickers lately, though I know they are a lot cheaper than a billboard.

Another suggestion would be to contact local folks who are interested in promoting an "Eat the Dandelions" promotion. Have them help to get the bumper sticker on area vehicles.  

To me, it seems to start local, then going statewide is more practical than trying to do a national promotion.

What a great idea, Anne! Small and slow is usually the way to go, I feel. I was gonna suggest flyers with the little tear off strips on bulletin boards, but I like the bumper stickers even better! Maybe the website could also have stuff like a "weed of the week" where it gave information on how to safely identify and prepare an abundant, easy to find weed that was in season (probably would want to choose one that was beginner friendly, with no poisonous look a likes and also not ecologically sensitive)? Events like free weed walks given by an experienced forager/herbalist/botanist would be awesome too! I know such a weed walk was what got me eating the weeds and connecting with the plants around me in a whole different way. Or maybe you could have an event talking about the importance and value of weeds to people and ecosystems and serve food that was all based on local weeds?

Hopefully a website would also include a very prominent piece about honorable harvest and safety. After all, wildlife and soil life need those weeds too! And you definitely don't want people getting sick or worse cause they don't know what they're doing. Eating the weeds is great, but it does require some knowledge and respect that most don't yet possess. I've definitely seen too many people in their excitement either harvest something dangerous or take more than they could possibly use, sometimes without even knowing what it is or how to use it first and with no understanding of the harm to the ecosystem they took it from.  

Another thought I had would be if you could put up little signs near actual weeds growing in public places with foot traffic that give their names, how to positively identify them and their edible uses. Of course, you'd want to get permission from whomever owned the property where they were growing first. And explain on the signs not to harvest those particular weeds so others can learn from them. Probably a sign about honorable harvest and safety in the mix too.

I think a good place to start is to educate people about dandelions. They were intentionally brought to this country as food. I read somewhere they are the 4th most nutritious food on the planet. Good luck with your project!

Eat the Weeds