Sunday, August 30, 2015
Seedling Fundraiser Sat 26 September
Hi all... the seedling fundraiser will be held in the Springwood town square on the Saturday 26th September! Our aim is to tell more locals about the Swap and get them growing more food in our Blue Mountains backyards!
We want to give away 1000 seedlings so we need passionate swappers to grow some seedlings for the fundraiser and/or come along on the day and get chatting to our lovely locals.
drop us a line at cropandswap.bluemountains@gmail.com, or give us a shout out on facebook! cheers to those who have already pledged some seedlings!
Monday, February 2, 2015
Monday, January 26, 2015
Monday, September 29, 2014
SEASON 4 IS HERE!
Season 4 begins October 11, 10am Faulconbridge Community Hall.
We are looking forward to seeing everyone again, and welcoming lots of new swappers too!
If you haven't come to the swap before, all you need to bring is something home grown or home made. Don't be shy. Its loads of fun, and there's plenty of friendly swappers to help you on your first swapping adventure!
You can follow us on facebook for regular updates and events throughout the season.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Season 3!
Crop & Swapping 'shopping' list:
chillies tomatoes coriander sourdough beetroot eggs cards worm wee garlic butter sweet potatoes pesto ice-cream jam ricotta crab apples tamarillos cakes ginger beer slices grapefruit rocket herbs flowers garlic basil lavender pumpkins pikelets apple cider cape gooseberries cordial silver beet shallots yoghurt lemons beans radish rhubarb lavosh muffins strawberries cucumbers banana bread aloe-vera coffee parsley celery sweet corn dragon fruit rosemary blackberries apples pickles relish baskets sprouts nasturtiums tomato sauce capsicum seedlings bread quiche lemon verbena plums bay leaves muesli cookies celery lemon grass mushrooms lavender champagne sorbet lemon butter honey camembert hummus photography chocolate cake macadamia nuts oranges broad beans potatoes yakon lettuce carrots chokos tea keffir grains mung beans
Season 3 has proved the Crop & Swap has amazing variety, quality produce, from neighbour to neighbour and better still no money changes hands! There are two swaps left for the season. Be there or beetroot ;)
Thursday, October 10, 2013
At 2100 hours Charlie Crop & Swap Squadron were deployed at a Drop Zone in your local area.
The Heirloom tomato new recruits are on a mission, to be adopted by local residents, to be dug in, ready for action and to thrive in their new location.
There are 50 new recruits now MIA and we are enlisting you to assist them to report in.
Enlisted to support the Charlie Crop & Swap recall mission is a local nursery that is currently in possession of 2 gift vouchers, potentially for you. The first is for the best all rounder Charlie Squadron New Recruit story (to be drawn Saturday 9th Nov at 1100 hours), the second is a lucky dip number draw, for anyone who reports their new recruits details to head quarters (to be drawn Sat 9th Nov at 1100 hours).
If you are in possession of a squadron recruit please offer it your water canteen, they will be thirsty. Also your recruit will be donning biodegradable fatigues (you can just plant it straight in the ground)but don't forget to record its dog tag identification number beforehand.
Signing out,
"Juliet, Juliet, Alpha and Sierra"
at The Crop & Swap Headquarters.
cropandswap.bluemountains@gmail.com
crop & swap (facebook)
in person - Faulconbridge Community Hall, 10am Saturday 12th Oct.
NB the squadron's last photo taken prior to deployment...
It is suspected that they will attempt to disguise themselves with
undercover identities, particularly flirtatious, young, female heirlooms.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Howdy Swappers,
Three years ago we did a letterbox drop to our closest neighbours, we'd had an idea to turn a grassy nature strip outside our house into a community orchard, and we wanted them to be a part of it. We invited them to come one Saturday morning with " a shovel, a fruit tree, some manure or just a whole heap of enthusiasm", and come they did! That day our neighbourhood united and together we planted citrus, stone fruit, pomegranate and avocado. It has become our community orchard, where baskets of fruit are left every few days for whoever needs a lemon or a grapefruit, where Marg from around the corner occasionally potters with her secateurs and some mulch and where, in the not too distant future, our community will reap the rewards of a huge variety of communal fruit... so now is where you come in...is there a space in your local neighbourhood for a community orchard? a patch or a verge where you can foresee lemon, orange and fig trees? If so, let the Crop & Swap community know and we can help with your planting day. Our hope is that swappers will lend a hand, a shovel, a fruit tree or a bag of manure to a fellow swapper starting a community orchard. Our aim this season is to start 3 more community orchards/gardens in the Blue Mountains.
Imagine a Blue Mountains where community orchards in lane-ways are the norm. If you'd like to volunteer your services, let us know below or on facebook how you can help ,
with neighbourly cheer,
the Crop & Swap team.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Protecting your fruit trees from pests
Ben Silverstone
We've all had moments of jealousy when luscious fruit appears at Crop & Swap, and we wish we could bring the same but the pests get it first. Well Ben has given us some tips on how we can be 'that guy' or 'that girl' smugly rocking up. Just think of Mike and Sue with their luscious plums or Eduardo's flavour packed strawberries - well that could be you!
Ben's top 10 tips on how to build an exclusion to protect your fruit
- Use exclusion just after fruit has formed
- Reuse old polystyrene boxes from the fruit and veg shop
- Cut large holes in box or poke holes in box for air and to allow light in and water to drain out
- Use fly screen or better still use stockings and seal the large holes you have cut and seal the top opening of the box
- Cut a line down one end of the box
- Slightly open box along this line (do this carefully so as not the break the box) and slide branch into box. The polystyrene will close around the branch and hold (may have to pack some leaves in the slight opening along the line)
- Close stocking over top of box and seal (use velcro, rivet nails etc). The exclusion will allow light and air in and keep out pests including fruit fly
- Using old wire coat hangers and stockings also works well for some fruit trees
- Many exclusions need to be adapted to the type of fruit tree
- Ask me at next Crop & Swap if you have any questions!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Apple Box 3 - composting with black soldier fly
Black soldierfly have a rather short and desperate adult life, with the sole purpose of finding a mate, a pile of rotting compost, and a good pick up line before dropping dead.
BSF larvae eat just about any kitchen scraps including meat and dairy, as well as the usual fruit and vegetable leftovers, and can be cultivated in much the same way as composting worms, to break down food waste. A BSF composting unit can be easily built from materials found at your local hardware, and once a colony has been established they can consume food waste much faster than worms. The larve themselves make a fantastic feed for chickens and even fish. BSF larvae are high in both protein and calcium, which is perfect for chooks. they are non invasive and do not enter houses or spread disease like other flies.
Our black soldierfly composter
| Our Black Soldier fly composter |
Here is how it works. Food scraps go inside and the female BSF are attracted by the scraps. They fly in through the pipe at the top and down into the bin where they lay their eggs (in the hundreds). They like to lay their eggs in crevasses, so some sheets of corrugated cardboard attached to the inside make great maternity wards. the eggs hatch and the larvae fall on the food scraps, and get to work munching it up.
to begin a colony, start with a small amount of vegetable scraps. As they begin to break down, the adult fly's will naturally be attracted and enter the composter to lay their eggs. this can take some weeks, so be patient. BSF are most active during spring and summer, which after the best times to begin a colony.
| the larvae crawl up the pipes and into Jo's Tupperware container... thanks darling...sorry |
Keep the composter in the shade, out of direct sunlight.
| the larvae hard at work on one of our defiant choko's and watermelon rind |
Make your own
there are a number of DIY designs on the net. we made ours using a clip lock tub, some PVC pipe parts, , some hessian and fly screen, a saw and a drill. The key is to angle the pipes at 35 degrees so that it is not too steep for them to climb.include some ventilation holes and cover with fly screen, and some drainage holes in the bottom, which you can cover with hessian. It takes less than half a leisurely hour to put together and cost us about $40 or you could buy one of the fancy ones online for about $200.
the main benefits are:
1. a very efficient method of waste disposal
2. meat and dairy waste can be added to established colonies, unlike regular composting methods, reducing your waste output.
3. the larvae make an excellent source of food for poultry and fish, and can be frozen for later use.
4. they don't spread disease like other flies, and rarely enter the home.
5. they emit a natural repellent to other flies once the colony has been established.
Downsides:
The smell can be an issue if you add more waste than they can consume. Sawdust or coffee can help here too.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Apple Box 2 - Irrigation
Thursday, November 8, 2012
November Crop & Swap This Saturday!
Thursday, October 25, 2012
APPLE BOX SERIES: Let Chickens Be Chickens - How to raise happy chooks
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The first of many apple box talks
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| (Left) Our speakers chickens coop, (Right) Four happy chooks in the run |
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| (Left) The first coop (decommissioned), (right) free-range chook |
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| (Left) Room with a view, (right) wormwood planted next to coop - see the tips below |
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| Chalet chook |
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Season 2 swap starts next weekend!
Don't forget, registration begins at 10am, and swapping starts 10:30 sharp. For those of you who are new, bring anything home grown or home made. the more you bring the more you have to swap. get creative in the kitchen and bake some goodies, or pull up some carrots and beets from the veggie patch, or even have a go at making some craft goods. So long as its home grown, home made and good quality, you will have a great time swapping with other growers, bakers and makers in your local community.
See you on Saturday Otcober 13! what are you bringing to swap?
Friday, September 7, 2012
Something new for Season 2
The aim is that at each Crop & Swap this season locals will have the chance to talk for 5 mins about their niche...
If you would like to step up and be the first on the apple box, send us an email at cropandswap.bluemountains@gmail.com outlining what you would like to share with your community...c'mon now, don't be shy.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
WARMING UP FOR SEASON 2
Sunday, April 15, 2012
This morning the kids are sitting down to some porridge and yoghurt topped with Grant's Tamarillos...they love them! So does Joe, he just declared he is 'in love withe tamarillos' and plans to have several trees producing fruit by this time next year.
Joe and I are about to sit down to Peter and Amber's beautiful bagels, topped with ham and cheese....ummm, yum!
Steve organised a really fantastic slideshow of the Crop & Swap, season 1, so for any of our regulars who weren't able to be there yesterday we will post it over the next few days.
The Finale lunch was proof of what the Crop & Swap is all about. Set up outdoors under the shade of the trees was a marvelous spread made by the swappers including a giant, Atlantic pumpkin as the table center-piece, filled with delicious pumpkin soup, a giant pumpkin cake, pizza, salad, dips, sorbet, tarts, foccacia, chocolates, slices and more, everyone shared a neighbourly lunch and chatted away into the early afternoon.
Over season 1, 115 locals registered as swappers, there were close to 2000 swaps made between individuals and over 1000 kgs of locally grown and homemade foods and items, travelled home to local kitchens and gardens and most importantly countless new friendships amoungst neighbours have been formed.
Sounds like a pretty successful first season.
Thanks so much to everyone who took part. The April edition of 'The Share Barrow' newsletter will be sent out soon and we look forward to keeping up with everyone via the blog and face book.
Until Season 2,
with neighbourly cheer,
Jo, Joe, Steve and Annemaree
Friday, April 6, 2012
Season finale lunch
When: Sat 14th April @ 12, immediately following our final swap of the season
Where: Faulconbridge Community Hall
Who: Everyone is welcome
What to bring: Finger food platter to share and drinks
There'll be a couple of surprises for adults and children - so be sure to join us to celebrate season # 1.
Monday, March 5, 2012
The March Crop & Swap is this Saturday, the second last for the season!
happy Autumn :)... we are really looking forward to seeing you at Crop & Swap this Saturday if you can make it, it sounds as though there is going to be some wonderful home grown and home made items there this month. We will be sending out the 4th issue of the Crop & Swap newsletter by Thursday evening, so if for some reason you don't receive one, be sure to shoot us an email and let us know and we will check your details on the emailing list. There will also be some paper copies available on the registration table on Saturday. If any Crop & Swappers have anything they would like to advertise in the 'Share Barrow', feel free to send us email between now and Wednesday morning,
So happy growing, harvesting, making or baking,
til this Saturday,
Steve, Annemaree, Joe and Jo
Monday, February 6, 2012
Crop & Swap Culinary Challenge
We hope everyone has had a great summer holidays and your crops have survived the downpours and occasional bursts of heat!
After last Crop & Swap, Amber & Peter mentioned they try to use all the things they receive from the swap in dinner that night. So that got us thinking…..it’s time for our inaugural ‘Crop & Swap Culinary Challenge’.
So much of the fun in what we do, is in enjoying what we receive while it’s fresh and hearing all the stories
So here’s how the challenge will work:
1. Come along to Crop & Swap this Saturday 11 Feb, and swap ‘till you drop
2. Whatever goods you walk away with, use as much as possible in dinner that night
3. Share your stories - email stories & photo’s to cropandswap.bluemountains@gmail.com or upload as a comment to this blog post
4. We’ll then collect all the stories and publish them in the share barrow (Crop & Swap newsletter) which will be out again in March.
And no Saturday night dinner will be complete without Melanie & Alexander’s rhubarb champagne. Get your aprons ready…The challenge is on!
We’ll look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday.
With neighbourly cheer,
Steve, Annemaree, Jo & Joe
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Next Swap this Saturday!
this month we will be sporting a few purple carrots, a boot load of cucumbers and fingers crossed, there may even be a few tomatoes and blackberries if this warm weather holds up. Jo is baking some loaves as well.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Jo and Joe
















