The very first crop & swap

What a privilege to be at yesterdays inaugural 'crop and swap'.

C - crowds came, about 85 we think (plus another C - Camembert. Melanie has promised it next month!)

R - Rosyln, Phillip & family win the prize for most chooks

O - Original. So much creativity in what people bought along

P - Presentation of goods supplied: The moment Miriam set her goods up in cute jars, baskets with straw and flowers, we suddenly felt inadequate :-)

&

Slug - crawled out of my salad at lunch. The salad was delicious we must say (and definitely fresh!) Thanks Mitti, Alice and Nadia.

W - wonderful generosity. There was such a good spirit, and the the free barrow was appreciated by all

A - Amber's Apple & Pear tart - yum

P - Please, please more mulberries George next time, they were hot property

Thank you everyone for feeding the community....literally.

Crop & Swap bags.

To kick off our very first Crop & Swap we have screen printed (by hand) some 'fair trade' hessian bags. The bags will be on sale for $15 on Saturday and all proceeds will go towards covering the ongoing costs of hall hire and public liability insurance.
Two sleeps to go, see you Saturday.
A, S, J & J

Okay so how does this swapping thing actually work?

Never been to a swap before and starting to have some pre match nerves? Fear not, this has been happening for millions of years. Our Paleolithic ancestors from the stone age formed tribes of 25 to 100 and survived by gathering plants and hunting wild animals in packs!

Nothing quite as wild is planned for Faulconbridge Hall :-)

When you arrive at 10am go to the registration desk where Annemaree and Bec will greet you with a smile and hand out tags for your ‘swapping goods’. You then put your goods on display in the swapping circle…grab a cuppa and meet your fellow swappers.

Swap time will start at 1030 am. Swaps are worked out independently between the swappers…but there are 3 Golden Rules:

1. Home made or home grown
2. Quality produce
3. Swap in good spirit

And most importantly have loads of fun!

If you have any questions, shoot us an email cropandswap.bluemountains@gmail.com

Cheers,

Steve, Annemaree, Joe & Jo

6 SLEEPS TO GO!

The Crop & Swap Library

Are you in need of a hoe? Are you short of a shovel? Are you ready to kick back with an edition of Backyard Farmer or Earth Garden with a cup of home-grown peppermint tea?

Don't despair, all this and more will soon be at your dirty fingertips and green thumbs.

We proudly announce the Crop & Swap resource library.

Our idea is this. If you have spare gardening journals, books, dvds or equipment that you would be happy to donate to the Crop & Swap library, bring them along to our first meeting.

Our aim is to have a collection of useful resources for people to borrow from and return at the following Crop & Swap meet.

For example we have several volumes of Earth Garden and Backyard Farmer magazines, some seedling trays and an aquaponics dvd that we will happily donate to the Crop & Swap resource library.

If you have any other resources that you think would be useful for your fellow Crop & Swappers, bring them along to the first Crop & Swap meet.

Tell us what you can donate.

see you soon,

j, j, a and s

Don't let this happen to you

Hi Guys,

As you can see from our photo, we don't have much life left. Even the birds are not interested in us. 6 weeks ago we were 3 of the juiciest oranges in the lower mountains, and would have been hot property at the crop & swap. We would have happily traded places with a a bunch of carrots or some asparagus to avoid this fate.

It's too late for us, but not for you. Urge your owners to take you to the first crop & swap on November 12.

All the best, The Oranges