Take a bunch of keen backyard gardeners, sprinkle with a bright idea aimed at reducing wastage of excess harvests, and stir in an enthusiastic driver to ferment the idea into action, and the result – Wollongong’s first ‘Waste Not! Fruit and Veg Swap.’  

The process was simple and fun – bring your surplus herbs, fruit and veg from your garden, and place them on a table next to a card with your name on it, so people knew who had brought that produce to swap. You’d then eye off some produce you’d like to take home with you, read the name on the card, and approach that person to organise a swap. In this way, it was also a great oppurtunity to meet new people. And as always when you get a bunch of gardeners together, there was also a lot of swapping of recipes and ideas about preserving abundant harvests.

The swapping table grew to showcase a surprising diversity of produce – everything from lemon grass to pumpkins to figs and wax jambu (tastes like lilly pilly only sweeter). There was also strawberry and macadamia seedlings added in the swap mix, and lots of herbs. We arrived with homegrown eggplants, garlic, rosemary and parsley, and left very happy with our swap for with capsicum, passionfruit, limes and chokos!

The event was organised by the North Wollongong PCYC garden, mainly by John (thanks John!). As part of participating, people donated some of their produce to the garden group for them to sell at the Coledale markets tomorrow, to raise funds to support the continuation of the swap and projects at the garden. For those who live locally, the Waste Not! Fruit and Veg swap will be happening on the fourth Saturday of each month from 9am – 12pm at the PCYC Garden. The PCYC garden also has a working bee on the first Sunday of the month – for more details and to be inspired by their amazing garden, check out http://thegardennorthgong.blogspot.com

Have you ever been to a similar fruit and veg swap? We’d love to hear about any experiences you’ve had with fruit and veg swapping.