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Most home gardeners know this feeling:
your garden produces bucketloads of plums, peaches, figs or
tomatoes until you can't stand to look at another one, while
you gaze hungrily over other people's fences at delicious-looking
crops you don't have!
There are plenty of good reasons for getting
together with other local residents to swap home grown produce.
> for
you
By being part of a local Vege Swap, you can:
* add variety to your diet
* save money
* gain inspiration, ideas and knowledge about gardening and
cooking (and much more!)
* meet others you wouldn't normally meet
* make friends in your local area
* feel more connected to your local community
* enjoy fresh air, good company and great food in your local
green space
> for
your community
Local Community Fruit and Vege Swaps provide
a good reason for an informal, relaxed but regular community
gathering which helps to:
- strengthen local communities
- encourage 'organic' (naturally occurring
and developing), spontaneous links within local communities,
which bridge the differences such as age, class, occupation,
professional status and ethnicity which often divide Australian
society
- reduce isolation and provide a connection
point for isolated members of the community, including elderly
residents and those newly arrived from other places
Whilst many community initiatives bring together
like-minded people from geographically diverse locations,
Community Fruit & Vege Swaps bring together diverse people
within a single local area. Strong interaction and networking
between residents create safer, stronger communities and better
places to live.
> for
your environment
Local Community Fruit & Vege Swaps encourage
residents to move towards more sustainable lifestyles in many
ways, such as:
- cutting food miles
- reducing food waste, packaging, transportation
- optimising the use of urban space for sustainability
by encouraging backyard food production and making it more
viable and rewarding
- celebrating and encouraging biodiversity
within local areas
- encouraging residents to leave their houses
on foot, to cultivate friendships and networks within their
local area, and to use and enjoy their local open spaces
- offering an alternative model of exchange,
based on sharing, which values intangibles (time, knowledge,
skill, friendship) as well as tangible goods (such as fruit,
vegetables, seeds, plants, home baking and preserves, and
more) without the need to reduce these many dimensions of
value to a single currency (ie, money)
- encouraging more sustainable practices in
home-grown food - for example, methods of designing, shading
and irrigating gardens; sharing seeds, cuttings, plants
and seedlings, rather than purchasing nursery-grown plants;
re-using and sharing materials
- increasing the resilience, skills and knowledge
base of the community for sustainable living, through informal
community networks focussed on food and eating
Community Fruit & Vege Swaps are informal community
gatherings with a focus on food production, preparation and
preservation - gardening and eating! - which are central issues
in sustainable living. Without the need for formal structures
or strategies, these gatherings foster a spontaneous and 'organic'
(naturally occurring and developing) conversation between
community members which directly and indirectly addresses
many issues of sustainability. People of diverse perspectives,
experiences and generations talk about different ways of doing
things and share ideas, skills and knowledge.
Whilst it relies on changes at the "big picture"
levels of government and international policy and structure,
sustainability is ultimately also about individual people
making choices. We are empowered to make choices when we know
about different ways of doing things and have the confidence,
through information and support, to try them out.
Most people are concerned about sustainability,
but many feel overwhelmed by the size of the problem. It feels
too big for an individual to solve, and our lives lack the
spaces in which to reflect, learn, consider and gain the confidence
to make changes.
Community Fruit and Vege Swaps don't tell people
what to talk about or what they should do in their homes and
gardens. But they do create a space for people to come together
to talk, share and learn, in their own way and at their own
pace.
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