You had a great time creating your garden in your backyard. The melons you wanted to grow this year have really done well. They are sweet and delicious, too! But, you have so many; you don’t know what to do with them all! Rather than letting them go bad before you and your family have a chance to eat them all, there is another option: Fruit Exchange. 

The barter system has been around as long as there have been goods to be exchanged. Long ago, if someone had a bounty of tomatoes (or other product from their garden), they could use them to purchase other things they needed, such as flour or candles, or whatever they were in need of. It worked during that time because they used the goods that they had and the bartering worked. However, after time went on and economies changed, people found that they did not always have a product with which to barter. That is where currency became necessary to use to purchase goods, rather than bartering for them.  Although today, we usually exchange money for goods, in some places the barter system is still in use. You might be thinking I am talking about a third world country or an impoverished village, but I’m not. The barter system is again being used in the United States, but in a different way than it had been used in the past. 

In some areas, people are forming neighborhood fruit exchanges. This is where you bring your excess fruit (and other produce) that you have grown and exchange it for other foods that you need. Your excess becomes your way to gain what you need! This exchange is a great idea… no wasting food anymore! Additionally, there are charities doing wonderful things with this system also, such as collecting people’s excess backyard fruit and taking it to homeless shelters, where they do not often have the luxury of fresh produce to eat. 

One of these exchanges is the Alameda Fruit Exchange, which can be found online at: www.alamedafruitexchange.blogspot.com. They feel that this sharing is a way to help a community become more close-knit and cohesive, while allowing everyone the delicious opportunity to share some backyard-grown produce. 

This is a wonderful idea for many. Rather than having to throw away foods that cannot be consumed because there are simply too many, you can rest assured that the food you worked hard to grow is able to be consumed and not wasted. So, if you find you have some excess produce from your garden this season, rather than letting it go bad because you cannot eat it all fast enough, check to see if you can trade it. If there are no fruit exchanges in your area, maybe you could look into starting your own or donate your excess to a shelter or children’s home or somewhere else that would love to have it. 

Also, have you ever heard of biodynamic farming? It’s a higher level of organic and these farmers are turning out some awesome biodynamic wine using these older methods of farming. Learn more about this concept of planting during lunar cycles and sustaining the land with a higher level of organic production. Our next blog will be featuring more on this too!