How Food Swaps Work

So you are thinking about swapping with us at our next event? Great!

Here is a little info to give you an idea of what to expect at one of our swaps.

What you can swap and how it should be packaged:
-All swap items have to be homemade or homegrown by you.
(think: jams, pickles, granola, bread, sweets, home canned soups, dips, cheeses, kombucha, beer/wine, eggs from your backyard chickens, specialty produce from your garden/fruit trees)
-All items should be bunched and loosely packaged in to swappable size containers. 
Jams, pickled items, and canned goods are already in neat little packages but items like breads, sweets, etc. should be packaged together at least loosely. You want your items to be distinguishable in the amounts you want to swap them in and protected from all the hands that will want to pick them up and examine them during the swap. 

How many items you should bring:
-Each swapper will get a space at least 1 1/2 feet square (possibly more depending on how many swappers sign up) You can bring enough items to fill that space up if you would like. You can also store extras under the table.
-You can bring a bunch of one thing or multiples of a few different things
If there is one special thing you make a ton of, you can have that be the only item you bring and fill your space with a bunch of them. Or if you make multiple items you can bring a little of everything and increase your chances for swaps. Maybe 8 jars of jam, 4 loafs of bread, and 6 jars of pickles? The possibilities are endless!

How the swapping will happen:
We hold our swaps in a silent auction style. Each swapper will have a sheet filled out with a list of all the items they have to swap and a few lines under each item.
*The first 30-45 minuets or so of the swap is for swappers to arrive, set up and examine each item from the other swappers. We will also take a few moments to go around and talk briefly about our items to the group.

*The second half hour is the time for everyone to write down on the sheets of paper the items they would like to swap. If Jenny has some jam you really want, you will write on her sheet of paper under the jam you want, what you are willing to swap her for it. Multiple people can put in swap offers for the same item. If the item owner has multiple of the same item they might accept all the offers.

*The final half hour-hour is when all the swapping actually happens. Everyone will go back to their original sheets of paper and look at their swap offers. They will then decide which swap they would like to accept for each item and find that person via their name tag and make the swap.

Sign Up!
-You must be pre-registered to participate in the swap
Pre-registration starts about 3 weeks before each event. Notification for pre-registration will be done through the email list, on the blog and on our facebook page.
-Participating in the swaps is FREE. You need not bring any money with you. Some kind souls like to bring the swap organizer a "Thank You" of tasty treats or donations. She enjoys this greatly.