Food Swap in Chesapeake

Jun 10, 2013

2 min read

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I belong to a wonderful group of men & women called the Virginia Urban Homesteaders League. This wonderful group of people is so amazingly talented and also full of those wanting to learn…or both. We are on Meetup and members, paying only $5 a year, are able to sign up to teach a class or take one of these classes. Classes have ranged from canning, to cleaning & spinning wool, to soapmaking (taught by me!), to herbal medicine, etc. Then we also have get togethers with a homesteading twist….swaps. In December, Roses Ridge Farm hosts an ornament exchange. We also have Larder Swaps 4 times per year and they just keep getting better!

This past weekend we had another swap which also included our first ever Kid’s Larder Swap. Bringing in what you have harvested/grown or made and then trading with others for what they have is so much fun! These swaps take place all over the country but at ours the rules are: food, plants, or skincare items, must be homemade/grown (although this past weekend someone snuck in purchased jarred items…no no!), and one must follow USDA guidelines on food preservation. An example of how this happens:

Here is what I brought:

7 jars of my killer Pirate Peach Rum Sauce, 3 bars of new Gardener Scrub Soap, and 2 bottles each of lotion (that I no longer keep in stock or wrong shaped bottles.)

Here is what I came home with:

Strawberry pie filling, strawberry vinegarette, strawberry vidalia balsamic jam, vanilla coffee syrup, Kahlua liquor, 1/2 pound beeswax, chocolate chip banana bread, Babka assortment, blueberry lime jam, spicy Asian plum BBQ sauce, ginger ale syrup, french onion soup, a lemongrass plant, a walking onion plant… and still managed to come home with 2 of my jars of peach rum sauce. (Looks like next time I will probably just stick with skincare items 😉 ).

It’s bartering with a twist..you write down your name on a sheet of something you would like. Then that person will trade with you IF you have something they want. I have noticed that uniqueness and usability are huge factors (eggs & soap do trade well but also fancy canned items and things packaged nicely). For the first time we also had children swapping which was a blast!

Items for swapping

My son also had a great time at a BBQ for his baseball team at the Great Bridge Locks Park. I’m a history nerd so learning that a battle with the British took place here during the Revolutionary War really interests me. Lord Dunmore got his panties in a twist that he lost and so lost control of the bridge, that he decided to beat the snot out of nearby Norfolk. Here is a lovely shot, near sunset, off one of the trails.