Got a glut? Want a glut?

Filed in Blog by on August 27, 2010 3 Comments
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Tania from Swap Crop

Tania from Swap Crop

This week I’ve been speaking to Tania who, along with her Mother in Law, Rosemary, are on a mission to reduce food waste and feed the nation!

Rosemary has loved making jam and chutney for as long as she can remember. As a child barely able to see over the kitchen table, she used to help her mother make jam and fondly remembers seeing all the neat rows of jars beautifully labelled.

Just in time for our National Zero Waste Week, Rosemary and Tania have set up Swap Crop. Swap Crop is a public forum, it’s free to join and the idea is to connect people who have a glut of home grown crops to people who are jams and preserves makers!

When I spoke to Tania, she had just had someone call around her home to take what they needed from her plum trees in exchange for some delicious plum chutney. This epitomises the idea of Swap Crop – the preserves are shared with the original crop owner, helping build a sense of community and self sufficiency.

When you consider the average household throws away one third of the food it buys, it makes sense to utilise crops that might otherwise go to waste. Swap Crop is a great way to make new friends, learn skills and make the most of nature’s bounty.

Swap Crop is brand new and looking for new members. Rosemary has a strong sense of community and her vision is that anybody with an allotment, trees in their garden or any amount of surplass fruit and veg will get involved.

If you’re new to making jam or chutney, Rosemary, who supplies her own preserves to a local deli, her local country market and even supplies wedding favours and runs jam making classes is on hand to help! Over on her site, Jam Jar Shop you’ll find everything you need to get started along with recipes and You Tube demonstrations.

To keep up with the Swap Crop’s latest news, become a fan on Facebook.

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About the Author ()

I am a long time supporter of the Green and Sustainable lifestyle. After being caught in the Boscastle floods in 2004, our family begun a journey to respect and promote the importance of Earth's fragile ecosystem, that focussed on reducing waste. Inspired by the beauty and resourcefulness of this wonderful planet, I have published numerous magazine articles on green issues and the author of four books.

Comments (3)

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  1. Attila says:

    A friend who has an allotment has been giving us loads of fruit this year and I’ve been making jam and gave him some of each batch. Another friend gave me some jars today so she will get some of the jam I am making tomorrow; blackberry jam and damson jam.

  2. Hazel says:

    What a good idea! The Jam Jar shop is great. Coincidentally, I bought my bottles from there last year, and gifts of Blackberry Whisky and Sloe/Damson Gin were so popular, I’ve just bought some more, plus some spotty labels for the jars/bottles that are for presents.

  3. Mrs Green says:

    @Attila: Sounds like you’ve been really busy Attila; our cooking apples are now ready for use so it will be an mammoth apple pie baking session 🙂

    @Hazel: Great to hear you are already making the most of the Jam Jar Shop Hazel; I really hope their Swap Crop initiative takes off

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