The first official Oak Park Crop Swap of the season commenced on June 6th. We had a fantastic turn out and would like to thank all the new growers who came for the first time! The specific tally will be up on the website soon- but your neighbors grew and traded over 40 lbs of produce! That's impressive considering the unusual weather we had in June.
Pesticide Watch organized a viewing of Food Inc. at the Crest theater this past Friday, this documentary demonstrates many problems with our food system. Specifically that lack of control farmers have over what they grow and how that can endanger our food security. This is a huge problem and it is hard to know what we as individuals can do to solve it. At the Crop Swap our answer is to grow our own food, in our own yards and trade with our neighbors for what we can't grow ourselves.
Some members of the Crop Swap are taking this a step further and saving seeds and preserving their harvests. One member brought chipotle peppers that he smoked himself. Many members brought herbs that can be dried and used later in the year. Finally one member brought onion seed pods- saving seeds protects the diversity of our crops and allows us to have some control over our food supply!
