Setup a Local Edible Exchange

Look for a location

The Edible Exchange will need a location. This location needs to be easily accessible and must not hinder the day-to-day flow of traffic. 

Think about the following: 

• Pedestrians, will they be hindered? 
• Horses and other animals passing, will the Edible Exchange distract and hinder them and their carer? 
• Cars assume that most visitors will arrive by car. Can arrive, parking and leaving be done in a safe and non-disturbing manner?
• Neighbours, talk to them. A successful Edible Exchange can dramatically increase street traffic or curl-du-sac traffic. Not everybody will be happy with that. Negotiate. 

Public or Private

Setting up an Edible Exchange can happen on public land or private land. Each has its approach. 

Public Land

This is a council strip, so it’s time to talk to your local council to find out the rules and regulations. Please don’t go in barging and demanding; it is a subtle negotiation process. 

Find out who is responsible for the council strips, set up a meeting or start a phone call. Have your “elevator pitch” ready; this means being able to explain WHAT a local Edible Exchange is and why it is a good thing. 

Provide examples of where the Edible Exchanges are a success and work in harmony with the council. Eventually, the discussion will lead to insurance and cost. Be prepared. 

Sometimes the council might opt to pay for the insurance, but be ready to pay for it yourself. It is generally not a significant amount, but still, it costs money. If the council is reluctant, offer to pay for the insurance; that might get them on board. 

Private Land

This is the easiest way to go; it safeguards you from many “potential hassles” and complaints. It would be best if you still looked into insurance; it is essential that you have insurance. We all like to work on a “common sense” approach, but unfortunately, common sense is no longer common. 

Risk Assessment

Yes, it is helpful. Again this site needs to tell you WHAT to do. We provide pointers. 

A typical risk assessment is allowing you to take a step back and look at the things that can go wrong and usually will go wrong. It is not to scare you off. It is to help you prepare. 

The risk assessment helps show the council or anybody you need to negotiate with that you have thought about the scenarios surrounding the Edible Exchange. 

What are the risks?

In the context of an Edible Exchange, typical risks can be:

• The traffic of any kind. 
• Complaints of any kind.
• Food spoilage of any kind.
• Accidents on site of any kind. 
• Misuse of the Edible Exchange of any kind.
• Edible Exchange tourism of any kind. (Out-of-towners). 

I’ve attached an example of a risk assessment. It looks complicated. Someka designs it, and it is a free version. It allows you to fill in stuff and generate a report. If there is a need, The Trade Shack will provide a multi-user version if the funding allows for it. 

Risk-Assessment-Template-Someka-Excel-V3-Free-Version

Be honest when identifying risks. Rely on something other than commonsense, as it might be rare. 

Look for grants

You do not have to pay for everything yourself. Eventually, it all adds up. When you start to keep track of ALL your expenses, track them in a spreadsheet and keep the receipts. 

In Australia, grants are issued all the time, sometimes, your local council might have some budget to provide grants. Here are some links to find grants: 

• Facebook Australia Grants + Funding Support
• Queensland Grands Screen Queensland.

Try local Progress Associations and Lions Clubs for assistance. 

Investigate Legalities

When building an exchange on private land and keeping the structure small, you might not need council approval. Still check. 

You still need insurance that covers events that might happen when people visit the location. Again, could you talk to your house insurer? Most likely, it is a public liability type of insurance. Check, as it might be different. 

Check with the council for the normal disturbance and noise hours. For example, you might want people to enter the exchange at a later time. 

Setup rules: 

Set rules and, more so, set expectations.

• Make sure that everybody knows that the edible exchange is on private land and, as such, must respect the land owner.
• Ensure everybody understands privacy needs to be respected. Respect is key. 
• Set open and closed times. Having people arriving at all hours of the day can quickly upset the locals. You do not want that. 
• The success is a community effort, NOT the private land owner effort NOR the Exchange Manager effort it is collective. 

Exchange on Council Land

Setting up on council land will require a more diligent approach than when setting up on private land. 

Some councils are very supportive and allow you to set up after speaking to them. However, you must understand that when complaints reach the council, they might ask you to pack up. 

Complaints to the council will end your Edible Exchange eventually. For this reason, you’ll need to set ground rules for the exchange visitors. Ensure your neighbours are on board and are ok with it. 

You don’t have to include the whole street but you should involve the adjoining properties. They might prefer something other than starting, stopping and turning cars. 

Turning around cars can be a big issue, especially in the wet season. For this reason, it is best to look for an area where traffic can flow without the need for turning cars around. 

Build an Exchange

Building an exchange has two parts:

• The physical, and
• The online

This lesson addresses the physical build of an exchange. Start small… the Dayboro Exchange, for example, has a custom shed custom build; it looks great and is excellent. 

You might be different. Your community might be ok with just a table or an old cabinet. What works for you is what you should use. We suggest starting small because you want to make sure you can keep the Edible Exchange going and stocked. If it is too big, it will not work, so it is best to grow into it. 

Here are a few pointers for you to think about: 

• Safety, when you deal with things that can close, ensure that it is safe. Think about scenarios where little kids can crawl in to hide; can they get out? Can a fridge, for example, be opened by a child and opened from the inside? Safety first. 
• In Australia, the afternoon sun is hot, so position the exchange in such a way that its content is protected from the sun. E.g. has the back facing west. 
• Keep it tidy. A cluttering of tables, boxes, and the like is not inviting. Try to keep it organised. 
• Rodents, birds, ants and all the other stuff. You are going to face them one day. Make sure users of the Edible Exchange understand to keep containers closed. Rubbish needs to be removed, and spoiled food needs to be removed. The edible exchange is not to feed the wildlife. For that reason, do not throw edibles or spoiled food near or around the exchange. Take it with you and dispose of it properly. 

Advertise the Exchange

Letting people know about the edible exchange is tricky. It is like a double-edged sword. 

Here are some pointers for you: 

• Keep it LOCAL, by locals for locals. Using the Trade Shack is a good way of doing it. 
• Be careful with Main Stream Media. Every newspaper is looking for a good news story. You might be it, beware though. Too much attention will create Edible Exchange Tourists, leading to more traffic and visits from people that just pass by. You do not want that. 
• Word of mouth is the best. Online is great, but Trade Shack promotes offline interactions… there is too much reliance on online media. Sometimes it cannot be avoided letting people know about the Edible Exchange is such a scenario. 

Edible Exchanges use Facebook pages a lot, . It works so why not. It is important that you choose a method and stick to it. It will raise some eyebrows if you start with Facebook and then go to Twitter or even Trade Shack. 

We hope you start off with the Trade Shack as media to use for the day-to-day running of your Edible Exchange, but you do not have to. 

Advertise and Notify. 

It currently works that “members” of the Edible Exchange will post what they brought in and what they have taken (if applicable). 

This is a fluent process, and it works/ It allows the other members to be notified that something is dropped off, and if it is of interest, they can “race” to the Edible Exchange and collect. 

Manage the Edible Exchange

Simply put… THAT BE YOU. 

Every member of the Edible Exchange MUST take the responsibility to keep it clean. There is no room for working bees once a year or something like that. We are dealing with perishable food sources, and as a member, you should take responsibility for removing items that are past their usability. 

You do not want smelly stuff, rotting stuff or any of that kind. 

Managing the Edibele Exchange On-Line

When an online group or Facebook page is set up, having more than one admin/moderator is good practice. 

Users will try to do their best, but mistakes happen, and you need administrators to help them. 

Ensure that administrators “enforce” the rules and prevents chatting. When users start to chat on the page politely, “pull them up”, chatting can ruin the real messages and ultimately lead to the edible exchange’s failure. 

Members should be able to find and see the most recent posts that are most likely accurate on what currently is available in the Edible Exchange. Ideally, you would like to set it up that posts will be deleted after a specific time.

There is a difference between chatting and resolving problems and ideas, be aware of that. Your chosen communication platform should allow for separation between chatting and “edible exchange inventory”. 

Remember, the Edible Exchange communication platform’s core objective is to list the “Edible Exchange Inventory”, not to answer your questions on how to grow lettuce. (You can resolve that in the Backyard growers group on this website).