LETS South Food Swap

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Posted 2014-07-06 by Marika Gee ⇒ follow

LETS spread the love. Saturday mornings Willunga is thriving with visitors and locals shopping at the markets. I ventured out to join the crowds for a coffee and came across this little stall set up on High Street next to a popular cafe. The produce caught my eye. But the heart of it is all about community.

I asked how much the pumpkin was? It was free. Free? The young woman at the stall told me I could barter something for it. Well I wasn't going to barter my iPad, mobile phone or lipstick for a piece of pumpkin was I. But was told that I could take the pumpkin and bring something next time I visited to barter. She got me there. I took the pumpkin and some fresh chillies.

LETS South was established by Willunga locals in 1989 and now has members across the Fleurieu. LETS South is a non-profit community organisation that enables members to exchange goods and services with other members without the use of cash. While anyone can participate in the Food Swap, an Annual LETS South membership is $25. This gives members access to a full range of services. The list is long such as massage, gardening, lawn mowing, mending, seedlings, trailer hire, cleaning. And I could go on. For people on low incomes LETS offers a way to access goods and services they may not be able to afford. It also builds great connections across community. The Food Swap stall had a range of produce from vegetables, herbs and citrus fruits. The range is seasonal and depends on what people bring along on the day. Later at home I made some delicious spicy pumpkin soup enjoyed with crusty sour dough bread from a local bakery. Yum. And all it cost me was a slice of bread and the time to cook.

I did return the next week and gave a bunch of fresh Bay leaves from my garden to the Food Swap. One lucky customer snapped them up within a few minutes along with basil and curry leaves. I also got some lovely juicy lemons and a bunch of oregano. Note to self: take something back to Food Swap next week. LETS South also holds Book Swap the 2nd Saturday of each month and Clothing Swap the first Saturday of each season. Wil is the Secretary of LETS South and he is very happy to talk to potential members or you can visit the website for further details. I left there with a warm fuzzy feeling that "community" is alive and well in Willunga.