Crop Swap

We need this here!

Neighborly exchanges of goods are nothing new, of course: In the early days of the Plymouth Colony, for instance, the Pilgrims traded English tools, clothing and other items for the Indians’ beaver fur and corn, said Patrick Browne, the executive director of the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, Mass.

But today’s trades reflect food trends coursing through the body politic: At the PDX Food Swap in Portland, Ore., for example, participants share homemade vegan nut spreads; kombucha starters; organic strawberry and cabernet sauvignon jams; brined nasturtium flower buds, considered poor man’s capers; rosemary-infused butter; and homemade rhubarb liqueur.

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