Could Sevenoaks sustain a food exchange?

We have a healthy number of allotment-holders (and waiting lists to attest to greater demand) plus home-growers and small-holders in Sevenoaks and West Kent. More and more of us are keeping chickens and some of us even make our own butter and cheese. I am starting to think Sevenoaks could sustain a pretty impressive food exchange.

The basic idea would be for home-producers to bring surplus stock to the exchange, receiving credits (rather than money) to use against other items. So rather than my allotment giving me a lot of vegetables, then relying on supermarkets for affordable dairy, meat and fish, I’d bring my excess stock and exchange it for some eggs, meat and cheese. I have a bread maker, so I can make my own bread but I’ve been reading more about the Real Bread movement and see how that would tie in nicely too.

Food exchanging could help reduce foot outlay costs, encourage more families to grow at home, even a window box full of herbs and a tub of cucumbers could be worth a couple of swaps each week during summer and autumn, and could help families to eat locally. Smallholders and farmers could operate a veg and fruit box scheme, providing an extra stream of local revenue.

It probably sounds a bit pie in the sky, and obvious finding a space and making sure it could pay for itself would be a challenge, but if you expand it out to a wider exchange and food initiative, the community could create something really special.

Imagine a space where community members could come to collect their real bread, exchange their vegetables, fruit or jams for eggs, cheese and homemade cakes. Imagine that volunteers took it in turns to create surplus veg into good value soups, sandwiches and casseroles, for paying customers to eat at freecycled and donated tables and chairs, getting to know one another.

Imagine that one wall of the premises contains books, exchanged for other books for a small fee.

Imagine then that this space could be a hub for local artists to sell works and run small workshops or local children to come and learn cooking techniques.

Okay, it is a bit Tom and Barbara from the Good Life, but I happen to think it would be rather lovely. Does anyone agree?