THE new Food Swap + Share stand opposite the preschool on Valla Beach Road is lovingly operated by Aria, who is “five and three-quarters” – with a little help from her three-year-old sister, Audrey, and parents, Anna and Danny Saunders.

Part of the grassroots Grow Free movement, which promotes the growing and sharing of food and plants, the stand is a space for people to give and take items such as fresh produce, plants and homemade preserves, although Aria has also enjoyed giving and receiving some more unexpected items, such as toys, flowers and shells.

Aria said her family was inspired to create the stand about a week into the statewide lockdown because “some people don’t really have much food or toys”.

“My dad [made it] and I helped him a little bit, putting the shelves on,” Aria said, adding that the first items to go into it were the lemons and limes from the trees in her garden because “we had so much”, along with some grapefruits and passion fruits.

Checking the stand to see what people are giving and taking has become a highlight for Aria.

“I check it about 10 times a day,” she said.

Some favourite finds have included fresh snow peas – “Audrey ate all of them” – bunches of mint with the roots still on, which Audry and Aria planted in the garden, and flowers and a note from Aria’s friend Zachery, whom she hasn’t been able to see during lockdown.

Grow Free started in South Australia and has since spread across Australia and to New Zealand and the United States of America.

To find other stands or to add your own to the list, visit growfree.org.au.

 

By Brooke LEWIS