{"id":4967,"date":"2011-09-26T14:48:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-26T14:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/exchange-homegrown-produce-and-more-in-long-beach\/"},"modified":"2011-09-26T14:48:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-26T14:48:00","slug":"exchange-homegrown-produce-and-more-in-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/exchange-homegrown-produce-and-more-in-long-beach","title":{"rendered":"Exchange Homegrown Produce and More In Long Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

6:45am | Reporting by Greggory Moore<\/em> | <\/strong>Sub-communities seem to be sprouting up everywhere in Long Beach these days. And not a small percentage of them has to do with food.<\/p>\n

You’ll find one of these the first and third Saturday of every month on the bluffs between Cherry and Junipero Avenues: Produce Exchange Long Beach. <\/p>\n

This is not a farmers’ market; nothing is for sale. Rather, this is something simpler than economics: between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., anyone who grows food can bring it to trade with others who do the same. And anyone who needs food can get it.<\/p>\n

“It’s an idea I think anyone who’s grown food or cares about food has had \u2014 the idea of sharing your excess with each other in the community,” says PELB co-founder Sarah Rosenberg. <\/p>\n

Rosenberg says her best friend successfully implemented the idea in Monrovia three years ago, “and I just thought Long Beach was ripe to have a produce exchange.”<\/p>\n

Rosenberg and co-founder Ryan Brook both say that prior to the exchange’s April start date all of their forays into gardening and harvesting had been small-time, but that now they have a broader understanding of the possibilities.<\/p>\n

“A lot of people are interested in growing, but they don’t realize how, even with [only] a small amount of space [they can grow food],” says Brook. “Even just [with] container gardens on a little balcony, there’s stuff you can grow in little pots. That’s another thing we’re trying to promote.”<\/p>\n

\"PELBImportant to note is that PELB welcomes not just those who have something to give, but also people who are simply in need. “It’s bring what you can, take what you want,” Rosenberg explains. <\/p>\n

Part of the reason this philosophy works is that many people who grow food can’t use all that they produce. “I’m constantly surprised to find out how many people are not only growing their own food, but [how many] many people have their own [e.g.] fruit trees and are letting [the fruit] fall to the ground,” Rosenberg says. “I’m also surprised to see how many people have chickens [and] little mini-farms in their backyard [who] I never knew but would have assumed that I did. But they’re coming out of the woodworks.”<\/p>\n

As articulated by Rosenberg, the underlying message of PELB \u2014 which is soon to add lectures on seed starting, composting, and the like \u2014 is basic: “Remember to access the resources around you, whether that be public produce, your neighbors’ produce, etc. Lots of people want to give but maybe don’t have the time to come. [But if you can come,] come and just participate in the community, the conversation, the lectures, and the sharing.”<\/p>\n

For more information, click here<\/a> to visit Produce Exchange Long Beach on Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sub-communities seem to be sprouting up everywhere in Long Beach these days. And not a small percentage of them has to do with food. You’ll find one of these the first and third Saturday of every month on the bluffs between Cherry and Junipero Avenues: Produce Exchange Long Beach. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":69926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4967"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=4967"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}