The produce swap began in July 2014 and has steadily grown, attracting Koroit residents, as well as people from Hamilton and Warrnambool, who visit and swap their items each month. 

Five Koroit residents, who wanted to be able to access fresh food locally, started the initiative. 

Founder Loretta Gurnett said it was based on a similar concept to a market at Simon’s on Warrnambool’s beachfront which had ceased.

“I was new to the area, too, and I didn’t know where to get fresh produce from because there was no farmer’s market,” she said. 

“I rushed into the council and said, ‘where are the farmers markets?’ and they said, ‘we don’t have one’. I couldn’t believe it. You can go to Port Fairy but I was looking for something more local.” 

Participants bring their excess home-grown produce, seedlings, pickles, jams, relishes and eggs along. The items are placed on the communal tables and attendees swap it for other produce. 

No money changes hands and gardeners can also share ideas and techniques at the produce swap at 123 Commercial Road, Koroit at 10am. 

“July in hindsight probably wasn’t the best time of year to start but we got an amazing amount of stuff,” she said. 

Mrs Gurnett said they were surprised by the response. 

The swap, held on the third Saturday of the month, consistently attracts between 20 to 40 people. 

“Even when we think no-one’s coming, it’s raining or it’s too hot, they do and we’ve got a lot of new people moving to the area. It’s young people, we get all sorts,” Mrs Gurnett said.  

“I have 100 people on our database who come during the year.

“We’ve had people that come from Hamilton and a lot of people from Warrnambool, hoping something else would start.” 

The Koroit swap has been complemented by the Warrnambool Produce Exchange, which began last Saturday.

The exchange provides south-west residents with another option to share their home grown goods. 

The swap organisers worked together to stagger the weekends their events are held, with the Warrnambool swap on the first Saturday of the month from 10am to 11am.

Mrs Gurnett said it was another way people to enjoy fresh local produce that was beneficial to both communities and she had met so many interesting people. 

“I think we’ve got so much potential to grow such great stuff here,” she said. 

“Why do we have to ship things in?”