Surplus of carrots leads to new Crop Swap web service
Aug 28, 2012, 9:08 AM | Updated: Sep 2, 2012, 7:08 am
 A surplus of carrots is getting the credit for inspiring a Seattle area man to develop a new crop swapping web service. (AP Photo/file) |
A surplus of carrots is getting the credit for inspiring a Seattle area man to develop a new crop swapping web service.
“I just had too many carrots. When that happened I really didn’t know what to do with them,” Crop Swap creator Kevin Freitas tells Gardening with Ciscoe host Ciscoe Morris.
As a single man, Freitas says his backyard carrot crop was too much for just him. He didn’t want them to go to waste and decided to create a platform advertising these excess crops.
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” says Freitas. “It just lets people post things that they either grow, or that they bake, or that they can.”
Visitors to the site can type in their zip code and select veggies, seeds, fruits, flowers, or other product categories to see what might be available in their area.
Within a few miles of the KIRO Radio studios the products available included strawberry plants, mint, eggs, cherries, and apricot jam.
It’s taking the farmer’s market idea to another level, says Freitas, “to see if people in my neighborhood might have something that I might want.”
The service that kicked off in June is open to people nationwide, but at this point most of the users are concentrated in the area of its origin with an equal split of users between Tacoma and Seattle.
“The more people that sign up, obviously the more you have available to search and swap or buy from other people,” he says. “If one person posts a few vegetables in their yard, the pounds and pounds and pounds add up really quickly.”
Gardening with Ciscoe can be heard on 97.3 KIRO FM Saturdays at 10 a.m. Available anytime ON DEMAND at MyNorthwest.com
By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor
