Backyard Barter Programs
Monthly In-Person Events
Backyard Barter hosts monthly in-person barter events in various locations across Seattle. We partner with local non-profits, neighborhood groups and food/gardening groups to increase the diversity of attendance at these events. These events average between 30-100 attendees every month.
Web-based Bartering
Backyard Barter also helps connect individuals on an on-going basis through our bartering website, Backyardbarter.org. Barterers are able to communicate immediate needs and the abundance of ripe produce with each other as well as exchange useful information on special interest boards. There are currently over 400 barterers on our site.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
Backyard Barter recently celebrated our year anniversary. We our averaging 30-50 people at our monthly barters and had over 100 people at our annual Urban Food Fair. This event brought together neighbors to barter, share in a potluck, get information about various related organizations and engage in kids activities. It was a great event that brought together first-time barterers, regular barterers and allowed individuals to share their food products and increase the amount of locally grown food in there cupboards.
In order to continue to grow, we will need to secure additional funding. We plan to use this funding to expand the reach of our monthly events to South Seattle and make our website more robust. we also need to invest in infrastructure (tables, chairs, etc.) so we can expand the list of facilities and groups we can partner with. With additional support, our website and barter events have the potential to touch even more individuals and food projects occurring throughout the region.