So our neighbours don't produce food in their gardens like us, but we have found other little ways to trade and outsource things. It started when we had an excess of eggs.
The couple over the road noticed we had a wood burner and gave us some wood from some demolition work in their garden. So we took some eggs over as a thank you. They also offered us some tomatoes once that someone had given them from their excess, but we already had our own excess at that time! They seemed such a lovely generous couple who often offered help so we made it a habit to start taking them eggs whenever we had an over supply. They now bring us kitchen scraps for the chickens and insist on giving us what they would normally pay at the shops for the eggs. This helps pay for the chicken feed and the extra scraps help to cut down on the amount of commercial feed they need. Of course we take them other garden excesses too when we have them.
Then we also make similar trades with our neighbours on our left. We take them excesses, they enjoy the rabbits trimming their lawn when the doe doesn't have babies in the nest and now and again he will give us scraps from the cafe he works at and occasionally some of the lovely Turkish breads and pizzas left over at the end of the day. Sometimes they are old and recommended only for the chickens, but sometimes they're fresh and I get out of making dinner!
Occasionally I put chickens out under a cage on the front to do some weeding for me and a lovely lady from down the road one day decided to bring some veggies for the chickens. At first I thought it was something that had gone past its best, but it turned out she was buying things especially for them! I told her kitchen scraps were perfectly acceptable and very much enjoyed by them, so she brings scraps and leftovers instead now, but I still think she sneaks extra bits in. She loves animals, but is allergic to them so can only enjoy from a distance. I'm only taking them our excesses, but they seem to think I'm too generous. They even bought healthy rabbit treats one day! This family eats organic for their health and is very supportive of what we are trying to do in our own garden. They try to grow a bit themselves, but it's a small rental and I don't think they want to put their all into somewhere they don't own.
Our other neighbour we've had less contact with, but still occasionally take them some eggs when we're inundated. Apart from some extra egg boxes once, we haven't had much tangible from them, but it has allowed me to reach out and make a connection which can be just as important in this world where everyone is off working in different places and you may not even see your neighbour more than distantly. Also, keeping on good terms with neighbours will hopefully keep things running more smoothly.
In the summer the grass barely grows, so I go foraging a bit further afield to keep the rabbits fed, thus extending my small boundaries a little bit.
So although living in an urban area means we can't necessarily trade for all our needs we are able to come up with some things that our neighbours can help us out with and make use of things which might normally go to waste. Most pepole feel a need to be able to give something in return when you share things with them. So we make use of the free newspapers that many don't use, for lining the animal cages and starting the wood burner. We've been given old broken furniture, which we've either repurposed or used in the wood heater. In return we can share some of the good food we produce and we always get comments on the flavour of it. We might have even sparked a fire as one of the neighbours has now gotten some planters!
Here are my previous posts in this series if you missed them:
#1
@minismallholding/overcoming-the-drawbacks-of-small-scale-urban-homesteading-introduction
#2
@minismallholding/overcoming-the-drawbacks-of-small-scale-urban-homesteading-using-every-space
#3
@minismallholding/overcoming-the-drawbacks-of-small-scale-urban-homesteading-planting-choices
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