Backyard gardeners around Brisbane are meeting every month to swap organic fruit and vegetables without their wallet or expensive price tag.

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Instead of shelling out for their favourite products at a farmers market, their ability to grow, bake or make something of their own determines how much they get back.

Warwick and Elizabeth Mortensen recently joined the monthly Brookfield Food Swap, west of Brisbane.

It is a gathering of avid gardeners, hobby growers and green thumbs who meet to swap advice, recycle materials and share fruits, vegetables and herbs.

The Mortensen's backyard is packed with fresh produce — pomegranates, figs, chives, lemon mint, curry leaves and rows upon rows of potted plants.

The Mortensen family are starting to swap fresh food with their neighbours. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Hailey Renault )

The family's foray into growing fresh produce at home started with a single fruit tree, a few shrubs and a couple of pots in a greenhouse.

Now it has taken over their lives — in a good way.

"Warwick works long hours in an office so to come home and go down into the paddock … we call it his therapy," Ms Mortensen said.

"It's just emotionally calming for him."

Warwick offers up two freshly picked bush tomatoes. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Hailey Renault )

"I always had a green thumb as a kid," Mr Mortensen said.

"Over time you move away from it but now we're on a bit of property I've started getting back into it again.

"I started out with passionfruit and then I got the coffee trees. It's just gone crazy."

Freshly cut herbs, curry leaves and a jar of relish ready to trade. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Hailey Renault )

Sharing the harvest for free

All of the tasty tucker the Mortensens harvest from their garden this winter will not end up on their own dinner table.

Some of it will end up sitting on trestle tables and rugs, ready to swap.

Warwick and his son Rob getting ready for their first swap. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Hailey Renault )

"The only rule is no monetary exchange," said Georgie Townsend, the Brookfield Food Swap coordinator.

"You don't have to be the same age or have the same income status to enjoy each other's company with just the simple things in life.

"This is about talking to each other and making connections."

Ms Townsend, a Brookfield local, hosted her first food swap for 40 of her neighbours three years ago.

She said all it took was some "shoddy" homemade posters and a social media page people could communicate through to get the ball rolling.

Georgie Townsend just celebrated the group's third anniversary. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Hailey Renault )

On any given month people bring in honey, preserves and jams, baked goods, compost, seeds, cuttings, fresh manure and other items to keep the cycle of backyard food production going.

"One thing that's also really nice about the swap is the value of things change," Ms Townsend said.

"A jar of honey, which might seem really precious to some, is equal to a bunch of herbs to another person because they don't grow that.

"You'll always walk away feeling like you're walking away with more than you've brought."

Two women swap herbs and advice. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Hailey Renault )

Benefits for suburban growers

Darren Montesin brought a bowl full of chillies grown on the verge beside his footpath, some pumpkins and Vietnamese mint to the latest swap.

He lives two suburbs over, but said he attended Brookfield's food swap to access the kinds of produce people on larger plots of land were able to grow.

"We can swap for mangoes, avocados and things you wouldn't normally be able to grow on a smaller property," he said.

The food swap is a good excuse for neighbours to get to know one another. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Hailey Renault )

A Chapel Hill woman swapping sourdough and freshly roasted coffee for salad greens and lemon butter said the information exchanged at the meets was priceless.

"There's some really experienced gardeners here, so if you get seeds or plants from them often it's stuff they've been breeding for a number of years," she said.

"You know it will be suitable for the microclimate here in Brisbane."

The smell of fresh lavender brought a smile to one swapper's face. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Hailey Renault ) — The smell of fresh lavender brought a smile to one swapper's face. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Hailey Renault )

Trash and treasure

Piles of items usually destined for the rubbish or recycling bin can get a second life at food swaps too.

Egg cartons, empty jars, ice cream containers and old dip pots are considered just as useful and can be swapped for any number of things to fill your fridge.

"I picked up about 100 pots. The fellow that was hosting it had zillions of them," Mr Mortensen said.

"They were free."

Mr Mortensen said the standing 'no cash' rule also took the stress out of participating.

"You can actually have a conversation with someone rather than walking away thinking 'have I paid too much for that? Is it any good?'"

Plastic containers, egg cartons and pots are a hot commodity at the monthly food swap. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Hailey Renault )

Over the years, the most unusual swap Ms Townsend has seen involved a horse and a bottle of home brewed wine.

But she said even small trades could build enough excitement to keep people interested in the concept.

"You can see people swarming, literally, to people with honey," Ms Townsend said.

"Sometimes it's just the little swaps … like getting homegrown lettuce that lasts in your fridge for three weeks without wilting.

"You're just amazed at the freshness and the quality of it all."

She said that above all, the monthly meetings were simply a good excuse for people to reconnect.

"In today's age there seems to be a lack of connecting with strangers and this is a great way to bring people together," she said.

"After one swap people feel like they know more people and look forward to seeing them again at the next swap."