MPLS Swappers

Not too long ago, I came across a fantastic blog - The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking. I love the way that Kate writes, and what she writes about. And I was pleased to discover that she just had her book (of the same name) published!

As I was reading about her book tour, I saw that she was coming to the Twin Cities on May 14th and 15th. One of the events was a book signing at Barnes and Noble, but the other was something I didn't recognize - MPLS Swappers. I followed the link, and was excited by what I saw. This is so my thing!

I'll try to explain it briefly, but really you should just follow the link. :) Basically, a bunch of people who love making good food get together and swap what they've made. You need to make, bake, grow, or can it yourself, but other than that it's anything goes in terms of what food you bring.

You set your items out, everyone has a chance to look everything over, and you write your name down on 'bidding sheets' next to anything you would be interested in trading for.

Turns out that Kate, who wrote The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking, started this whole swapping movement when she lived in New York, and it quickly spread across the country (cause it's such a brilliant idea!). This past Saturday was only the second time the MPLS Swappers have held a swap. It was such a fantastic experience!

The location is really cool, I met a lot of nice people who share my interest in good, homemade food, and I came home with some dee-licious goodies.

I took some of my raspberry jam to swap (made with raspberries from my garden, and canned last fall):

Here it is set up on one of the tables (with some bread and an open jar to taste):

There was a really wide variety of things that people brought.

And a lot of cute packaging!

There were also snacks to munch on and tea to drink (in milk glass! Be still my heart).

I brought my copy of Kate's book with me:

And she signed it for me:

Even though my book was already signed, I went to Kate's book signing on Sunday because she was also having a discussion about the book. I'm so glad that I went, because Kate gave a really nice talk about her book and some of the different things she covers in it. It was also fun to see her again - she's so sweet and welcoming, and just really fun to talk to (hi, Kate!!).

I would definitely recommend checking out her book!

So I want to show you what I got in my swap, but this post is long enough for now. Back soon with photos of my goodies!