FAQ’s
Here’s the answers to some questions we are frequently asked. For more detailed instructions on using Magic Beans, check out our handy blog articles.
Is using Magic Beans free?
Yes! We are very clear that everyone will always be able to use the Magic Beans App for free. We believe it’s a fundamental human right to access fresh, healthy, low-impact food and we don’t want cost to be a barrier to access for anyone.
We have some extra tools, features and functions for those that wish to pay for them – this income helps us to fund development, marketing (Magic Beans works best with a good density of users in small areas to swap with – so people need to know about and use us), legal, staffing and all the other facets of running a sustainable impact business.
Can I sell what I’ve grown or produced on Magic Beans?
No.
Over 2 Billion people worldwide can’t afford to buy nutritious food. We believe that everyone has the right to fresh, healthy, low-impact food regardless of their ability to pay and we’re here to change the food system globally. Swapping and sharing of homegrown food without monetary exchange is a core principle of Magic Beans, and no offers of, or requests for, purchasing any food or other items is allowed.
We work on a culture of kindness and generosity. Consider growing more than you need if your space allows, to help other people close to you to eat great food.
Can I advertise on Magic Beans?
Sure thing! An advertising policy and charges apply. Learn more about advertising with us here.
Unauthorised adverts by individuals or businesses not in compliance with our policies will be removed – this includes comments on posts intended to drive customers to a particular business. Repeated infractions may result in account suspension.
Can I post a positions vacant ad on Magic Beans?
Yes, with conditions.
If you are an individual Beanie looking for help for your home garden. This could be a request to swap time for anything that’s allowed on Magic Beans, or it could be a paid position, either one-off or ongoing. Any paid positions must be suitably contracted and compliance with all laws and health and safety is the responsibility of the person looking for help. Magic Beans accepts no responsibility for anything to do with employment offered or gained through the Magic Beans App.
If you’re wanting to post on behalf of a business then please refer to the advertising terms and conditions. Charges apply and any advertisements must comply with Magic Beans advertising policies.
Are you a business or a not-for-profit?
Magic Beans Community Ltd is a NZ registered company. We are committed to being impact-focused – that means we have strong environmental and social values and we exist primarily to do good in the world rather than make money, though we recognise the more money we can make, the more positive impact we can generate.
As we understand the abundant time required to both fundraise and report to funders as a Not-for-profit (NFP), as well as the complexity and inflexibility of grant-based funding and the difficulties in financial management of a NFP which crosses country borders (as we plan to), we opted to be user funded and set up as an impact business.
As a business, we have the flexibility to proactively allocate income to the parts of Magic Beans which require resources at any given time, instead of going through lengthy grant processes or having to seek approval for a change in the use of grant funds. It’s more nimble and more responsive, and better for our Beanies.
As we grow to serve more Beanies in more communities throughout the world, so will our Governance Board. We will be quite careful with the selection of our Board to make sure that the core values of Magic Beans are not lost or diluted, but are supplemented by skills and experience which help us to have even greater positive impacts.
Ok, so how does Magic Beans earn money?
Magic Beans offers subscriptions and pay-as-you-go edible gardening tools, education and services to those who find value in them. These will be low cost (about the price of a single carrot or a bag of onions, depending on the services you wish to access), to enable as many people as possible to use them. We do hope that, if your finances allow, you will subscribe to assist us to grow and help many millions of people worldwide grow more of their own food at home, and share and swap their surplus with their communities.
In addition, we will host carefully curated advertising. This will be published by us (not a third party), so must meet our policies to be included. Advertising is geographically targeted (narrowly or widely), depending on the advertiser's desired reach and affordable, so it is suitable for very locally focused businesses (the local lawnmowing sole trader) to national businesses (eg franchised businesses or national seed suppliers etc). Examples of advertising which you may see are:
● Local landscape suppliers
● Garden tool or product manufacturers or retailers
● Job advertisements in gardening / food / sustainability-related roles
● Garden centres, nurseries and seed suppliers
● Local lawnmowing service
● Council notices about sustainability programmes/water restrictions etc
● Event promotions (for relevant events, workshops, webinars etc)
For more info, see our Advertising Kit.
I want to know about the impact of Magic Beans - how do I find this out?
We will produce and publish an annual report and share as much as is prudent (ie not commercially sensitive) with our Beanies. We want you to take ownership of the part you play in your community and in the production of healthier, lower-impact foods.
In time, we aim to be able to show you real-time impact data at the individual, local, regional, country and global levels.
How do swaps/shares work?
The Beanie who is the poster of the first swap or share determines which commenters are swapped with. This is entirely up to the Beanie and there are no obligations to accept any offered swap. Item types, quantities, quality and swapping location should be mutually agreeable before the final acceptance of a trade to proceed happens. It is important to have clear expectations so please when offering think about the following, or ask questions to ensure the items being swapped are up
to your expectations if you’re wanting to request to swap what someone else has posted.
● Have these been sprayed with anything? If so, what was it and when?
● How big are these? Can you show me a picture please?
● Are these sweet / tart / juicy?
● Are these unripe / ripe / overripe?
● Do they have seeds?
● How many are you offering?
● Have they been harvested yet or do you harvest on demand? / How fresh are they?
Declining an offer to swap should be done politely and graciously, and if your swap offer or request for a shared item is declined please do not react negatively. You may wish to put your own post up to find someone to swap with.
Can I spray my produce?
You can manage your garden how you choose to. We do discourage spraying wherever possible as it interferes with natural feedback systems (such as beneficial bugs) and requires chemical production, transport, packaging etc which is counter to Magic Beans' values, but we do recognise that sometimes it’s a decision between spraying and losing the vast majority of your crop. Do check our info sheets first to see if there are any non-spray or low-impact ways of managing the problem you’re facing, and ask the community for advice.
It’s very important that any sprays you do use are used in compliance with their directions, including withholding periods, and you must tell people what you have sprayed and how long ago when offering that produce. If you are offering produce which may have been sprayed (eg by a landlord, previous occupant), please do let people know that there is uncertainty over the spray status.
What about trust, safety and COVID?
It’s super important to be able to trust other Beanies and the food you get. We’ve created the following trust and safety guides which help you to trade safely.
Personal Safety
Personal safety is of utmost importance. We recommend the following precautionary measures when trading with someone who is new to you:
● Meet in a public place at a time when other people are around if you would otherwise be alone at home.
● Do not comment on your living situation on Magic Beans.
● Trust your instincts. If you get an uncomfortable feeling around someone, keep the interaction short, friendly and to the point, and do not allow them into your home.
● We strongly recommend not allowing anyone you don’t know or trust into your home – to spend some time with them perhaps chat on the doorstep, sit at an outdoor table or seat, take them for a walking tour of the garden etc.
● If someone is coming to your home to conduct a swap, please ensure their safety and comfort by containing animals, removing trip/slip hazards on their approach to your front door, and take care of them if giving them a tour of your garden by indicating hazards
Food Safety
● We take food safety very seriously, and we want our Beanies to as well. Most grown items are low risk for causing food-borne illnesses however the following precautions should be taken in their production and use.
● Always follow spray/powder treatment directions to the letter, and ensure you are using only food-suitable sprays, that you have identified in swap posts or comments that items have been treated, when and with what.
● Apply liquid fertilisers carefully, avoiding the edible parts of plants wherever possible – this is particularly important for foods normally eaten fresh.
● Always wash food items you have swapped for before consumption.
● Always follow correct and safe food preservation techniques. Magic Beans will provide resources with best practice information.
● All home-bottled items should have an intact pressure seal (ie the lid is ‘down’), no visible mould, and a label stating the contents and bottling date. When opening home bottled items, do a smell test and if it passes do a taste test of a small amount before consuming larger amounts. If in doubt about contamination err on the side of caution and discard contents – inadequately or improperly preserved foods can be very dangerous!
Food Quality
Homegrown foods aren’t as cosmetically perfect as commercially sold foods, and that’s perfectly ok! When we talk about quality, we mean whether something is safe and nutritious for human consumption, or whether it’s better suited to animal consumption or only suited for composting to return nutrients to soil.
● Grown foods should be freshly harvested wherever possible, and the quality of them communicated to potential recipients prior to agreement to swap. Note any:???
● Freshness reductions (eg these mandarins are just picked but are old, they’re not too juicy or sweet any more)
● Significant blemishes (eg “These apples have been affected by codlin moth)
● Sprays or treatments (as in Food Safety)
● Take into consideration the food type and timing when organising swaps. Don’t pick leafy greens at 7am for a 4pm pickup and leave them out in the sun.
● If you wouldn’t be happy to feed it to a small child you love, don’t offer it for human consumption – offer it for animal feed or composting (if you don’t have one yourself).
Trading in a pandemic
Safe trading which minimises transmission risk is the name of the game here. The alert level and any applicable lockdowns in your area will determine how you conduct swaps.
We have checked with the MoH and the advice was that even in level 4 lockdowns, Magic Beans trading was ok, as long as it was done in compliance with lockdown rules (ie as part of a neighbourhood walk for exercise, with contactless pickup and drop-off (usually this is on doorsteps or at letterboxes), and precautions on handling items were taken).
Everyone needs fresh, healthy food, and everyone needs kindness and support. Trade safely. Wear your mask when approaching someone’s house as a courtesy. Do not trade while unwell. Use good hygiene practices – wash hands before harvesting items for swap, and wash what you receive from someone else before consumption. Be mindful of social distancing and other people’s comfort levels.
Communication standards
Please be kind, helpful, polite and tolerant in your discussions with others. We like funny and entertaining, so tell us your hilarious gardening stories and share relevant memes but please make sure these are in good taste and with no crass language. If you deem comments made or images posted by another user offensive or dangerous, please report them for us to review.
Abusive, harassing, belittling, racist or sexist, homophobic, disrespectful or political speech is not okay on Magic Beans. This is a place for people to be equal and to be
respected. We do not need divisive, derogatory or inflammatory comments, at all, ever.
If disagreement over a legitimate (gardening or food production) topic occurs, please do contribute usefully to the discussion and then move on. We may close comments on, or delete, any posts which we feel in our sole discretion are not contributing positively to the Magic Beans community.
Sharing of traditional plant-based internal medicine and topical application knowledge is acceptable, provided that you are willing and able to back up your information with highly credible sources upon request. This is important knowledge to preserve but it must also be safe at all times. Dangerous or ill-informed advice may result in temporary or permanent user restrictions or bans. If you are not able to cite highly credible sources for your information on medicinal properties of plants, please do not comment.
Use by minors
Magic Beans should be a safe space for young people to come and learn about food growing, storage, food production and cooking, garden care and sustainability. However, we strongly suggest all internet activity by minors is monitored and guided by parents or guardians. Any concerns about inappropriate messages should be raised with Magic Beans and the Police immediately.
Minors should never arrange to meet anyone without trusted adult accompaniment and knowledge.
© Magic Beans Community Ltd 2022