Farm Barter

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Mrs. Harris journeyed to the county seat for a heart-to-heart talk with the tax collector. The tax collector had no talk to offer beyond reiterating that the taxes were due and had to be paid. With persistence the young widow pointed out that she simply could not spare the last of her operative cash for paying taxes and therefore requested permission to pay them in farm produce. Eventually the collector referred her to the county judge. The county judge was likewise confused. However, after lengthy reflection the dignitary recalled that the county road builders were in need of locust posts for building roadside guard rails. The Harris farm had many acres of tall young locusts. The county required about five thousand "rounds" of the long-lasting posts and would pay thirty-five cents apiece.

Mrs. Harris took on the assignment. She employed county neighbors to fell the young locusts and cut the slender trunks into poles of specified dimensions. Since two thousand of the trees were required to fill the order for guard posts, the choppers were obliged to clear away some of the vast clutter of discarded tops and branches so that the county trucks could get in. The sale of five thousand locust guard posts paid haulage and choppers' wages and netted about $1,600 in cash, enough to pay the abhorrent taxes for three years. Even more valuably, it opened the way for a great and winning game of barter.

Tops and unused limbs of the young locusts make superior fuel wood. Mrs. Harris had neighbors who were eager to clear up the tops and take pay in farm-raised foods, of which the Harris farm still had an abundance. They chopped and stacked about a hundred cords of locust tops and limbs. Using her husband's truck, the barter lady began trading locust firewood for needed groceries. Next she began paying doctor and dentist bills with the same harvest. She next succeeded in swapping the cordwood for needed bakery products and for bus travel to and from the town high school for her two older children.

Mrs. Harris set out to expand her farm barter further. For several years the Harrises had been growing, harvesting, and feeding several hundred bushels of corn to livestock and poultry. Following the old American extravagance, the corn cobs had been wasted. The Barter Lady knew from experience that corn cobs are excellent kindling and one of the best fuels for broiling fires. She carried the knowledge to town, and the local barber volunteered to credit her with a dozen haircuts for her young sons in return for a truckload of clean corn cobs delivered to his woodshed.

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