Successful Swap

Article Tools

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Cathryn Holderread Passmore
Aibonito, Puerto Rico

I don't know ... maybe living in Maine makes me a "Yankee trader" by osmosis, but—for whatever reason—I've always traded for the things I need. Just last year, in fact, I made the following very successful (and, due to my financial condition, very necessary) swaps:

[1] Built and drywalled two upstairs rooms in a home, for which I received a 1969 Ford pickup.
[2] Drywalled the first-floor rooms, of the same house, for a huge automatic egg incubator.
[3] Did some electrical wiring work, in return for a calf.
[4] Trucked a boar and sow around, and took home a piglet.
[5] Exchanged eight meat rabbits for a second piglet.
[6] Rototilled a garden, for four tons of hay.
[ 7] Helped clear out a tumbledown garage, for the use of a tractor and mower so I could cut all that hay.
[8] Picked ten boxes of apples for the owners of the orchard, and took two additional boxes of the fruit for myself.
[9] Repaired some plumbing in return for a supply of butternut squash.

As many of MOTHER's readers know, the key to successfully raising a meat animal is to keep the costs of purchasing and feeding the critter low ... and I've been able to do just that by way of barter. Whenever a potential transaction pops up, I never fail to ask "What will you take for it?" instead of "How much?"!

Roger Burleigh
New Gloucester, Maine

Three years ago we made the "big move" from city to country living. At first we tried to handle all the chores and "fix-ups" ourselves—both to save money and to acquire some badly needed skills—but now we realize that well just never be able to do some jobs as well (or as efficiently) as a better—trained person. Still . . . how do you afford help when the engine won't run or the sewing gets too complicated? Barter, that's how!

Our homegrown pork is so much better than store-bought meat that there's simply no comparison... and all our city-bred friends who drop by for Sunday dinner have discovered that fact for themselves. So we always get an extra weaner pig for autumn butchering, knowing that someone will offer to trade us goods or services for that fine table fare.

Last year half a porker went towards the labor for a valve job on the truck ... and the other half was exchanged for new upholstery in the camper. The preceding year we traded hog meat for all the canned fruit and vegetables we could eat, plus lawnmower parts and an overhaul. Our two ewes joined the farm on a pork trade ... and we hope the list will go on and on.

Since we really enjoy raising the animals—and our friends feel they're getting the all-time best of the deal—we've found that barter works as good as gold!

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print