Successful Swap

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More importantly, out of a bartering arrangement we three established a love and understanding of each other that you rarely experience with blood relatives.

I'd like to end our story by saying that we bought Irene a subscription to MOTHER for Christmas. Though we're back East now, I'd give anything to see her face light up as she turns to this letter.

Ozzie Henchel
New Haven, Conn.

I may still live in the city, but I'm trying to embrace the principles of natural living as much as I can ... and barter tops my list.

As a person alone in an old house that constantly needs fixing, I can always use help. I'm a good cook ... and have recently traded meals for yardwork, a new fence, repairs on my porch steps, and a paint job on the top story of the house.

Last summer I helped tear down an old garage in exchange for having one-third of the wood delivered to my door. Since I then had plenty of fireplace kindling, I swapped some of the short pieces to a neighbor for a day's worth of weeding. Getting rid of those scraps cleaned out my garage enough that another friend had room to store his carwhich I was allowed to use-while he traveled. He's also promised to help me panel my bathroom with the rest of the old planks I have on hand!

For some time I've been saving up to do some traveling myself, but have felt guilty about leaving when there's so much work to be done. Recently, however, I heard that several close friends of mine need a place to live this summer, so I arranged for them to split the house payment (which is very small), tend the garden, and do some other odds and ends for use of my fully furnished house and all the goodies they want from the garden and pantry. I can now go off and enjoy myself knowing the place will be well taken care of.

Mary Wiseman
Portland, Ore.

Try as I might—by converting lawns and flowerbeds to vegetable and spice gardens, and even using rubber tire potato planters on my driveway—I simply can't produce sufficient food on my small city lot for a family of four. But even as an urbanite (though definitely not by choice), I've been able to supply vegetable crops for my family ... through barter.

One area farmer, who enjoys my homemade chemical-free beer, has planted 10 acres in raspberries and eight in market vegetables. We share the cost of seed ... and he enjoys my beer, tabour, and company in exchange for produce which requires spacious growing areas (such as potatoes, squash, and cabbage).

Another older farmer—along with a son and me—put over 6,000 bales of hay and straw in his barn last year (for his cattle and for sale to other farmers). Besides giving me homemade grape wine, rhubarb, and root stocks of asparagus, he's letting me use his new camping truck for a three-week holiday this summer.

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