Successful Swaps

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P.S. We then sold our invaluable van for the price we'd paid for it.

Lois Mathers
Mammoth Spring, Ark.

Last summer, while living in the country, my husband and I made a fruitful acquaintance with our neighbor, an elderly man who had recently lost his driver's license.

In exchange for frequent twomile rides to town, this kind fellow let us dig bushels of potatoes, onions, and beets from his huge garden, and we also got to pick peas, tomatoes, and lettuce.

We wouldn't have missed knowing this man for anything. In addition to the delicious produce he shared with us, he gave us lots of good gardening advice.

Looking back on the swap, we don't doubt that we gained much more than we gave.

Sylvia & Sam Henry
Greenville, N.C.

Here on our Aleutian Island paradise, the lower 48 seem like a distant planet. With only one department store and one grocery serving our diverse population of 5,000, we islanders swap and barter quite a bit among ourselves.

For instance, it's next to impossible to buy auto parts on—island. So, when a ball joint went bad on my VW, I started looking for a trade. As it turned out, my friend Sam knew a guy who had VW parts to spare. And, since Sam needed some gravel spread in his backyard, I spent the following Saturday strewing stone while he picked up the good ball joint and installed it for me.

I made another good exchange just last week. My old boss gave me about 10 pounds of trout for helping him put his boat in the water. I fried some of the fish, but wanted to smoke the rest. Problem was: I didn't have a smoker. When I mentioned the difficulty at work, one of the fell as volunteered to do the job for me if he could keep half the meat. So today I've got plenty of smoked fish, and we're all pleased.

It's a nice way to live.

Andy Lacher
FPO Seattle, Wash.

I and the other women in my town-house development have quite a good swapping system going with our children's clothing.

As we have youngsters of all ages, there's always one of appropriate size for any hand medown that might become available.

When an article is passed on, the donor always makes sure it's clean, mended, and pressed. My two-year-olds outfits go to the two new babies on the street, while the outgrown duds of someone else's four-year-old come to our house, along with the sweaters and good pants my eight-year-old receives from the eleven-year-old next door.

In this northern climate, it's especially nice not having to buy our growing offspring new coats and boots every season.

Actually, we don't limit our trading to children's wear. The nursery equipment my youngest no longer needed went to a friend's newborn, and we also swap baby-sitting. Furthermore, as most of us sew, we exchange patterns and various dress making skills.

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