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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 12:40:51 GMT
Some years back as I was making the transition from working in a medical related field into horticulture, I worked for a friend helping him manage a neighborhood restaurant.
I remember that there was a small very organized barter system that was in place. I really should ask him more about particulars and I will, but,what I recall is one became a member and would swap services in exchange for another members services.
I have involved myself in a less formal manner of bartering. I swap garden services with people I know who have services that I need such as electrical work,computer wizardry,plumbing. Most of it is fairly small scale.
I also barter my citrus crop in the fall,early winter with some local restaurants in exchange for meals. I run a tab of sorts that I use throughout the year. There have been some pitfalls but for the most part it has been a fair exchange.
I would love to see,hear more of this type of thing going on.
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Post by auntieannie on Aug 31, 2009 16:28:41 GMT
I love bartering! I do roughly the same as you at the moment, casimira, where I take produce from friends/colleagues who have too much of it or don't have the time/knowledge to deal with it and preserve them. I then tend to give them one or two pots back for their use.
I went to a clothes swap recently and had a fab day.
I also would like to be involved in more of these initiatives.. or even create my own!
Bartering is the way forward!
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 31, 2009 16:45:27 GMT
This is a small thing, and maybe not strictly bartering, but ......
when I'm at a produce market and have a small amount of change coming to me, I frequently ask the vendor to give me the amount in parsley or cilantro. They're usually pleased, as it helps to save their small change for later and actually constitutes a sale.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 17:28:20 GMT
I understand the attraction of the barter system, but I just can't do it. It's the whole reason that money was invented, to give a value to things that are not comparable. The barter system is absolutely fabulous for social interaction, but some of us are grumpy hermits and just prefer to pay for what we want.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 21:09:51 GMT
In many instances the system saved my ass because I had no money but did have a skill.When the washing machine and the computer went kaput at the same time there was no money in the budget to have both repaired and still pay bills. It was more out of necessity then anything else.In one case I swapped babysitting for some repair work on my car. It does require some level of creativity.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2011 15:07:48 GMT
I lucked out recently and have been able to exchange a few minutes of work,a few times a week, in exchange for farm fresh eggs. Down the street from me,a dear friend resides. She has a fabulous butterfly garden as well as some fabulous fruit trees on the outside perimeter of her property,virtually streetside. She uses heavy,heavy layers of mulch in the form of pines straw,leaves etc.to help conserve moisture and keep down the weeds. Directly across the street from her, resides a gentleman who has 3 or 4 chickens. The chickens keep finding a way to get out of the yard,and, they go over to the flower beds in my friends garden and, scratch,scratch,scratch,making a huge mess,and end up scattering the mulch all over the street. The 2 neighbors have gone around and around over this issue. He won't build a proper chicken coop,or,have the chickens wings clipped. She travels quite a bit and,has no time to deal with the cleaning up of. So,I have been hired to go down there with rake and or broom a few times a week ,it takes me only about 15-20 minutes to clean up the "mess". In exchange for my "labor",I get farm fresh eggs,more than I can actually use really.  |
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 19, 2011 16:49:05 GMT
So your clean-up detail has brought peace between the neighbors, as well? Nice. Did they both contract with you to deal with the mess, or just one of them?
Your friend must be a very kind person not to have called animal control on this guy, which would have been one way to deal with the problem. It's probably only the heavy mulch that has saved her garden from the feathered menaces. I went away for Christmas one year and when I returned, every single thing in the garden had been scratched up by the nasty creatures.
I'm so glad to see this thread revived, as it needs more attention. One of the really important things that you pointed out earlier is that, in our modern urban lives, it's still possible and practical to barter skill.
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Post by auntieannie on Jun 19, 2011 21:22:56 GMT
www.lets-linkup.com/There is a local group. I keep wanting to join properly... one day. one day soon!
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Post by spindrift on Jun 19, 2011 21:57:27 GMT
With one of my friends who is a solicitor I barter my nutritional skills for his advice concerning legal matters.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2011 22:48:46 GMT
It is a very cool concept. Bixa,with regard to your question about the 2 neighbor's and the chicken squabble as it were; my friend is an excellent person and although,I knew this was grating on her nerves big time,she is too nice to have made a huge issue of it. She and this neighbor get on quite well otherwise. She is recently widowed and this man being much younger has been able to give her a hand with some things around the house that her husband normally would have done. I happed on the scene one day while riding my bike past and stopped to chat. I flat out offered my services to the both of them and everyone was thrilled. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2011 18:22:31 GMT
Still not interested, but not proud of my attitude!  |
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Post by ninchursanga on Sept 29, 2011 16:05:57 GMT
There's a German woman who live without money, her whole life is centered around bartering. livingwithoutmoney.org/Living exactly the way she does wouldn't be for me, but I like the concept of bartering and sharing. |
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 29, 2011 16:30:12 GMT
That's really interesting, Ninchursanga. I looked up more about her. She is Heidemarie Schwermer, now 69 years old, who has been living that way for @15 years. articleIn the article she says she was never able to convert homeless people to her vision. But retired and unemployed people have understood and embraced it. Since the use of money is essentially an outgrowth of bartering, perhaps it's logical that people who have been part of the the "normal" system would be able to convert from money to barter. (which begs the question of how people become homeless, but that's another discussion) |
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Sept 29, 2011 18:05:07 GMT
My son and DiL are unemployed and live on very little, they have 'an understanding' with a few of their local shops...they often exchange eggs from their Quail and Chickens for goods.
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Post by auntieannie on Sept 30, 2011 15:35:02 GMT
Once I am qualified, I think I will be open to bartering. I will have to be careful, though!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2011 18:48:00 GMT
With my recent lemon crop I was able to barter some grapefruit and navel oranges from a neighbor. I don't eat enough grapefruit to warrant having a tree take up that much room and the opossums eat my blood oranges so I am loathe to plant them another orange tree to feast on!!!
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Post by rikita on Jan 1, 2012 19:41:11 GMT
i tried to get a friend give me french lessons in return for romanian lessons, but in the end she decided she wants to learn russian instead, for now... but i used to give english lessons to a japanese friend in return for japanese conversation... actually, these kind of language exchanges (usually called "tandem" here) are quite common here...
i'd also give lessons in return for other things if i knew someone that was interested, but i don't...
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 2, 2012 3:15:57 GMT
Are you good at translating some languages, Rikita? That would be a straightforward thing to swap for other items, I'd think.
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Post by rikita on Jan 3, 2012 21:22:20 GMT
well i sometimes do translations as a favour to people - not sure it'd work well swapping it for things... like, the friends i did translations for didn't have anything i'd want, and offering it to strangers would be a bit weird... it'd be difficult to decide what they are worth, too...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2014 15:52:09 GMT
I am bumping up this thread as the topic came up in another thread on here (In Your Own Backyard).
Anyway, I had a real successful citrus season and in advance had made contact with several local eateries for bartering lemons
in exchange for meal vouchers.
I was real selective about which places i wanted to do "business" with because they are all favorite haunts of mine (when I can afford it), and,places that I look forward to taking out of town guests when they visit.
I did very well. One place I had to do a lot of haggling with (chefs can be soooo tempermental!!!) but, she finally came to my terms especially when she had just booked catering a very large luncheon and was in dire need of lemons in very short order.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2015 14:10:41 GMT
Back during the peak of citrus season I found a new "victim" to barter with.
A New Yorker relocated here and opened a NY Italian style restaurant.I became and remain a regular customer.
I talked to him about bartering lemons for a tab.
He was very open to the idea.
I was successful in my endeavor, and he was satisfied as well.
Then, last evening he phoned me and said he had a special surprise for me.
So, I went to the restaurant and he proudly produced a bottle of homemade limoncello.
A most delightful surprise especially because he had already compensated me aptly.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2015 17:29:16 GMT
What a great solution, casi, but I just can't imagine growing enough lemons to be able to share them with several places. Amazing. I love lemons and go through them like crazy.
On Whidbey we have the young owners of an organic farmstand up the road with whom we have bartered, exchanging firewood and labour for a tab at the farmstand (and the occasional bucket of chicken manure). However, firewood isn't as attractive a commodity in the summer,and their produce is expensive, so I'll have to be creative. I'm allowed to pick blackberries at the neighbour's as long as he gets a jar or two of jam out of it. If we end up as many figs as the trees promised last year, and the weather holds, definitely have some bargaining chips.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2015 21:55:50 GMT
I have a dozen or so lemon trees Lizzy and one blood orange and two Persian limes.
This was not a banner year I'm afraid but I did pretty well.
Enough to ship out to family and friends up North and do some bartering plus have enough to keep for ourselves.
The trees are bursting with blooms at present so I know that this upcoming year (usually around November through December) I am going to have a bumper crop.
And the aroma out there right now is divine.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2015 0:17:30 GMT
Swoon!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2015 15:18:03 GMT
It's that time of year again to harvest the lemons.
After a so-so crop last year, this year, I have more than I have ever had.
Overwhelmingly so...
So, once I get the ones shipped out to points North this week because they have to be picked a wee bit on the green side, but not too much so, I then present bags on neighbor's porches.
Then, the barter system of recent years comes in. Some of the previous eateries included but,
this year a major coup.
An oyster bar has agreed to barter with me and knowing the "shucker" for years, has agreed to barter with me generously with a
generous tab.
(Mind you, I have a "connection" with this kind and gentle-ol' soul).
I am ecstatic!!!!!
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Post by rikita on Dec 9, 2015 12:17:16 GMT
if i tell someone what i want for christmas, and they tell me what they want, and we get it for each other, is that a kind of barter?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2016 15:53:54 GMT
A late reply but, of sorts I would say Rikita.
A new small grocery recently opened on our little commercial strip in our immediate neighborhood.
The owner is a delightful woman and I helped do a lot of "leg work" for her to get this enterprise going.
Anyway, I have an over abundance of Lisbon lemons that I need to unload. (she already has a Meyer lemon source and mine are almost depleted anyway).
I spoke with her last evening and we have arranged to do a bartering with me having a tab in exchange for these lemons.
I have done this before with restaurants and bakeries but never with a grocery.
It's the perfect solution.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2016 20:48:10 GMT
It really is an excellent solution, casimira.
I have been somewhat (but not extremely) annoyed by all of the reports of the reselling of Christmas gifts on the various intrenet sites. Everybody receives a certain number of presents that they don't want (except me of course since I receive no presents), but I find it a bit sad that people need to find a commission taking commercial intermediary to dispose of inappropriate items. However, I do understand that it is better than nothing.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 29, 2016 0:39:45 GMT
That really is the perfect solution, Casimira. What is so cool about it is that it needn't stop with lemons. I'm sure they will be thrilled to arrange a trade when you have a bumper crop of herbs, for instance.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2016 15:32:02 GMT
That really is the perfect solution, Casimira. What is so cool about it is that it needn't stop with lemons. I'm sure they will be thrilled to arrange a trade when you have a bumper crop of herbs, for instance. Unfortunately, someone already beat me to the herbs although she is interested in my turmeric, kafir lime leaves and garlic. |
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