Yesterday I got a five gallon bucket of organic compost for my garden.  I think my plants will benefit from the nutritional boost.  I’m friendly with the person selling it, and it occurred to me when we were chatting on the phone that she might be open to doing a trade of some sorts.  So I asked if she was interested in trading some of her compost for some of my produce.  She hadn’t thought of it, though she had heard of others doing it, and was open to the bartering concept.

I gave her five pounds of cherries, but turns out she only eats organic (she didn’t mention it when we spoke).  I didn’t want her to feel stuck with something she wouldn’t have bought, so I took back half of them (she was happy to keep half), and told her I’d bring her a quart of homemade organic applesauce that I canned (she had an empty canning jar of her own, so she gave hers to me and will keep the one I gave her, which was perfect).  When I was back at home getting the applesauce, I decided to take her some organic pears and apples, too (some we had freshly picked).   She felt it was too much that I gave her, but I was very comfortable with the trade, and both of us were happy with the experience.

Until a couple of weeks ago when I bartered the pears we picked for some peaches, I never did anything like this, so it’s kind of a foreign idea for me.  But I like it – it feels very friendly and win-win.  It’s better than exchanging money – what I gave her cost me much less than I would have bought the compost for, and what she gave me cost her much less than what she would have bought the fruit for.  I bought the cherries for .55 lb, picked the apples and pears for free, made the applesauce from free apples – so it was under $2 for the things I traded for compost that would have cost me $25 at the special price she sells to friends at.  She would have spent $3 lb on the cherries, and I don’t know how much for the 10 lb of organic fruits, plus the organic applesauce would have been pricey in the store.  The compost she makes is composed of her rabbit bedding mixed with her organic food clippings, so it didn’t cost her anything but time to make it. 

Bartering simply means thinking about what you have that is valuable to someone, and exchanging it for something they have of value to you.  I think I’ll continue to keep my mind open to fun possibilities like this.  It makes the world a smaller and friendlier place.

Avivah