Barter is a way of exchanging goods without using money. Basically you trade one thing for another. I have personally used barter in many ways to expand what I have on the homestead.
You can trade a product for a product or you can trade labor for a product. I have done both.
It works out well if you need one thing and your friend needs another. You can just make a swap. Barter encourages communication and cooperation.
You may think barter is some hippie-dippy feel-good thing. However, barter was the first form of product exchange by humans and helped to expand and build society. Until fairly recently in our history barter was the primary way to get new goods.
Barter works for homesteaders and suburbanites alike. This article will introduce you to what barter is and give you lots of examples of what I have given and received with bartering.
Advantages
Simple trade or swap without money or taxes
Both people have economic power
The system has less waste
Available to everyone
Builds community
Disadvantages
You need to find a common want. For instance, I may want to trade tomatoes but you already have tomatoes. I need to find someone who needs tomatoes and has something I need.
Barter takes effort and work.
You must be willing to communicate your needs and wants.
This small hog shed was made of 80% recycled and bartered lumber. Basically the skids and the hardware were the only purchased materials.
Things I Have Personally Bartered For and With
Lumber
One of the biggest barters I have ever done was to work at helping tear down an old tobacco barn in exchange for half the useable wood and metal. The barn was falling down and the owners just took their tractor and knocked it over.
My son and I spent several days helping to pull apart the wood and roofing metal. We then stacked it in three piles – there’s, ours and junk. They were nice enough to haul it to my farm.
That was ten or eleven years ago and I still have a small pile left. It’s mostly firewood at this point.
I have made numerous things from that old barn. Sheds, small animal housing and raised beds.
Eggs, Goat Milk, and Goats
I traded eggs for goat milk until I had built up my own small dairy goat herd.
With that same person, I worked for them for three days helping to do some fencing in exchange for a Boer Billy goat.
Later when I was milking my own goats, I traded goat milk to a farmers market vendor and soap maker. I gave her an ingredient and she gave me a product.
Eggs are always a popular trade because fresh eggs are in demand.
Seedlings
I have worked for exchange of seedlings many times for friends so have a greenhouse business. Helping to transplant seedlings or work on a busy Saturday with customers earns me flats of seedlings.
Tools, Games, and Books
Once on the spur of the moment, when I was attending the OEFFA conference, I helped out a tool vendor whos helper had not shown up. Being knowledgable about tools and farming I jumped in for a few hours to talk to people about how to use farm tools. I came home with two new hoes.
When my children were young I helped out a homeschooling mom who sold educational games, family music and books as a home business. In exchange for helping her package things for shipping, answer phones or help when she did a show, I earned some of her product. My sons enjoyed hanging out with her children and I went home feeling very happy to have new things for my boys.
Writing and Socal Marketing Strategy
For the past several years I have been earning money as a freelance writer and social marketing strategist. This has led to several barters. I have traded writing for free advertising, animal care, art materials, and fencing wire.
Wood
I don’t like to use a chainsaw. They’re scary. In fact, I go around with a hand saw cutting off wood for my woodstove. I have bartered several times for persons to cut up downed trees on my farm and chop into cordwood. Each person gets half the wood.
Hay
I have done the same thing with baling hay. I used to have a young man who cut and baled my hay field on shares. He got a job promotion and moved to another state and I was quite sad.
Check out my YouTube Channel for videos on homesteading, organic gardening, and wildlife conservation!
Work For Food
With a bit of a twist on the barter system sometimes farmers offer a work for food compromise. You may see CSA’s who offer a lower-priced share or work share based on the member working. This may be work in the garden, making phone calls, writing the newsletter, or being a delivery location.
At Fox Run, we have a Garden Volunteer category. The volunteer puts in three hours of work and gets a bag of fresh produce, or garden seedlings or something else mutually agreed on and available.
Another barter we do which is a bit more involved is our Internship program. Potential interns do go through an application process as with a job and we do have criteria. We do not pay interns, however, we are fully committed to giving them a valuable learning experience. So it’s more an advanced and complicated system of barter.
Here’s a video from Deep South homestead’s YouTube Channel on something they bartered:
What Can You Barter?
The opportunities for what you can barter are endless. They may be limited by your imagination and communication – or lack thereof.
Communication is important in bartering. First and foremost don’t be afraid to broach the topic. The person can only say no. Often they will say – huh, I never considered that!
Present your trade and ask if they are interested. If you can work out a deal then you have just bartered. If not then try again at a later date.
What Is Valuable For Barter?
Food – fresh produce, homemade jams, baked goods, a homecooked meal
Mechanical Skills – basic equipment repairs or maintenance, cutting wood
Farm skills – bush hogging, baling hay, mowing, weed eating, gardening work
Traditional skills – candle making, herbal tinctures, fresh flowers bouquets, sewing, knitting
Professional Skills - writing, childcare, teaching a skill, education program, plumbing, electric,
Fresh Produce is A Valuable Commodity
Bartering for and with food works
Community
Bartering builds community. It is not just about saving money. Bartering puts you in touch with likeminded people and builds social relationships.
When I was a teacher the schools really stressed teamwork. Why? because so many kids don’t have those experiences elsewhere.
I grew up on a family farm. We worked and we worked together. And quite frankly if you didn’t work you got your butt kicked.
My grandparents told stories about the Great Depression. Those stories revolved around people helping each other. Not people out to be better, richer or to have more stuff.
Money has divided us.
This book discusses some more complicated trades such as healthcare. Lots of good tips.
Money Versus Trade and Good Transactions
Money has divided us into haves and have nots.
For example, a woman makes handmade knitted sweaters that are beautiful and functional. She can sell them for money but as a handmade product, they are worth more and considered a luxury. Anyone can go to Walmart and get a sweater for $10.
However, if you remove money from the equation, and rid yourself of the corporate superstores then that woman makes an extremely valuable product. Everyone needs clothing and in the winter warm clothing is necessary.
Now she can trade her product for things she needs such as food or services. She and the people she trades with are on equal ground. They have something that she needs and she has something they need. They trade and both are happy that they received something they needed.
The key here is mutual respect for one another. Both parties go home with a sense of pride and accomplishment. That is a healthy transaction.
The walls for this goat shed were made from an old wooden fence. I simply took down the fence in exchange for the lumber. The owners put up a new fence.
Another example:
Farmers’ markets have been growing around the country giving many farmers an outlet for their produce. Sadly in a money-focused economy that does not always happen.
For example, I’ve sold for many years at farmers’ markets. Most of the farmers I know work very hard to produce a high-quality product. However, its often sold for less than it’s worth, by a farmer who has struggled to make ends meet. This is why so many farmers give up.
They may be seen as bad business people because they theoretically “failed”. This is not accurate. Money has actually made both parties feel disenfranchised or denied an opportunity.
In a barter system, fresh food is a valuable commodity and viewed as something very important. It’s fun to trade vegetables or eggs because the recipient is happy.
Bartering Online
There are quite a few online bartering groups. I have never used them. I have met people a couple of times while selling something on Craigslist and later bartered with them.
The Simple Dollar website has an article 13 Great Places to Trade Stuff Online
There are also many buy/sell/trade groups on Facebook. Look for one in your geographic area.
Take Away
I have found barter to be a worthwhile endeavor and a way to get things I did not have cash for. I have also made long-lasting friends and built my tribe. Barter does require a give and take and communication by both persons involved.
Author, Ame Vanorio has 27 years of experience living off-grid, is a certified teacher, and an organic farmer. She is the director of Fox Run Environmental Education Center and a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.
Check out our EVENTS page. Ame teaches classes locally and online about organic gardening, herbs, homesteading, green building, living off-grid and wildlife conservation. In addition, she is a freelance writer and writes for several gardening, tiny house and pet websites. She lives a sustainable life on her Kentucky farm with a myriad of domestic and wild animals.