Homesteaders

[Chicken girl 15]

@Beekissed I plan on making 5 pints of salsa and 7 quarts of beets tomorrow along with what ever else I managed to bring home from work. Probably 75-100 lbs of maters and a case of squash I hope.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Oh and corn by the truck loads. Plus all the "over ripe " produce and the stuff laying between the rows that the critters knocked down or took a taste of. Lol. It still taste good.

 

[Beekissed]

Girl, you are putting up some FOOD, now!!!!

Talk about a walk in grocery store in the house, you're going to have it! Doesn't that feel good??

 

[lcertuche]

Well I was blessed with many tomatoes and potatoes this year from our church. I have been getting a few squash and peppers from my miniscule garden but I have to freeze them because we lost our canner when we moved. I am about to start making jelly (water-bath) soon. I was hoping for a little cooler weather. I have blackberries and elderberries in the freezer waiting to be jelly. Muscadine will be ripe soon. I'm hoping for a few peaches, apples, and plums in a few weeks as well.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

It feels great to have food "just in case ". My excess chickens also make for great trade for other home needs. Firewood, labor, pork, you name it chances are something you have extra of someone else needs.

 

[lcertuche]

I love to barter. Where I use to live my friends and neighbors bartered a lot. Often if was for work. We helped our friends with their horses, and they helped us move an outbuilding on our property for instance. I also would give my neighbors starts of chickens. I would give them a rooster and a hen with chicks and they would give me meat or mechanical. These are just a couple of good instances but really there were too many to remember.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

I have a great friend who has big farm equipment which we do not. We spend all year feeding him homemade goodies and he lends help when we need it. Kinda like a guy I help with his horses donates fresh produce from his garden to my family and let's us fish his pond all we want. Just no taking his gelding carp. I love to pay for stuff with work or other stuff. Kinda makes the "I'm richer than you" an irrelevant point.

 

[RustedOak]

There is definitely merit to the barter system. I would much rather barter and trade any day than to deal with cash. It not only saves money, but it also builds community/relationships and Uncle Sam isn't around sniffing for his big hunk of the pie.

 

[duluthralphie]

There is definitely merit to the barter system. I would much rather barter and trade any day than to deal with cash. It not only saves money, but it also builds community/relationships and Uncle Sam isn't around sniffing for his big hunk of the pie. 

What? You don't declare the cash value of your barters, like I do?

 

[lcertuche]

What? You don't declare the cash value of your barters, like I do?

That's funny! Who can put a price on building a sustainable network of likeminded individuals. Oh yeah, Uncle Sam. I remember years ago my friends and I each had daughters the same age and I would babysit hers at night while she worked and she watched mine in the mornings when I worked. No money and it was a great relief to us both. Our four daughters didn't even know we were babysitting, lol. Both our girls were 5 and 7, the four just played together and fussed together like sisters.