Over the last 3 years, I have learned how to water bath can, pressure can meats and veggies, dehydrate, smoke, and store food. All of these preservation methods are must-have skills (in my opinion) for those who want to be as self-reliant as they can be. If you are growing a food source garden, you need to know how to preserve the harvest! An unanticipated benefit of learning these skills is being able to fill your cupboard by bartering your skills!
The first time this happened, it was our neighbors approaching us. They knew that I gardened, smoked meats and cheeses, and pressure canned up the harvests. One day, they came to me and asked if I would be willing to smoke and pressure can the meat up for them. In exchange, they would give me half of what they had. HALF! I couldn’t believe it and it seemed wrong to take that much. I asked around and learned that this is actually a normal arrangement and payment terms.
I refused the half but agreed to a third, mostly because it felt wrong to take half and we are only two people compared to their family of four. They provided the jars and lids. They also brined the salmon in their preferred mix before bringing it over to me. I cut the strips, loaded up the smoker and let it work its magic. Then I fired up the pressure canner and within a day, had earned myself 6 gorgeous Sockeye Salmon fillets. (That is my favorite kind of salmon to smoke). The next morning, they came by and picked up their 16 pints of smoked fish and were happy as could be! So were we for that matter.
The second one was a friend who found out that I love to pickle food (it is insanely easy) and they happen to eat an insane amount of them. They asked me what it would take to get me to make them up a case or two of pints. I told them they needed their own jars, a gallon of white vinegar, and a case of pickling cucumbers. They again offered me half but we agreed on a third. In less than a day, I had 2 cases of pints all pickled up and ready to go. We ended up with half a dozen jars and I was happy as could be!
The most recent occurrence was two fold: some other neighbors had a bunch of venison and needed to repackage it plus, get some made into jerky. Well, we have a vacuum sealer that hasn’t failed me in 3 years and the best dehydrator on the market (in my very passionate opinion). Plus, I make one heck of a good peppered jerky if I do say so myself. 😉 In this case, we opted to take our ‘pay’ in venison jerky and a nice package of steaks. The processing took a weekend (wasn’t doing much anyway, it was winter!) and we ended up with some truly excellent food.
These three examples really got my mind going in 5 directions at once on other ways we can barter our time and skills to help fill up the cupboards with great food and supplies. You can offer to make jams and jellies if people will pick the berries when they are out, you can offer to help with the harvest or planting or weeding a friend’s garden in exchange for some fresh veggies when they come in.
Moving away from food, say you are doing a building project and could use some help. You have a neighbor who is working on some home improvements. Offer to help them in exchange for help on your project. It really is as easy as that and I can’t believe it took me this long to figure it out. Of course, people barter like this all the time but how many of us really think to barter instead of spend money to get what we want or need? In the pioneering days, that was commonplace but in this ‘consumer’ day and age, it is almost a foreign concept!
Thinking outside the box is part of what a homesteader does, often out of necessity. Homesteaders are rarely rich in monetary wealth but what they lack in funds is made up for in ingenuity, imagination, and extreme satisfaction of a good deal made and a job well done.
Do YOU regularly barter your skills for things you need? Share with us below and help inspire someone to see the possibilities!
I really enjoy reading all your articles. They are very informative. If it helps, I have a construction background. I have done very little bartering. Maybe it could help someone out at sometime in exchange for food. Thanks
Oh goodness yes! A person with carpentry skills would be extremely valuable in a SHTF situation (even more than they already are). I don’t know how many times I have thought about being able to barter some of my home canned food, venison, or salmon in exchange for some construction work. I would do it in a heartbeat! Trust me, there is always work needing done by one with carpentry skills around the homestead. During a SHTF scenario, even more so!
I did this just this year! Our neighbor grows organicly and sells at the farmer’s market. When I was buying string beans ( cause I didn’t get a garden in) I mentioned I was making dilly beans. He said they never tried that, but didn’t have time to can while the garden was in full swing so I offered to make him some if he provided beans and jars. I would supply any other ingredients. I made him a case and he was tickled pink! He offered any of his produce for my use if I made him some too. I said I just need him to provide jars and he went out and bought several cases. So I’ve had more than enough fresh produce to do my thing 🙂 such a blessing! I made him salsa, cowboy candy, pickles of various sorts and glazed carrots. I’m done for the season with his canning, but he asked me to do again next year and if I wanted them to grow anything specific to let them know! How wonderful! Also, we typically give our manure away if people shovel themselves but charge if they want tractor loads, so again we mentioned rather than cash if they had anything to trade we’d be open to that. He brought us a box of fresh garden produce and some garlic he grew….yum! Going to be a regular thing we do now.
HOW WONDERFUL!! What a great barter system you have. I am completely envious, just saying. 😉
I have a couple people that will buy pickling cucumbers and have me make them pickles. I keep about 1/3rd of it though he always offers half. Next year, there are several people who have asked me to smoke and can any salmon they had in the freezers come spring. Well, of course I will! They are making room for more salmon in their freezers and I am putting shelf stable (delicious) food on the shelves of both them and us! It works out so well. I hope to expand out as the years go by, too.
Thank you so much for sharing. It was a wonderful thing to wake up and read.