Saturday, October 13, 2007

Forget beg, borrow or steal... try barter

Imagine getting a week at the gym for free. imagine getting enough hay to feed your animals over the winter.

Our local hay supplier - he's got several fields of really nice bermuda grass - has us on his list and he calls us whenever he has hay baled in the field. Last time we got a load, he said he was having a hard time getting folk to move the unsold hay from the field to the barn before it rains. We said, "We'd like to help."

Two days ago the call came in.

We've since picked up 162 bales, hauled 'e up the mountain, unloaded and stacked 'em in the hay yard. We'll tarp the stack in the next day or so. He's said he could hold whatever amount we can't store ourselves in his barn and we could get it later.

After our hay had been hauled and stacked, we went to work for him. Today, we moved 5 loads and paid for about 20% of the hay we purchased.

And what, you're asking, does this have to do with a free week at the gym? I've walked about 5 miles without the aid of a treadmill through the rolling hills of his hay fields doing the snatch and lift on more than 800 - 60 pound bales of hay.

Imagine having great biceps and triceps and legs and pecs. Imagine being really sore the next day.

But thats not the point. Without spending one cent of our hard earned money, we've managed to trade labor for hay. We've also traded labor for wood. By clearing the slab and sawdust out a local sawyers work area, he's agreed to cut us timbers for rafters and purlins at no charge.

What are your barter stories?

No comments: