Barter items

[Mortblanc]

SS when I read and re-read your list of barter goodies, irrespective of the pros or cons of bartering, I note that many of the items have a shelf life and others go stale or loose their edge with age.

Some of the other items can be replaced by commonly available alternatives.

As a long time prepper I am now on my second round of 30 year shelf life foods. I can not consume canned foods fast enough to keep up with a rotation schedule, so much of it goes out of date big time! I can attest that 3 year out of date tuna will not kill you, neither will six year out of date beans.

I changed from a canned food prepper to a frozen food prepper during this pandemic. If the power goes out long term I will simply can food as the freezer thaws.

I quit smoking 20 years ago but I still remember the irritation of opening a pack of cigs and discovering they were stale. Tobacco does not last forever and it is not easily grown in the UK. Your climate is simply not suitable for any amount of production. You have always imported your tobaccos, from the US, Rhodesia, India or Egypt.

Many youngsters are not old enough to remember what we did before they made 2-stroke oil! We mixed petrol with the recommended amount of standard 30wt motor oil! It worked in chain saws, outboard engines and motorbikes. I even have an old Evinrude outboard that has the mix ratios embossed in the engine cover.

Chainsaw bar oil was unknown and we used old motor oil saved when we changed oil in the vehicles. I still do.

One thing learned through the recent shortages is that people are more resilient than we anticipated. They think, they do reason things out, and they find substitutes and alternatives very rapidly.

What would/do I keep for barter in those situations where I need work done or some product or service? I keep coffee and tea in large amounts. Also salt and spices.

I keep hand tools, not as much for their barter potential as they would be "rented out" by the job. If you need a special spanner or a ring compressor, or a jack plane, or you need to use my lathe or drill press, bring me a couple of eggs, a bird, squirrel or rabbit you trapped. Bring the spanner back when you finish.

He!! the folks on my road do this already! Only with us it is more on the order of "thanks for letting me use your lathe if you need anything welded up or fabricated bring it down."

No weapons or ammo get traded, not to anyone. That is just plain suicide.

I will trade stuff for lead, Sulphur, nitrate based stump remover, and good quality willow base charcoal. Same for old iron pipe, it has its uses.

There are two items I will always consider good for an emergency barter; alcohol and open pollinated seeds.

Alcohol is the ultimate multi-use survival item. Disinfectant, antiseptic, anesthetic, fuel for powering motors/heating/cooking, recreational uses. It always has and always will have high value in a low tech world. In many 3rd world areas it is the only home industry that consistently provides income.

Over here in the states there are wide swaths of land that were forcibly purchased, cleared and flooded under the guise of creating hydro electric power or aquatic recreational space when the real reason was to flush out the industrial level moonshiners that were paying no taxes on their product.

The seeds just speak for themselves, but people fail to realize how much seed, and land, it takes to get enough wheat, barley or rye to grow sustenance amounts of grain. It takes 10 pounds of seed maize to grow an acre. How many people really have that amount? That is a lot of those little mail order seed packets!

Maize has always been a survival crop. Combine it with beans of various sorts, squash and potatoes, which are also novice friendly crops and one might get by after all those canned goods and MRE meals are used up.

I have been in my present place for more than a decade. I know my neighbors, they know me. I have watched to old ones die and the young ones grow up and leave, then come back with families of their own, build a house and settle in. Their kids are going to the same school they went too, with the same teachers. I am not afraid of these people. Cautious, but not fearful, and I would speak up to insure their welfare and keep them from making a bad decision.

We have enough land to survive on. We also have "open land" not being farmed or grazed and only used for growing hay. These people also have not lost the technology of "small scale farming", canning and preserving. We own small to medium tractors, tillers and what we need to grow a crop of corn, potatoes, beans, turnips and greens.

I think I am saying that I live in a village. A village by the old definition. A place where people dwell together long term, not a place urbanites go to when they retire while still maintaining their urban suspicions, close the doors and shades, and hide from the weirdos.

Some of my weirdos know how to make stuff, grow stuff and do stuff. There's a couple of them worth keeping alive.