Yesterday, as Monkey Boy and I were building the bean teepee, I noticed there was still a ton of French Breakfast radishes that needed to be harvested. So when we were finished, I told him to pick the radishes, bag them up and deliver them to a few of the neighbors. Because, HELLO, we can’t eat them all.
Then, this morning, as I headed out to the backyard to water the garden, I noticed he didn’t pick all the radishes. Crap. Now what and I going to do? I can’t possibly eat another one, and all the neighbors who want radishes already have radishes.
So unsure of what I was going to do with them, I picked the radishes, set them aside and went back to watering the plants.
Then it hit me.
Hmmm. I wonder if the local produce stand would want them? I wonder if they would trade my French Breakfast radishes for… for… for… avocados?
I quickly washed them off and ran over there.
“Hi I’m Mavis…
I’m growing 2,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables in my backyard this summer… Yada Yada Yada… would you be interested in trading?”
“Sure, what do you want for them?” the owner said.
“I don’t know, how about some avocados? How about 6 avocados?”
“Make it 8. Go inside and give Billy the radishes and tell him you are taking 8 avocados.”
“Sweet. Thanks!’
Just before I left, I also mentioned to the owner of the produce stand that I was also growing 34 {yes, I found more} different varieties of heirloom tomatoes…
His eyes lit up, and he said he was VERY interested.
So I got his business card, and he told me to call him the day before I was going to bring the heirloom tomatoes in, and I could get some groceries in exchange.
Did I mention the produce stand sells MEAT?
Wahooooo!
Maybe next time I’ll wear the pilgrim dress.
Want to learn more about bartering? Check out The Feast Nearby: How I lost my job, buried a marriage, and found my way by keeping chickens, foraging, preserving, bartering, and eating locally (all on $40 a week) By Robin Mather. Amazon currently has it on sale for $15.44.
This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.