To barter: to trade by exchanging one commodity for another

What can I say, if you know me you know that I like to trade. Let’s just say it makes my {sometimes} boring life here in high maintenance suburbia a little more exciting. I like the fact that not everything in life has a price tag. Not everyone is willing to sell you something just because YOU want it and have the money to pay for it.

My super nice neighbor moved away this weekend and I bartered the use of her 4 raised garden boxes in exchange for me mowing her lawn all summer. It works for me and it works for her. I get to grow more veggies and she doesn’t have to hire a lawn service. And after all, the lawn isn’t that big anyway.

I went down to plant winter parsnips today. Since I had already planted the other 3 garden boxes last week I ended up planting the parsnip seeds in between the herbs and also a few in between the cabbages. One thing I have learned this year is to take advantage of companion planting. There are a ton of books out there on the subject but one the book I really liked was Carrots Love Tomatoes.

I’m starting to wonder if it’s possible to grow all the your food your family would consume in a year. How would you go about figuring that out? I know I’m not ready to grow wheat and to start grinding away with a flour grinder just yet, but it would be interesting to write it all down and map it out. What do you think? What couldn’t you live without?