This past Saturday we went down to Oxford to check out a sale. The Nelson's, a Couple who have been CSA members of ours in the past, bought Hooven's, a popular nursery in Oxford, OH and they will be turning this into a place for workshops and conferences concerning green topics like organic foods, Zen Buddhism, simplicity, etc.. And because of their plans they decided they really do not need several thousand pots, seedling flats, greenhouses, carts, shelving, baskets, garden chemicals (most toxic as Bill Hooven did not seem to believe in organic management), etc., etc..
So we went down to see what they had and picked up many 10' pieces of conduit that will be turned into at least part of a hoophouse, 3 shelving units, 2 huge bags of perlite (we won't need to buy any more of that in our lifetimes unless we get a lot bigger), a couple of bags of hydrated garden lime and this coming Saturday after market (yes we have a farmers' market coming up on the 18th) we will go back and see if we can get this Lexan sheathed lean to taken down. If we are successful, we will have enough material to make a couple of good sized greenhouses (the heated permanent kind). If we are not than we will have helped the Nelson's get rid of part of a building that is in the way of their plans. I suspect, however, even in failure, that we will be able to extract many aged Lexan panels, enough to do something out here.
The way cool thing about this transaction is it will be a barter. We get stuff they do not need in exchange for food later on this season. I love it when we can barter with people, it is such a nice economy. If we did not need cash money to pay bills and mortgages and such I would do far more bartering. Always wanted to barter a season long CSA subscription for an hour long massage a week. If you are a local masseuse/masseur who is interested in all the pure food you can eat leave a comment and we will get in touch.
2 comments:
Lucy and Eugene,
We agree--bartering is the way to go to help each other and for more sustainable and right livelihoods.
Perhaps you will come out and do a class on organic growing for the community at the Sugati Retreat Center when we open later this year?? Looking forward to watching our businesses grow and blossom. Take care and see you soon. Terri and Pat
P.S. "Sugati" comes from the ancient Pali language meaning 'happy destination' : )
I love bartering.We are hoping to do a little ourselves this spring - we'd like to borrow a friend's front end loader and in exchange my dh will tune it up in his shop. I have also traded sewing for chiropractic care. We ought to do more of this.
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