How to survive in an era of food shortage? Return to a barter way of life
In ancient times, before humans had invented currency, people relied on bartering. If we grew certain crops or brought down certain game and could not eat it all ourselves, we shared it with our neighbors, and they in turn shared their own produce with us. Of course, when there was something we wanted, we would use exchange to swap each other's crops. Perhaps in modern times, because goods are so varied and because we have money, we can buy whatever we want, but some things cannot be bought with money, and that is the exchange of feelings, the joy of sharing one's own crops.
I once wrote an article, "Sharing - Making Everything Beautiful," about the joy and happiness of watching others eat the crops I grew, and of relatives warmly welcoming us and bringing out the crops they had grown and the seafood they had caught to share with us. But usually this was limited to a few relatives and friends we knew. Yet after a study trip to Taitung this year, I realized that the natural farming veterans on the east coast are also practicing this kind of food-and-goods bartering lifestyle, so that without spending much, you can still eat natural, healthy ingredients.
The Beginning of a Bartering Life - Exchanging Bamboo Shoots, Potatoes, Pineapples and Ginger
The first thing that came to mind when switching to natural farming was that income would drop, so this year, in the midst of converting to natural farming, I decided to open up more sources of income. This year has been a rainy one, and the makino bamboo shoots at home had already begun growing before those elsewhere had started producing. Add to that the advantage of altitude, and the makino bamboo shoots on our side are sweet and tender. So I asked on Facebook whether any friends wanted to buy some, and unexpectedly many friends said they did. At first we harvested almost every three days, cooked a big pot, portioned it into bags, and shipped them out one by one by refrigerated home delivery. But sometimes it would be a few days before we could send them again, and bamboo shoots cannot be kept long, so I posted a message on Facebook again asking whether anyone would be willing to trade crops with me.
The first was Huang Yuren, a classmate of mine at the Wufeng Agricultural Research Institute, who said he was willing to trade the potatoes his family grows organically for my makino bamboo shoots. So they used a box of twenty-some jin of potatoes, and I used twenty jin of makino bamboo shoots to trade with him. Of course, I think neither of us could eat that much at once, so we gave the crops we received away to relatives and friends, and of course some friends gave back many products in return.
Of course, this one exchange sparked an interest in bartering, so I called the veterans in Taitung. Brother Yilong of Xiayun Farm in Luye was willing to trade his family's pineapples for my makino bamboo shoots, and Brother Arong of Arong Natural Farm in Longtian was also willing to trade their native pineapples for my makino bamboo shoots. So I first sent the makino bamboo shoots and patiently waited for the pineapples they would harvest in July and August. Of course, when the pineapples later arrived, I could smell the pineapple aroma before even opening the box. When I posted it on Facebook, a lot of friends wanted to order pineapples from them too, but in the end they could not order any even if they wanted to. Only then did I realize that what we were trading for were such good things that many people could not buy even if they wanted to. We really are too fortunate.
