Trade, Borrow or Steal?

The other day I was chatting with a co-worker about the usual topics: work, college basketball and beer (you know, usual stuff).  When he was about to head back to his cube, one of our other co-workers came by and handed him a small cooler.  He told me that it was full of elk meat that our other co-worker had given him.  This isnt the first time that I’ve noticed a one co-worker (a different one) give this specific person game meat.  The last time I noticed it a similar thing happened, except the meat was deer and not elk.

Obviously after all the work I had put into my elk hunt over multiple days (and years!) I was slightly annoyed with what I thought of as his laziness, so I commented on it.  I said something along the lines of ‘wow it must be easy for you to eat around here, you can just bum meat off of all of the other people in the office, because you can just take a few pounds from everyone and end up with a enough to tide yourself over to the next fall’ (There’s at least 6 people who got elk in the office).  He replied that he didnt have to hunt and didnt really feel bad about it (though he does fish), and didnt ever expect to pick up hunting or give it a try because he had another skill: Brewing.

Thinking back, this wasnt the first time that I heard a conversation about bartering at the office.  A different co-worker makes jellys, jams, chutneys and other canned goods that she sells at the farmers market.  One day she walked in with a handful of jars and told me that she was headed over to so-and-so’s cube because the person in question liked her jalepeno jelly and wanted to trade her for some duck eggs.  (Clearly, this sort of thing goes on more than I thought, and I should get in on it)

It honestly was something that had never occured to me.  He was trading a few beers (he bottles in 22oz’s) for a few pounds of elk.  I have no idea why (probably because I have few friends and even fewer skills) I had never thought about it, but I hadn’t.  After I thought about it more, I think it’s a pretty sweet idea – he gets to brew some more than he would normally, increasing his skills and also having a place to dispose of beers that he may have grown tired of for whatever reason, and the people who are trading elk (or other game meat) are able to get rid of stuff they may not eat before next fall or before it goes bad.

The one of the best parts about this is that each person is giving something that they put a great deal of time into and throughly enjoyed – so it didnt really feel like work.  Everyone is able to get something in return for their hobby beyond the original intent, and will also get to share their hobby with coworkers.  I had never really thought much about the barter system beyond a few small things before this, but this conversation has really opened my eyes and let me know that there’s probably people there who will barter anything for anything and everything, which opens up a world of possibility in terms of sustainability and finances.

Readers: Have you ever traded food with someone else, if so, what did you trade and for what?  Have you ever thought about doing this?  I have a feeling that this could play a bigger role in H and I’s life this summer with our CSAs, but I’m not sure how, though I could offer to trade with co-workers who keep gardens.

ps. one funny thing about this is after I wrote this, frugal portland offered to trade me some homemade candy for elk meat.

Tagged as: food, save money, self reliance

Tweet