You barter believe it....

"Barter is the act of trading goods or services between two or more parties without the use of money. Bartering can benefit individuals, companies and countries that see a mutual benefit in exchanging goods and services rather than cash. It also enables those who are lacking hard currency to obtain goods and services."

Although money or metal discs representing monetary value have been in use for thousands of years, I'm pleased to say that the barter system is alive and well and, I'm happy to report, appears to be thriving here in Hawke's Bay.

This has been absolutely wonderful for us in our temporary cash strapped state. We have been able to exchange our garden produce for other things we need.

There is a Facebook page called Magic Bean, which is where we have done a few swaps so far.

Here we have exchanged our rhubarb for beetroot (our beetroot had not yet matured) and our lettuce for passion fruit.

But word of mouth is even better. With family members, friends and acquaintances we have swapped - our lettuce and silver-beet for lemons - our peaches for venison (how wonderful is that?) - more peaches for apples - home made granola for a melon and pumpkin - a supply of runner beans and lettuce in exchange for a lamb roast meal - even runner beans and cucumbers for yoga lessons.

It's a great system where there are no losers.....except of course for the taxman.

The government naturally hate the barter system because they can't tax it. Which in my mind makes it an even greater system.

As mentioned in earlier posts, due to being late getting our plants into the ground this time around, we have missed out on much that we could have grown. Next springtime though we will be on the ball and expect to have a whole cornucopia of fruit and veg to not only feed us, but also excess to either barter for other items or services, or to sell at the gate.

We do have a few things even now that are available so if you're coming our way, don't pass the gate, call in and see if there's anything we can supply you with.

Silver-beet, lettuceand runner beans seem to be plentiful at the moment.

Or simply stop by for a cup of coffee or tea (ordinary or herbal - we make a delicious fresh mint tea), a chat and a look at what's happening in the garden.

We will also more likely than not have a supply of veggie seedlings if you're planning on starting a veggie patch of your own.

We have up to 40 punnets of seedlings in various stages of development at any time, many of which I will use myself in a cycle of continuous plantings, but should have a few spare ranging from lettuce and silver-beet to peas and broad beans and even a few herbs.

We also have an over abundance of runner bean seeds available now for planting in springtime.