Bartering

     Good morning. I am up again before everyone else in the house. And I love it. I get to drink coffee and think without being interrupted. I have been doing a lot of thinking about prepping and I can tell you there is a lot to think about. If you would make a list of all the things you would need to have in the event of SHTF the list would never end. I have been searching the web for others' lists and some of the things they include are crazy to me. But I do know that every ones  list is different and based on number in the group, medical conditions, location, and personal preferences. Due to our location in a rural area and my moms medical conditions I have decided to focus on bugging in. It would be very difficult to bug out with my mom who was Alzheimer's. Getting her to even walk around the outside of the house is difficult at times I can only imagine how hard it would be to get her to climb a mountain and live in tents for any length of time. So due to that I will be focusing on bugging in.
     A new area of thought has been bartering. I have decided that I need to gain a skill or skills that I can barter with. Sewing, crocheting, soap making, making maple syrup, garden production, seed production, cooking, canning, baking, ammo production, medical services and solar and wind power battery charging and on and on. But for me I am not a pro in any of those areas. I can sew some but probably  not good enough to make any money with it.
     Crocheting is something I have been working on and I am not doing very well, my first project is to make a blanket. I have been working on that blanket for months and months. And I have not made much progress, I work on it about one hour a day and I am not doing anything fancy, just the basic, and easiest way I could find by looking on the web. I have taught myself. When I was a child my aunt and next door neighbor tried to teach me but I was to young to take the lessons seriously, now I wish I would have paid more attention. When I finish we will have one very warm very time consuming blanket. It seems that crocheting will not be very profitable for me. Maybe I could learn more but right now I have other areas that I want to try.
      I can sew enough for what I need right now. I even made my own wedding dress but never wore it, I got married at the beach in tie dyed. But most things I have sewed I used a sewing machine and in the event of no power sewing will be done by hand and I can do that but not well. I have sewed curtains by hand before but never clothes, This is something I  need to work on and it may be a profitable barter skill.
     Soap making in something I have never done. But I have made bar soap into liquid and I have made laundry soap. But in the event of SHTF will there be the products available that is needed to make soaps?
     Maple syrup is something I have never done but am interested in.
     Garden production is something I am currently doing. And every year that I do it I am learning.      
     Seed production is something that I have already decided that I will be doing this year.
     Cooking is something I am decent at. But cooking over an open fire is something I have done but not enough to say I am proficient at.
      Canning is something I have never done. But I am already planning on buying a pressure caner and I have been studying so that I will be ready to give it a try when I harvest my garden.
      Baking is something I am good at except I don't bake bread well. I can make a really good pie. But baking in any other way than in my kitchen oven is something I have never done. I would love to find a wood burning stove. And work on improving my bread baking skills. Grain grinding is another bartering skill and product.
     Ammo production is something I have never thought about. Maybe that one I will have my husband take control of.
     Medical services is something I could provide in a limited amount. I once was a LPN. So basic things and assisting in child birth I could do.
     I currently have no alternate power source, those things cost lots of money. But would love to begin solar energy production. Maybe start small and one step at a time.
     This is definitely not an all inclusive list by any means. Just a few things that I have been thinking about. I think that is why community is vital. The things that I can not do someone else maybe able to and the things they cant do maybe I can.
     Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave a comment on some things that you have thought would be a good bartering skill.

                                                                 April Whitehair