Food as Barter

Growing food is always a good thing: if you grow more than you can eat or store, you can barter or gift the surplus. I've mentioned that when I was growing up my family grew lots of tomatoes, while the neighbor to the north grew sweetcorn along the edge of his corn field, and others grew cucumbers, peppers, onions, or something else. We all traded freely, since we were friends as well as neighbors. Mom and Dad always had chickens for fresh eggs and the surplus were taken to church every Sunday for anyone who wanted them to take home. 

Food as a barter item is nothing new, and when TSHTF it will probably come back into use. World supply lines are already under stress, causing localized shortages of some items, and prices for what is available are climbing fast; if our economy takes a serious dive, or we get involved in another war, things will get even harder to find at the supermarket. Having a secondary source of the basics would qualify as a good prepping idea.

Not all of us are going to have the room to set up a garden large enough to sustain our family, but even a few window planters or a vertical garden made of PVC pipe can grow enough to help. If you have neighbors or tribe that can grow food, maybe you should look at growing the herbs and spices that make meals more enjoyable. There are many options that aren't exactly food but would make good barter items.

Sugar

Modern people are addicted to sugar as a result of marketing strategies developed after WW2. Think about how much sugary crap the average person consumes daily and you'll see that having a supply of sweetener to trade could be worth its weight in gold.

Sugar comes from two main sources: cane and beets. Sugar cane is a tropical plant that is easy to grow if you have the climate; sugar beets will grow in much colder climates, and once harvested can be left on the ground, frozen, until they're processed. Sugar cane is a perennial grass similar to bamboo that regrows from the roots every year; sugar beets have to be planted from seed every year. Sugar cane is grown in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas; sugar beets are grown in North Dakota and Minnesota, where they'll stay frozen after harvest and can be processed over the winter.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is a cheap sugar replacement that takes some chemistry and equipment to produce. Having spent several years working in a plant that produced it by the railcar load, I know how it's made and don't think many preppers would be able to make it on a small scale. 

Spices

Black pepper is a tropical plant, but Cayenne and various other peppers can be used as replacements. With the modern American palate being accustomed to spicy food, peppers are a low-maintenance plant that could be used as a barter item.

Garlic and onions are root crops that take up little room to grow and are easy to store. Most of the other spices like curry, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves are all native to small areas of the world and don't grow well in other areas, hence the trade routes of ancient times. If you can produce enough to trade, there will be a market if our current system fails.

Herbs

The list of herbs used to season and enhance the flavors of food is too long for me to list here. Mints and herbs are easy to grow in a space even as small as a single pot for use in the kitchen. Growing and storing a few varieties of seasoning for trade purposes wouldn't take much room or time.

Caffeine

Somewhere around 85% of Americans start their day with a caffeinated drink of some sort. Be it coffee, tea, soda, or energy drink, caffeine is an addiction that has its claws in a lot of people. 

There's only one native North American plant that contains caffeine: Yaupon, a variety of holly native to northern Florida and southern Georgia. The leaves make a smooth tea that is richer in caffeine than Asian teas.

We have some cold-hardy tea plants that will grow in colder regions, I'll cover them in a separate article along with how they are processed.

Arabica coffee can be grown in a greenhouse in the USA, but it takes a lot of care and processing to make into something fit to drink.

Tobacco

This one is controversial; I've mentioned growing tobacco before and gotten negative feedback. Feeding this addiction is not supporting a healthy lifestyle, but if a grown adult chooses to partake of it, that's their choice. It's a powerful addiction; I've been hooked on it since I was about 18 years old. I've quit several times, but keep coming back to it. 

I switched from smoking to vaping a few years back to reduce the health effects, but I know it's not good for me. My brain is now wired to expect the nicotine and life is not pleasant without it. This makes it a valuable trade item, but I know nothing about its cultivation and processing.

The nicotine in tobacco has other uses, mainly as a pesticide. It's a powerful poison, so painting a light coating on seeds or stems will kill most insects that touch it. Since I work with pesticides for a living, I'm aware of how dangerous it can be. 

If you find yourself in a community, no matter how small, sometimes specializing in producing one thing can open up lines of barter with others for the things you can't make yourself. This is one of the basics of civilization and shouldn't be lost, no matter how bad things get.

Bargain Hunting aka If You Don't Ask, the Answer is Always “No”

I had to stop by the local hardware store the other day, and I noticed that they had left-over garden seeds on sale for 10 cents a pack. You've seen those cardboard displays full of seed packets" This one was still about half full of vegetable seeds, and there was another one with flower seeds that had a bit less.

As I was checking out, I asked the cashier if they'd take an offer on the whole batch -- all of their left-over vegetable seeds for one price. She took down my phone number and name so she could pass it on to the owner. Two days later I got a call: they'd accept my offer so long as I took the flower seeds, too.

Here's what I picked up, with a dollar bill for scale . The larger bag is vegetable seeds and the smaller one is flower seeds. I'll have to sort out any herbs that may have gotten mixed in, and there are a few flowers that are useful for more than just ornamentation.

Some of you may be wondering why I'm buying garden seeds after the growing season is over (our first frost warning was announced tonight). Besides the huge drop in price, the “interesting” mix of vegetables, and the quantity edging towards trade goods, the best reason is that there's nothing wrong with the seeds. Planting seeds a year after their “crop year” date will drop the germination rate (percentage of seeds that will actually produce a plant) from 80-100% down to 60-70% at worst. This just means I'll just have to over-plant the seeds to make up for the losses, which is easier to do when the prices are low. Waiting two or three years drops the rate even lower (it varies by seed type), but there's a chance some of them will grow.

With slightly lower germination rates, these seeds would also be a good candidate for “guerilla gardening”, which is the act of planting a random selection of food plants on property that isn't yours. Think river banks along a bug-out route, or maybe a southern exposure on state/federal land. You may not get to harvest it, but it's there if you need it, and if nothing else, it'll provide food for the critters and may even make them easier to hunt.

I've opened the sack of vegetable seeds and here's a rough inventory:

• Lettuce, leaf and head: 26
• Cabbage: 5
• Broccoli: 10
• Cauliflower: 3
• Spinach: 14
• Beans: 16
• Peas: 7
• Bell peppers: 37
• Jalapeno peppers: 5
• Tomatoes: 37
• Cucumbers: 20
• Eggplant: 7
• Squash (3 kinds): 27
• Watermelon: 3
• Pumpkin: 7
• Carrots: 17
• Radishes: 15
• Onions: 13
• Turnips: 14
• Beets: 5
• Sweet Basil: 21

That's a total of 309 packets, pre-priced at $0.99 each. That's $305.91 (plus tax) at retail price. Since the seed count varies by plant type, I'm not even going to guess at how many seeds are there; “a whole bunch” is about as close as I care right now. 

If you look at the variety, you'll notice that most of the seeds are for vegetables that are easy to store. Lots of root crops (onions, turnips, etc.), squash, and plenty of easily dried or canned options. The lettuce and a few of the others are for immediate use, but I got a good mix of pre-food. There are some things in there that I don't care to eat, but if times get tough I'm sure I'll be able to choke them down.

The owner of this local store wanted to free up some floor space and get ready for the winter displays, so he was happy to get rid of the two big cardboard racks of seeds. I haven't opened the flower seeds bag yet, but I think I got a fair deal for my $30.00 -- that's less than 10 cents per packet for just the vegetable seeds. He took less than his “clearance” price (probably close to half) just to get rid of them all at once.

If you don't ask, the answer is always “No”, so don't be afraid to talk to the folks behind the counter. They may not be authorized to accept your offer, but they should be able to pass you on to someone who is.

Gun Blog Variety Podcast #75

Despite having almost no voice left after a week of coughing, Sean has dragged himself to the computer and done the podcast with Adam. Just because he can't talk doesn't mean he won't talk.

• Erin Palette, having talked last week about barter, this week talks trade goods.
• By taking US Navy hostages, Iran seems to want to complete the comparison between President Obama and President Carter. But this time Iran let them go. I ask Nicki Kenyon if that's a Win or a Fail for our foreign policy.
• Barron B give us his thoughts on New York's attempt to ban smart phone encryption
• And in his extended series on Obama's disastrous CNN Town Hall, Weer'd enters the second week with "The Lies, Part 2."

Thanks for downloading, listening, and subscribing. Please like and share The GunBlog VarietyCast on Facebook, and if you use iTunes, give us a review!

Listen to the podcast here.

Read the show notes here.

A special thanks both to Firearms Policy Coalition for their support and to our sponsor, Law of Self Defense. Use discount code "Variety" at checkout and get 10% off.

Gun Blog Variety Podcast #74

Adam is getting better from his extended illness while Sean is getting sicker.

• Erin Palette tells us about bartering.
• Nicki Kenyon explains how the Cologne, Germany open air rape attacks will affect the future of European refugees.
• Barron B gives us some tips on how to avoid pop ups, adware, and malware.
• And Weer'd starts a multi-week series on President Obama's very bad, no good time at CNN's Town Hall.

Thanks for downloading, listening, and subscribing. Please like and share The GunBlog VarietyCast on Facebook, and if you use iTunes, give us a review!

Listen to the podcast here.

Read the show notes here.

A special thanks both to Firearms Policy Coalition for their support and to our sponsor,Law of Self Defense. Use discount code "Variety" at checkout and get 10% off.

Adding Some Spice to Your Life

When talking about Prepper Pantries, there are a few things that most of us tend to either ignore or forget. The most important thing that everyone in the Western world tends to take for granted is something that's so common in our grocery store and regular pantry, and so easy to come by these days, that we forget that its more than simply a kitchen convenience: SALT.

We don't generally stop to consider that salt does more than just make our food taste good. It provides certain critically necessary minerals in our daily diet, as well. Without it, we will die. With too much of it, we do ourselves damage as well -- especially with our increasingly sedimentary lifestyles here in the U.S. -- but a complete lack of salt will kill us in particularly unpleasant manners.

History
Salt is so important to maintaining our health that entire economies rose and fell based on salt trade routes throughout the ages. It was worth its weight in gold: spice caravans were raided not simply for the riches that were represented by exotic, rare spices grown only in certain climates, but more commonly to steal the very necessary salt that was always part of trade.

Salt has been important enough in a historical sense that it is only when we reach the late 18th to early 19th century, with the industrial revolution and rapid transportation of goods on a global scale, that salt started being more commonly used in every day cooking and kept as a matter of routine out on the dinner table.

Up until that point, spices were carefully hoarded in the kitchen, to be used with extreme parsimony during cooking. Setting it out on the table for the use of high ranking or extremely important guests was done not simply to honor those guests as an act of high hospitality, but also to show off that you had sufficient wealth that you could afford to put something as critical as salt, and as difficult to come by and expensive as pepper, out on the table for lavish use. Extravagant salt and pepper cellars set out on the table during dinner were the Renaissance equivalent of driving a Lamborghini today.

Application
Salt, pepper, and a few other commonly used spices can go a long way towards making even the most unappetizing dreck a little easier to swallow when you're out camping or en route to your bug out location. When you go out to grab a quick bite of something at a fast food place, do yourself a giant favor and grab a few extra packets of salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard, honey, or other tiny condiments. Stash them in a baggie and toss them into the bottom of your bug out bag. You'll thank yourself later for having done so.

Similarly, do yourself a favor and start stocking up on salt now, as part of your Prepper's Pantry, by spending an extra $2 a month on a couple of standard kitchen canisters full of salt that you would normally pick up only when you're about to run out. If things ever go completely haywire and society collapses, having a large stash of salt on hand serves several purposes:

1. It's critical to maintaining your own health, when used in moderation. 
2. It makes your food more appealing - you'll be amazed at how much better your outlook is if you aren't dreading fueling your body. 
3. It becomes a good way to preserve your food (those rabbits, fish, etc that you're trapping for protein) so that it doesn't spoil before you're through the winter. 
4. It's a great trade commodity, because it will be needed by everyone and they won't think of it until its critical.

If you're fortunate enough to live near an ocean, or where there are salt flats, then harvesting salt for long term survival and trade goods is easy enough to learn. If you're like myself, and live more than a day's drive from the ocean during normal times, then it becomes a matter of life and death to have it stocked up and have a plan in place of how to acquire more when it eventually runs out.

Don't wait until the SHTF to start thinking about salt!

Trade Goods: Ammunition

Ammunition is one of the mainstays of prepping. Firearms become expensive, fairly fragile clubs unless you have the right cartridges to feed them. Ammunition is also a “dense” way to store value -- it takes up less space and weighs more than an equivalent worth of water or clothing. With the exceptions of rimfire cartridges and those made of aluminum or steel, most cartridges can be reloaded more than once and will retain some value even after being used.

Primers, powder, and bullets can be made from locally available materials much easier than brass, and having the equipment to reload could be a viable source of “income” after TSHTF. Properly manufactured and stored (see Erin's post on ammunition storage), ammunition has a very long shelf-life. I'm shooting some stuff that was loaded for use in WWI (which makes it almost a century old) with very few misfires; about the same rate as I see from the stuff made during WWII. One of the advantages to shooting old calibers is that some of them were originally loaded with black powder, which is simple to make.

Trading Ammunition
When trading for (buying) ammunition, get the best that you can. Anything that is dented, corroded, or otherwise damaged should be looked at as a source of components (bullet, powder, etc.) only. Small dents that don't interfere with the cycling of the firearm will usually pop back out when the bullet is fired, but larger dents will prevent a proper gas seal around the cartridge and could be dangerous to use. Corrosion weakens the brass and, depending on the type of firearm, could create a ruptured or split case, which requires special tools to get out of the chamber.

When selling ammunition, be aware that the buyers are likely to come back for more. I'll cover safety/security in a bit, but you should only trade what is surplus to your own needs. As an example, I have ammunition on hand for firearms that I no longer own. It is in calibers that will not fit any of my other guns, so it is surplus to me. If someone else could use it in their guns, it would be worth a lot more to them than it is to me. Unless I were to happen upon a truckload of .22LR, I don't think I'd be willing to sell that caliber; it is so useful and common that I wish it was reloadable. Since it's not, there is a finite supply once the factories stop. Supply and demand will make it one of the more valuable commodities in a very short time.

Trade is based on a lot of things, but trust is one of the main ones. If there are no lawyers or courts around, be careful of cheating your trade partners. They may respond in ways you won't like, and have no method to redress. Knowingly selling someone defective ammunition is about the same as shooting them yourself, since it is likely to injure them or cause them to become injured. Taking a shot at a wild hog and having your gun blow up in your face or jam with a bullet half-way down the barrel is not a good way to stay alive.

Why Trade?

Whenever someone mentions using ammunition or weapons as a trade good, it generally evokes one of two responses:

1. You can never have too much ammo! Never trade it.
2. Why would you give someone the bullets to kill you?

The first response is generally true. It's hard to accumulate too much ammo -- but not impossible. If you're getting ready to bug out and not return, or if you are relocating for other reasons (i.e. your shelter is no longer suitable or is damaged beyond repair) you may have to leave things behind. If you have several tons of ammo, you can either trade it for something easier to transport, destroy it, or attempt to hide it. In that situation, I'd trade ammo for fuel or a vehicle rather than create a noisy fire that would draw attention.

The second response is quite common, and one that is often seen on prepper sites. It makes sense if you're staying in an area where you are not secure and there are people who you don't know or trust are around. Roaming bands of drug-crazed mutants are generally considered a good reason to find a better place to live, and I would suggest keeping your interactions with them to a bare minimum. Trading with people like that is a no-win proposition.

Security Revisted 

There are situations where you may consider trading ammunition, however. Going back to my post on trade basics, there are four general situations in which trade occurs between people. Each has special requirements for both the buyer's and seller's safety.

Buyer is mobile, seller is not
Buyer: As long as the buyer is able to get to and from the seller safely, and trusts the seller to not rob/kill him, there is no reason to not trade for ammo. 

Seller: The seller will need to have security on hand in sufficient quantity to dissuade would-be robbers. Being stationary means you will be able to plan and implement defensive measures, but will also require them. You're a target, regardless of what you're trading.

Seller is mobile, buyer is not
Buyer: If you're set up in your compound and you have a trade caravan that stops by every so often, buying ammunition from them should be safe. Random visitors should be treated as potentially hostile until you get more information. Trust is hard to earn, and a lone wanderer could be a scout for a large group. “Casing the joint” is nothing new, and I don't expect it will disappear any time soon.

Seller: If you're a traveling salesman, you'd best have a secure route laid out. The further away you are from a crisis in time and distance, the safer you should be. Another possibility would be stopping by a settlement while traveling and trading excess ammunition for food. Knowing your buyer will be a big help; otherwise you'll just have to trust your instincts. If something feels wrong, it probably is. Pick up and move on if you are physically able.

Both buyer and seller are mobile
Since both are mobile, they will have the same concerns with safety/security. Getting to and from the meeting point will be half of the challenge; the other half will be the meeting itself. Trade is most dangerous just before and just after the negotiations begin. If you're coming to trade, you have something of value and are a target to some; iIf you're done trading, you will have something of value on you, so you're a target once again.

Trading ammunition to a sociopath is not a good idea since they will have no problem killing you and taking everything. Use your gut as well as your head. If something feels “off” or wrong, back away from the meeting and get to safety.

Both buyer and seller are stationary
This gets back to the definitions from last week. Transporting things of value can be a challenge, and ammunition is no different. Small quantities can be hidden in other cargo (one of the good things about being it being a dense medium), but large lots will have to be transported under guard. Communications and safe transport will probably resemble the drug trade of today. Depending on the quality and quantity of “law” still present after a crisis, smuggling skills may be worth knowing.

Final Thoughts
Trading ammunition is another of the various parts of prepping that isn't black and white. There are a lot of gray areas you need to be aware of and to plan for. The danger of “giving someone the bullets to kill you with” can be avoided by trading only with those you trust. I would have no problem at all trading surplus ammunition with my extended family or tribe, because I trust them and I want them to survive any bad times as well. 

Trade without politics is also more personal; without the “rule of law”, there is no way to coerce someone into trading with you. Hang that “We reserve the right to refuse service” sign with pride, and pay heed to your instincts: they could be worth your life.

Steel: The Other Precious Metal

There is no doubt that trade goods are useful to have in a disaster or collapse of significant scale or duration. For good or ill, precious metals are very often high on the list of trade goods preppers stockpile. While some of us (myself included) find more value in functional items, gold and silver have been a driving force for humanity throughout recorded history.

There is another metal though, one that is precious because it is so functional. I'm talking about steel, specifically in blade form. Knives are the chief and king of survival tools, with a value far beyond their weight and cost.

The subject of knives as trade goods is a matter of much debate amongst the BCP family. Some worry that they may be handing over a weapon that can later be used against them. Some are reluctant to give up a tool that they may need later. Others are fully in favor of trade, seeing yet another benefit of the knife. None of these parties are wrong, even though they disagree. Let's address these views to find some understanding and come to informed conclusions.

I may be giving up a weapon
This is entirely true. In my home, though, we have other, more effective weapons. It is in everyone's best interests to acquire, train with, and employ the best defensive options available. Also, if I suspected a person would turn on and endanger me or my tribe, I wouldn't trade anything with that person, short of sheer desperation.

I may be giving up a tool I'll need
Never trade your only knife, unless you're truly desperate. Never trade your spare knife, if you can avoid it. After that, as long as your personal knife needs are covered, your risks of being caught high and dry without a blade are greatly lessened.

My knife has value as a trade item
If you've arrived at this conclusion, it becomes time to consider keeping a few extra blades around as trade fodder. (If you've arrived at the opposite conclusion, learn to identify the traders, because a source of tools is never a bad thing.) As a side benefit, between the time you acquire it and the time you trade it, you possess a useful tool. This is always a good thing.

What knives for trading?
It stands to reason that the ideal trade knife would be inexpensive, with obvious tool value, and minimal apparent weapon value.

The obvious answer to that is the Mora. It's collectively one of our favorite blades for many reasons: they're large enough to do all sorts of useful work, without being so large and stout as to scream "stabbing stick"; they take and hold an edge well (Erin can confirm this); and they're inexpensive enough that you can keep a couple around without blowing most budgets.

Whether you choose to barter with blades or not, it's an important consideration to have, and to keep in mind. Someone will always be willing to trade, so keep your eyes peeled, stay sharp, and you can stay ahead of problems.


Lokidude

Trading: General Principles and Practices

While thinking about and researching the option of trading ammunition for other goods, I came to the conclusion that a lot of people don't know the basics of trade or barter. The concept is clear -- trading something you have for something that you don't have -- but the practice isn't as well defined to many folks.

Barter and trade have a few basic parts that need to be understood before attempting. These are things that were common knowledge for centuries, but have fallen out of use with the invention of money and “civilization”. Economics on a large scale involves politics which we don't cover here; but economics on a small scale, however, are fairly easy to understand.

Value, Worth, or Price?

Everything has a value to you, and often a different value to someone else. A rusty but functional table saw may be something you can repair and use, but to a person with no mechanical aptitude it is scrap metal. Imported Italian shoes may be something you'd be willing to save and sacrifice for, but to someone who works in the dirt and mud, they're a waste of money. Drastically different values can often be used to your advantage by finding something of value to you that the current owner has no desire to keep. The flip side is finding something of value to them that you own but have no use for.

What something is “worth” is whatever someone else is willing to give you for it. It's not going to matter how much time, effort or money you have invested in something; if the buyer is unwilling to meet your asking price, its worth less to him than it is to you. (Talk to any artist or crafter and they'll tell you about people wanting to pay Wal-Mart prices for hand-made goods.)

Generally, the buyer sets the “worth” of an object. Worth is a very time sensitive matter, since it is tightly tied to the law of supply and demand (see below). Gasoline prices tend to jump drastically at the first hint of a disaster, and I've seen some serious price-gouging on other items before, during, and after natural disasters. Try buying a sheet of plywood anywhere near the coast two days before a hurricane makes landfall! If you find any, the price will not be what it was two weeks prior, because it is now worth more to people.

Price is simply what the buyer and seller agree to exchange. Right now everything is priced in US dollars (actually Federal Reserve Notes, but that's politics), but after a financial crash, or if the money stored in the banks is otherwise inaccessible, the medium of exchange will sort itself out. For large items, gold may return as the standard. Silver and other metals (copper, brass, lead, steel, etc.) will have value as trade goods, but are easier to adulterate or counterfeit. Gold is fairly easy to test for purity, but the other metals require some knowledge of metallurgy or chemistry. Manufactured goods may become a standard, I've seen recommendations of using ammunition as a form of currency, with a 22LR being small change and larger cartridges being the “real” money. With 22LR not being (easily) reloadable, I actually think that it will be higher on the list of denominations if the production facilities shut down. Centerfire cartridges that can be reloaded will be more common (higher supply) as soon as the supply of 22LR starts to dwindle.

Chart by Dallas Epperson via Wikimedia Commons

Supply and Demand

I'm sure everyone has seen a graph like this one before. It illustrates a basic law of economics which states that as the supply of a thing increases, the price decreases.

In times of shortage, prices climb fast and high. The price of oil is a good example of supply and demand: if oil producing and exporting countries (that's what OPEC stands for) don't feel that they are getting enough money for their oil, they slow down production until the price rises. If the price gets high enough, it becomes profitable to extract oil from tar sands and shale, which tends to increase supply and drive the price back down. There is an entire class of people in this world who make their living from manipulating the supply and demand of goods (without providing any actual goods, but that's getting close to politics again), and there have been merchants as long as humans have been able to create a surplus of anything.

Security

In a civilized society, you can go about your daily business with little to no fear of being robbed or killed for what you own. However, civilization tends to break down after a major crisis, such as the looting, stealing, robbery and other assorted crimes that tend to blossom after a hurricane (Katrina), earthquake (Haiti), government collapse (too many to choose from), or even something as transient as a power outage (NYC, 1977).

There are exceptional situations where most people maintain their “manners” and help each other out instead of merely taking what they want (NYC 9/11/2001, Fukishima 2011, any Midwest US tornado strike). For the purposes of prepping, let's assume that normal society has gone away for at least a while and that there are no normal law enforcement services. How do you trade and stay safe?

Trade between people takes place in four distinct manners; each has security issues to consider.

• Buyer is mobile, seller is stationary
  This is the closest to what we see as “normal” life: traveling to a place to buy things. Beware of normalcy bias! Just because you're going to the same store you've shopped at before doesn't mean that everything will be the same. After a crisis, things may not be anywhere near normal and the seller may have to increase security measures to avoid being robbed. Buyers will have to do the same to avoid losing their purchases after they leave the store.
  
  
• Seller is mobile, buyer is stationary
  Remember traveling salesman jokes? Salesmen used to travel to their customers, and this practice could come back after TEOTWAWKI. This system will only work when the seller trusts that the buyer won't kill him for what he's carrying. Absent that level of trust, the seller will just keep on moving and not stop where he feels at risk. Since the seller is likely to be outnumbered and on strange ground, he will have to trust the buyer, but since the seller is going to eventually leave, the buyer needs to trust that the goods are not defective.

• Both buyer and seller are mobile
  Examples of this are meeting another traveler at a gathering, or while hunting/ patrolling/ gathering. Individuals can usually trade better than groups; any time you have a group of people, you're going to have a leader and at least one wanna-be leader, which increases the tension in any meeting. If you happen upon a fellow wanderer you'll likely have more in common than in difference, but trade with care since there are no witnesses. Temporary trading spots used to be a common way for travelers to exchange surplus for needs -- the trapper's rendezvous, the Medieval fair, and today's Farmer's Markets are all good examples. Security is normally provided by each seller/buyer, and the routes to and from them may be watched by “highway-men”.
  
  
  
• Both buyer and seller are stationary
  This requires communications and a method of transport. Shipping farm products to a store in town is a good example: depending on the size and severity of the crisis, shipping a load of vegetables could be as simple as carting them in and dropping them off, or as complicated as negotiating through checkpoints (government or otherwise) and risking bandits.

Reputation and Trust

Long ago, a man's word was his bond. People actually cared about what they said and promised, because they knew that if they broke a vow or promise that word would get around about it and ruin their reputation. In a small community, or one that is cut off from larger groups, a person's reputation influences how they are treated in trade as much as any other social interaction. Start selling defective or damaged goods as perfect, and eventually nobody will want to trade with you. Fail to deliver something that has been paid for, and you may face more than just shunning. Many online sales sites have a feedback/reputation system for scoring buyers and sellers, but this is nothing but the sites reinventing the wheel, since humans have dealt with each other based on reputation for millennia.

I'm seeing a small shift back towards the concept of honor in certain segments of the population, but they tend to only consider their own “tribe” worthy of honor. Respect needs to be earned, but there should be a base level that we can give anyone who is not trying to harm us.

Keep in mind that some folks are born traders, so watch for that trait in any person you encounter: if they're with you it can help, but if they're on the other side of the sale, they can screw you.

Final Words

I'm not an economist, nor do I play one on TV. I'm a student of history and believe that knowing how things used to be done may come in handy if our modern system stops working for any of a host of reasons. If you want to learn more about how markets and systems work, there are free courses online. Use the resources we have available to get prepared for the possibility that they may not always be there.

Trade Goods: Alcohol Addendum

After hitting "publish" on my last post, a few things were brought to my attention, or rather the lack of a few things. This is an attempt to cover those omissions.

Distilling Drinking Spirits
I mentioned the legal framework for making your own beer, wine and fuel but forgot to cover the distilling of drinking alcohol. Under current law, you can't. The various governing agencies have not provided a legal way for people to distill their own drinking alcohol without paying huge fees and taxes. Moonshining is still illegal, and you may have noticed that I won't suggest that anyone knowingly break the law. Consider all of the information available on line "For entertainment and educational purposes only":

• A good place to start is Tony Ackland's page. He's a chemical engineer from New Zealand and his measurements are metric, but the information is clear and reliable.
• The History Channel has covered moonshining in a few of their series and their webpage has some clear and concise graphics to help explain the process.
• There are commercial home stills available for sale, but the tax man will want it registered if it is going to be used for drinking alcohol.
• Of course, in a WROL situation, the tax man will be the least of your worries, and having this kind of information could be very valuable. Use your own judgement and know the risks before getting started.

Ammunition Storage

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

Since we seem to be on a roll regarding the stockpiling of goods for trade, I thought I'd mention my favorite precious metals:  Steel, brass, and lead.

There's an old, tasteless prepper joke that goes something like this:

Q:  What's a box of .22LR worth post-SHTF?

A:  Your daughter's virginity.

That joke can be interpreted several ways, none of them very flattering. But the point remains that ammunition will be an important commodity post-disaster, especially if the catastrophe is extensive enough that immediate rebuilding isn't possible. It also makes an excellent trade good because, stored properly, it can last for decades. 

Detriments

There are three factors which affect stored ammunition: high heat, high humidity, and temperature variations. 

Heat
According to the Sporting Arms & Ammunition Manufacturing Institute's (SAAMI) guidelines for storage, ammunition begins to degrade past 150° F. Autoignition isn't an issue -- it takes much higher temperatures for modern gunpower to spontaneously combust -- but performance degradation such that your expensive ammunition goes "click" instead of "bang" is a concern. 

Humidity
High humidity is also bad for ammunition, as moisture can seep into the cartridge and degrade the powder or the primer. It can also cause corrosion of the brass cartridge, resulting in an improperly-seated bullet or a casing that ruptures when shot. Humidity of 50% or more is too much; 30% or less humidity is ideal for ammunition storage. And, of course, keep all ammunition away from liquids of all kinds. 

Temperature Variations
Frequent heating and cooling cause objects to expand and contract. Cartridges exposed to this on a daily basis (such as in the desert) will frequently have bullets which come unseated. 

Proper Ammunition Storage

Functioning World War 2 ammunition has been found in bunkers throughout Europe, and much of that wasn't even stored properly. If 70 year old cartridges left on the ground can still fire, then modern ammunition properly stored ought to last as long  as you need it to. 

Keep it out of sunlight
Sunlight itself won't hurt ammunition, but being exposed to thermal radiation will heat it up and cause long-term damage.

Keep it in a cool, dry place
Don't store it in the trunk of your car, or in your uninsulated garage. Basements are fine, so long as they're dry (stack the ammunition out of reach of any water). Other good places are in the backs of closets, under beds. and of course in gun safes. 

Keep it in its original container
The plastic cradle and cardboard box serve as a first layer of defense against environmental changes. And if you happen to have a "spam can" of ammunition, keep it sealed -- those cans are watertight and ammunition inside can last forever if properly maintained. 

Use dessicants
Save those little "do not eat" satchets you get in packages or in pill bottles; they absorb moisture. Throw some in with your unsealed ammo. 

Use a vault or storage boxes
If you're fortunate to own a climate-controlled gun vault, then by all means keep your unsealed ammunition inside it. If you aren't, then use water-resistant ammo cans and anti-corrosion bags. 

Follow these tips, and your ammunition will last a long time, either to be used as intended or trades for other goods and services. And speaking of trading, read Chaplain Tim's article about the dilemma involved in "Do I trade ammo to this person who might use it against me?"

Trade Goods: Alcohol

David mentioned precious metal in yesterday's post, and that set off some discussion on our Facebook page about trade goods. As far as precious metals go, I believe that silver is better than gold for the simple fact that most transactions that take place face-to-face are worth less than an ounce of gold. Having a Krugerrand on a chain around your neck might be enough to get you a plane ticket home, but what if all you need is a hot meal and a place to sleep? Making change is easier with silver.

One of the topics that got brought up was trade goods. Food, medicine, clothing, tobacco, and ammunition were all mentioned, but I got a few questions about alcohol. Useful as a fuel, antiseptic, for recreational use, or just as a way to store value, alcohol can be a handy thing to have around. It can be even more handy to know how to make it.

First things first: Fuel alcohol is not and cannot be made safe to drink. Drinking alcohol may be usable as fuel, but it doesn't go the other direction. Fuel alcohol is made using materials and methods that can contaminate it with poisonous chemicals, and by law it then has to be denatured by adding a poisonous substance. Laws like this are written to make sure the “proper” amount of tax is paid on the alcohol, depending on how it is to be used. Fuel alcohol is taxed at a much lower rate than the fun kind.

Drinking Alcohol
Unless you're a moonshiner with a still hidden in the woods, it's cheaper and easier to buy your drinking goods and store them. I don't drink hard liquor, but I keep a few bottles on hand for guests and as potential trade goods. Small bottles fit my needs best, since they take up little space and, like silver, make for good “small denominations” when making change. Even a few of the airline-sized bottles would come in handy for cleaning a wound or trading for small items. This is obviously a “bugging in” or cache item. Every once of weight in a backpack will make itself known once you start to carry it.

Making safe-to-drink alcoholic beverages is an old art that predates science and agriculture and isn't hard -- if bread, water, and fruit can be turned into contraband wine in prisons, how hard can it be? -- but it takes time, equipment, and money. Since 1978, the Federal Government has allowed people the privilege of producing up to 100 gallons of beer or wine per adult per year for personal consumption without paying taxes on it. State laws vary, but at least you don't have to worry about the BATFE as long as you stay under their limits. Drinking alcohol comes in two types, fermented and distilled.

Fermented Alcohol
Beer, wine, cider, and mead are the main fermented forms of alcohol.

Beer is the result of fermentation of cereal grains followed by the addition of hops, which act as a preservative.

• Since the sugar content of grains is fairly low, and the “malting” process of converting starches to sugars is dependent on the enzymes available, most beer yeasts produce 4-6% alcohol. This is not quite enough alcohol to kill off other microbes, so hops are added as a preservative. 
• Barley, oats, rice and wheat are the main grains used in making beer around the world. 
• Simple beer is nothing more than barley, water, yeast and hops. 
• Beer doesn't store well, and should be consumed within a few months of being made.

Wine is the result of fermentation of fruits.

• Since the sugar content of fruit is higher than that of grains, it is possible to get a higher alcohol content in wine (generally around 10%), which is high enough to be self-preserving as long as the container stays sealed. 
• Wine, if properly stored, can last for centuries. 
• I helped put up 60 gallons of Elderberry wine in recycled liquor bottles (free from a bar) about 40 years ago. As long as the lid sealed tight, the wine is still fit to drink and may have actually improved a bit with age. The ones that didn't seal are pretty nasty.

Cider, or Hard Cider, is fermented apple juice, and usually has an alcohol content around 7%.

• Often made using wild or native yeast, the taste and quality can vary from batch to batch.
• Like beer, it doesn't store well.

Mead is fermented honey.

• Since honey has strong anti-microbial properties, making mead involves a few more steps than making beer or wine. Normally, the addition of nutrients and water is required to allow the activity of the yeast. 
• Meads run from 8-20% alcohol, and should store at least as well as wine.

Distilled Alcohol

Distillation is the process of removing water from a fermented liquid in order to raise the alcohol content. The main difference between distilling drinking alcohol vs. fuel alcohol is the equipment construction: you cannot use any lead, zinc, or other heavy metals in the construction of a still that is going to produce drinking alcohol, as the metals will leach out into the alcohol and poison the person drinking it. Dead customers don't come back, so save car radiators and galvanized pipe for the fuel still. If you use copper, use only lead-free solder or welds on joints.

• Distilled drinks include whiskeys, brandies, vodka, schnapps, and other “hard” liquors. 
• You can take a wine at 10-12 % alcohol and convert it into a brandy at 35% alcohol by distillation. Instructions for home distilling can be found here. 
• Hard liquor is useful as as disinfectant, and if the alcohol content is over 60%, it can be used as a fuel in engines and lamps. 
• At roughly 50% it will hold a flame, which is how moon-shiners tested, or “proofed”, their batches: if it would hold a flame, it was 100 Proof. That's how we got the silly “80 Proof” on the labels of our rum, which is 40% alcohol. (Sorry, the chemist in me detests arbitrary measuring systems, and alcohol production is so old that it is full of arbitrary measuring systems.)

Fuel Alcohol (Ethanol)

In order to make alcohol that will run an internal combustion engine, you'll need to be able to get the alcohol content above 80% and you'll have to make some modifications to the fuel system in order to allow more ethanol into the cylinder. Ethanol (grain alcohol) has about 65% of the energy that gasoline does, so it takes more of it to get the same amount of work out of an engine. On a carbureted engine, increasing the fuel jet size by 30-40% will do it. If you have a newer engine that is fuel injected, you will have to either replace the injectors with ones that will allow more flow or reprogram your cars computer to hold the injectors open longer. The new “Flex Fuel” cars have their computers programmed to run on either gas or ethanol (or any blend of the two).

I've worked on small engines for years, and lawnmowers, chainsaws, motorcycles, etc. don't like ethanol. Ethanol tends to degrade some of the synthetic rubber compounds used in small engine fuel systems, and can also corrode the really cheap alloys used in older carburetor bodies. Two-strokes are a bit more forgiving, due to the oil mixed with the fuel, but you may still have problems feeding them ethanol. Make sure you have parts on hand to repair your small engines if you plan on running a generator or pump on ethanol!

Most of my reference books were written in the 70s and 80s. Back then there was serious concern about “peak oil” and the environmental damage being caused by burning petroleum. Peak oil has been shown to be a myth, and auto makers have made great strides in reducing the pollutants coming out of their cars. The alternative energy push back then laid the groundwork for the ethanol industry we have today, and the research and experimentation is still valid. My main source of information is a loose-bound book printed by the old Mother Earth News (MEN) as a handout for a seminar on home production of fuel ethanol. The book cost $25 in 1980, and I can't find it on their website, so I have to say it is out of print. MEN has gone through several management changes over the years, and they keep coming back to simple, do-it-yourself projects. The late 70s and early 80s were the “prime time” for the magazine; self-sufficiency was a big, new phenomenon that had an eager audience. Most of the information from that era is now available on their website, and I suggest you go there for details and actual plans for building a small-scale ethanol production plant, since I cannot do it justice in a blog post.

Fuel alcohol is taxed and controlled by the federal government, but they have created a “small-scale producer” permit that is fairly easy to obtain. It will allow you to produce up to 5000 gallons of pure alcohol per year, which should be enough for your daily driving.

How To Make It

Making fuel ethanol is fairly simple:

1. Find a source of sugars or starches, be it grain, fruit, or whatever you have at hand that can contribute sugars. There are special tools that will tell you how much sugar is in a solution (measured in Brix).
2. Find the enzymes you'll need to break the starches into sugars.“Malting” is simply wetting the grain to allow it to sprout. This releases enzymes that break down the starches for the plant to use. Heating the malted grain stops the sprouting and gets it ready for the yeast. 
3. Add yeast to start the fermentation. Brewers yeast is best, since it has been bred to be efficient at producing alcohol, but any yeast (even wild yeast floating through the air) will work. 
4. Keep the yeast happy (manage nutrients, temperature, etc.). This is where you get to control the heat and air. Fermentation is an anaerobic process and must be done in an environment free of oxygen. 
5. Once the yeast are done converting the sugars to alcohol, run the liquid through a distillation column. Done-ness is normally indicated by the reduction of CO2 being produced by the yeast. Testing the density (specific gravity) of the liquid will tell you how much of it is alcohol. Design of columns is a science, and there are many kits and plans available. A good column will result in 90-95% alcohol, which is good enough to use as fuel. Plans for a 6 inch column can be found here, and it is rated at 6-8 gallons of alcohol per hour. 
6. Separate the solids for use as high-protein animal feed. You don't lose the grain, just the sugars and starches. It is common to rinse the solids and use the rinsate for the next batch, thereby reusing some of the nutrients. Contrary to claims on the internet, alcohol production does not take grain out of the mouths of children and animals. The Distillers Dry Grain Solids (DDGS) is a great animal feed, and is actually sold to feed-lots and feed producers. Cows, pigs, and chickens love it. 

I didn't give you complete instructions on how to build your own still, nor did I tell you what you need to stock in your larder. That's not my place. I am here to point you towards information and help explain things that some folks may not understand. As always, I welcome questions and comments here and on our Facebook page.