The Trade ‘N"‘ Post
A Gift Economy Experiment - Sept 8
by Sophie Baliff

“The currency in a gift economy is relationship, which is expressed as gratitude, as interdependence and the ongoing cycles of reciprocity.

A gift economy nurtures the community bonds that enhance mutual well-being; the economic unit is “we” rather than “I”, as all flourishing is mutual”

- The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer

Over the next few months we will be conducting an experiment in facilitating community relationship building. The goal is to allow for people to connect with others through the act of giving with no expectation of receiving nor monetary compensation. As Transition workers, this concept will act as a building block in striving towards creating a participatory community involving all. When the individual begins to form reciprocity-based relationships, one feels a sense of belonging and care. When we all work towards this place of being, everyone benefits.

Our experiment consists of a bulletin board that people can post notes on asking for something that they need or want – no matter how big or small. If someone can provide the item or service, they take the note and contact the person asking. Simple but effective.

We noticed on the first day of the booth that people were eager to give, the first thing most did when they approached was scan the board to see what they could offer. On the other hand, people were slow to think of things that they wanted to ask for themselves. This reflects the conundrum that our society faces in the (time period in which we wait for things??). Because we are indoctrinated to consume as fast as possible, we have lost the ability to wait for things as they come. We can go to the store and buy whatever we need almost immediately, and if we can’t in person we surely can online. This makes it difficult to find ourselves in a place of waiting for things or searching for something over time. Even us, the facilitators, had to take a second to come up with something decent to post on the bulletin board.

But everyone eventually thought of something to ask for, whether it was a small material item they had been wanting for a while or a huge trip to another country. Through this process of brainstorming, we find ourselves grounded in the things we truly desire. We don’t want to have to search for items online or spend hours traversing a megastore. The magic in the gift economy shines when we learn that the things we want already exist and are ready to be shared. Our neighbors want to help and provide. We just need an opportunity to connect.

Instead of operating on the capitalist assumption that resources are scarce and must be hoarded, a gift economy views the earth as naturally abundant and generous.

Sophie adds her ask to the bulletin board

Our next Trade ‘N‘ Post will be at the King Street Market in downtown Boone on October 6.

Hello and welcome!

This blog serves as a space to discuss our projects and the philosophy behind them. We learn so much from the land and from community at each workday or gathering we host, and there is so much wisdom to share as we work to build resilient and regenerative community. We’ll be sharing that here.

This year we’ve been hosting ecological workdays. We study indigenous land management to inform how we work with the land. By studying and practicing these ways, we honor the land, the people who tended the land for millennia here before us, and the relationship between the people and the land. We are recognize we are not separate from the land.

Over the course of the year and several “invasive” species removal workdays, we’ve witnessed how nonnative species are an invitation into relationship with our local land; this relationship is never “over” as some will ask when the task of removing nonnatives will be finished.

These nonnative species are opportunistic. They are not evil or bad. In may ways nonnative species have provided ecological benefits in places where the native ecosystem has been broken, namely where the land has been disturbed or corrupted by extractive farming practices and development and the native seed bank has been compromised.

Indigenous cultures around the world say that the plants that are showing up are plants that are needed. For one reason or another.

An example of this could be the prevalence of Japanese Barberry, Japanese Knotweed, and Kudzu. In many places their overgrowth is concerning. Additionally a growing concern is the prevalence of Lyme’s disease spreading in our area. Each of those three plants has (researched-backed) benefits in treating Lyme’s disease once contracted.

The way we move forward with this information is to harvest the plants as we remove them, paying special attention to when in the year to harvest. Recognizing the uses of plants is incentive to harvest them from the ecosystem, and because we want to minimize their impact on the native ecosystem, we are encouraged to harvest as much as we want, as opposed to native plants which we must be very careful to harvest, if at all.

Japanese Barberry, for example, has a compound in its root called Berberine. Berberine has been called a “wonder molecule” for its “potent anti-bacterial, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, neuroprotective, anti-diarrheal , anti-inflammatory, anti-depressant, and hepatoprotective activity.”[source] This berberine can be found in our native an beloved Goldenseal. However in many places Goldenseal has been overharvested and eradicated. On the other hand, Barberry is plentiful. We are given an abundant medicine through Barberry. Let’s harvest it!

Discovering the ways to use these plants is a marvelous journey. I’ve personally been inquiring into uses for Japanese Stiltgrass for the past three years, asking dozens of ecologists and ethnobotanists, reading books and online articles. Answers have been few and far between. Marc Williams, an ethnobotanist in the Asheville area, said he’s juiced the grass to make a grass shot. Wendy Patoprsty at Blue Ridge Conservancy said “at least it’s not asphalt”. That is truly a use in itself.

We are humbled over and over by working with the land, by both its mysteries and discoveries.

Gift Economy Experiment Reflection by Sophie

Our Ecological Ethos Introduction