To trade or not to trade that is the question..

Everytime I go off to a gathering of any sort (hippish gathering that is)
I always take my trade box and usually come back with some awesome stuff. I was just wondering how many other people did this?

 

We used to really like trade circle; we did a lot of themed trades-lighters for anything that can be lit-finished jewelry for jewelry supplies...or take something, leave something trade blankets but at one late 90's Rainbow Gathering someone told our young'en that he would have to find some buds if he wanted to trade for a small bottle of glitter & we haven't done much trading since. In Montana'00, the trade market was so commercialized and the 'prices' so firm (meaning that people would only take certain trade items) that we started to call it the K-mart

People who trade away food instead of donating the food to the kitchens are another gripe of ours

But maybe some good energy folks will turn the trends around...

 

That's quite perposterous, someone expecting a kid to fetch buds... how rude could you get eh? ​

I usually never get what I expect to get... never have I set my sights on one single thing. I can understand what you mean however... and it is quite tedious and such an experience would most likely ruin it for me aswell.​

 

The problem I have with the traders is the ones that will lay out their blankets on the first day of seed camp, and then proceed to not get up off their fat merchant asses for the next 6 weeks. In WV, Aslan offered to trade the entire G-Funk theatre for one log, delivered, (What a bargain!) and couldn't get any takers.

 

I love trade circle, but this past gathering pissed me off. No one wanted to trade anything. All they wanted was nugget. I had handmade goods and clothing. I gave up. I agree with wanderingturnup!

 

yes...the jonzer traders just don't quite get it do they? i usually bring a bag of my handmade goodies and such...but i gotta tell ya it's getting old when somebody picks up one of my beadwork pieces and offers me a snickers bar for it...and then cops and attitude when i tell them that i'm looking to trade for something they made or supplies to make more crafty stuff. i know i gotta big butt...howeva, i would have to have been stuck out in the woods for a long frigg'n time with no good food to eat before i'd be foam'n at the mouth for a snickers bar. besides, snickers taste much better mushed up into the cosmic communal zuzu mix.

love you kids.

 

agreed! Also, I've seen mamas and papas using their children to do their trading with candy so that we feel bad and trade them handmade goods.

 

not to mention...if they would just chill and stop be so jonzeeeeish they might receive something for nuttin. i really enjoy giving my beadwork to folks that love it. this one older mamma fell in love with a rainbow/om peyote stitch but had no trades...so i gave it to her....just knowing that it was in the hair of someone who really loved it was enough for me.

 

Well i for one will be at the WY gathering, with plenty of trade stock, mostly semi-precious stone jewelry made by me. Of course i'll also be towing along a good supply of cigs, tobbacco, & papers to be handed over to Nick @ Nite, whatever local organic herbs i can rustle up for donation to Brewhaha (LOVE thier tea concoctions!), and any other dry goods/tools/supplies i can drudge up through the year. I know a lot of people try to take advantage of the trading/sharing concepts inherent in the gatherings, but i REFUSE to let that stop me from living & loving the life!
While i don't spend much time actually sitting in trader's circle, i do like to do so at least one good afternoon each gathering. Most of my time was typically spent workin in the kitchen @ the Musical Veggie.. Now that they've retired i feel a bit lost.. Think i may just have to ressurect it myself as the Musical Veggie Wannabees or some such.
Well, that's what i got on the subject.. Let's lead by example & make this year's trading circle, and the whole gathering for that matter, a shining example of what a little hippie love & understanding can do.
Love to you all Family,
Kryn

 

i used to love love love trade circle
back when i made jewlery alot, id go & spend most of the gathering at trade circle
but then realized that i msssed out on so much else while sitting around trading
ofcourse i always came back with such amazing stuff
but it just consumed too much of my time
so last few yers, i usualy just have 1 thing i'm lookin for..the right hat to keep my dreads outta the mud..so i usualy just bring the rest of my hats that all tend to pop off after bout 10 min & dont bother bringin nuthin else to trade

1 thing that always fascinated me bout trade circle though...
everytime id trade something nice to a kid for a buncha random worthless crap..it was always that worthless crap that through a series of trades always got me the best stuff...

like for instance
traded 1 of the rings i made, which i mean if i wassellin it id get like 35 for it..traded it to a kid who was maybe 4 years old, for a bunch of pebbles no different then any of the other pebles scattered around on the ground & a lighter that didnt even work..along comesa guy with a roll of wire he thought was silver (which i could have used to make more jewlery) which hetraded to me for the spring out of the broken lighter & 3 of the pebbles..(dunno why he wanted em tho)
the "silver" wire wasnt silver like he thought, but high tension wire (whatever the hell that means, just thats what i was told it was) which another brother wanted to build a homemade battery powered kiln he was making to fire these unique clay pipes (skulls, both eye sockets were bowls, so they were double bowl pipes) he traded me like 5 or 6 of these pipes for the wire..i kept the 2 nicest pipes, traded 2 for 2 drums (each worth over 100) and 1 for a really nice tent, that sold in stores for 500
not a bad trade for a couple pebbles & a lighter spring huh?

and that kinda thing happened everytime id trade with a kid for random useless crap