Trading our goods and services with one another is nothing new on Cortes, but perhaps there’s a way to help facilitate this age old practice. When I lived in Montreal, I used the bartering section on craigslist all the time. I traded massage, yoga instruction and web design for a host of different things, from clothing design and French lessons, to lessons on sprouting and juicing and even beat-boxing. There was really no limit to what I could find, and the greatest thing about it all was that I made some really wonderful friendships in the process.

Eager to continue this sort of exchange on Cortes, I founded the Cortes Exchange in January 2010 with the generous support of Literacy Now. It is a list-serv, a bit like craigslist but more private and functional, intended to help facilitate one-to-one trading of knowledge, skills, goods and services on the Island.

I believe that there is an abundance of skills and resources here on Cortes, and that money need not limit the amount by which we trade them locally.

Please visit http:// www.cortes-exchange.ca to learn more and to sign-up. Our goal is to sign-up at least 200 members by March. There is no risk of spam - you can regulate how much email you receive and when, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

The more the merrier!

Thank you for your support.

Cheers,
Elinor Bazar
935-0311
bazar311yahoo.com