Bellingham man puts out feelers in Hansville.

HANSVILLE — History is about to repeat itself once more as Hansville residents gear up to call an ancient trade their own.

According to history books, before national currencies took root in bank systems and before money was printed on trees — right, in ancient history — people bartered for their necessary goods.

During tough economic times, bartering and local trade seems to become a bit more popular as those strapped for cash look to stretch their budgets. For Erica Whitbeck, 31, and her mother Heather Goodmundson, there’d be nothing better than a living barter system in Hansville. Both know their community has skilled individuals.

“It’s a way to get to know the people you see everyday but just don’t know what a great woodworker they are or that they make beautiful jewelry,” Whitbeck said.

There’s already other people paving the way for trading goods in the Northwest, too. It’s not Craigslist.com, either.

Bellingham’s Francis Ayley, 53, who was born and raised in London, England, developed a community trading group called Fourth Corner Exchange. It started trading about four years ago.

Since then, the exchange has added chapters all over Washington, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, California and Nova Scotia and British Columbia in Canada.

“The downfall of the economy — that’s what got people interested in the alternatives and we are definitely one of the alternatives,” Ayley said of the group that now boasts more than 700 members.

The most recent chapters that opened locally are in Port Townsend, Port Angeles and Sequim, Everett, Olympia and now Hansville.

“We’ve traded 530 thousand dollars — a half a million dollar’s worth of goods and services over the last three-and-a-half years, most in the past two,” he said, adding goods and services include everything from homebaked goods, farmer’s produce, mechanical work, day care, house-sitting, lawn care, even automobiles.

“Most people think that bank issued money is the only one possible but there are several other ways to issue money and run a monetary system,” he said.

One of which is by equating work hours with “life dollars,” the currency, which Ayley’s exchange uses. One life dollar, he said, is worth about $10 — the equivalent to what someone would earn in an hour on a basic living wage in the United States.

Ayley cautioned that as the U.S. dollar diminishes in value, so will the life dollar amount as it mirrors the monetary systems of the U.S. and Canada for international trading.

“What we actually wanted to do was create a currency that satisfied the needs of the people and that need is an international currency. It’s the perfect peoples’ money,” he said.

For Ayley, developing a trading system, adoptable in any community that works cohesively with other established trading communities is the product of his 35 years of studying economics. Before that he worked for 14 years as a psychotherapist.

“This all started when I was speaking to my grandmother when she lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s,” he said.

When Ayley first started a trading group that was based on life dollars in London, an economics professor told him the idea wouldn’t work; there was no one to police the system or prevent people from overdrawing their accounts.

After months of monitoring the database watching people move life-dollars into other people’s accounts after making a purchase, no one took advantage of the system.

“People were supposed to be greedy, selfish and rip other people off. No one was doing that,” he said. “We’ve all been sold a pack of lies not only about economics but about who we are and how we work. We have to work cooperatively with other people.”

In working with Fourth Corner Exchange, Ayley said people’s behavior changes completely when money is taken out of the equation.

One community in London came together to build a “little old lady” a greenhouse, when a windstorm blew hers over. The connections were all made through trading within the exchange.

Fourth Corner Exchange is open to anyone to join but Ayley said reputation is everything.

People are not forced to trade with those they do not trust.

For Hansville’s Whitbeck and Gudmundson, they already have friends who belong to the Port Townsend chapter and can’t wait to become part of their own.

Besides trading homemade pies and housecleaning services for lawn mowing or mechanical repairs, the women think the idea can serve as a community-builder.

“I’m a stay at home mom with two little boys and it’d be beneficial for people to get to know each other for child care options, even,” Whitbeck said. “I just think it’s a really great idea for people to get to know each other and everyone’s talents. It’s a great way to network their talents too.”