One of the things I learned along the way is the difference between an asset and a liability: Assets make money, liabilities eat money. My family used to tease me that even my hobbies were profitable (or at least broke even). If I went fishing, you could pretty much count on me bringing home a nice mess of perch or panfish for eating.

Recently I was asked if I was interested in selling our old ATV. It was being used almost every day, but it got me thinking, “Why do I have this since I have other modes of transportation?” Back when we bought it used, it was important for hauling seedlings into the farms, but since then we have grown to the point of using a tractor so we can haul up to three thousand seedlings at a time. I was using the ATV to get back and forth between the office and the farms, but I also have a motorcycle that is better and cheaper for that purpose.

So I bargained to swap the ATV for five milk cows with their calves. Our caretaker wants to milk the cows and can cut the grass for them inside our farm with a scythe. I get the manure for the nursery and our garden, and he pays off the cows with his income from making the milk into cheese.

So, the ATV has gone from being a liability that needs repairs to an asset that makes cheese. Just as long as I am not the person who has to milk it in the mornings, I am happy!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 8th, 2009 at 2:10 pm and is filed under bargaining, business in Costa Rica, nursery, scythe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.