Skill Sharing

After the Ingenuity Tour last September, I had in mind that we could hold a series of workshops to teach specific skills that were exhibited in the tour. Unfortunately, I always have more things that I want to do than time or ability to do them, so my follow through average is not so hot. We are well into planning for the next Ingenuity Tour this Sept 21, and have great hopes of matching or exceeding the success we had last year. Now as to the more in depth skills sharing, I have a much grander idea that will require the time and energy of a lot of people to put on. I’m putting the idea out now so we can consider holding our event a year from now.
 
What I have in mind is a skillshare fair. Since we quit repairing things or doing a lot of things for ourselves, we have forgotten skills that our parents or grandparents or somebody they knew had. However, we all have skills that we can teach each other.
 
For instance, I have to confess that as much as I’ve read and accumulated the proper tools, getting a really good edge on a kitchen knife is still mystifying to me. I can’t seem to get that razor edge that glides through the carrots and immediately parts a tomato skin. How often have you had a tool or appliance stop working and your only recourse was to send it back to the factory at great expense or buy another one? More often than not, the easiest solution is to dump the old one and buy a new one. Because of our lack of skill, the non working machine which may have required a 15 minute repair is thrown in the garbage with 99% of its parts in perfect working condition. I think everybody agonizes over that to some extent. We can’t afford to waste the time and resources put into those parts. We also can’t afford to frivolously manufacture millions of new tools from increasingly scarce resources. In the transition movement, we have often talked about caretaking our finite fossil fuel supply, but we can’t ignore all the other minerals as well. It’s true that we are getting a lot better at recycling our minerals, but we can’t continue to operate an economy that sees ever more goods and ever more consumption as inherently good.
 
Another set of lost skills revolves around making useful things out of the plants, animals, and materials we find all around us. This includes growing, preparing, preserving food, knowing the uses of woods and other plants around us, and being able to use them to make a tool, build a structure, or restore health. Things around us includes our own hands, voices, and feet, so music and dancing are some other things we can become proficient at. Did you know that native hazelnut or Indian plum will make a good strong shovel handle and, with a little looking you can find a piece that is already the size and shape that you need? We’ve come to think that the only legitimate goods have to come from big manufacturers or farms. We are surrounded by all kinds of basket weaving and cord making materials that are as or more durable as many manmade materials. I’m not saying that all manmade materials are without merit, but we can go a long way making practical and aesthetically pleasing artifacts for ourselves and enjoy the process of making them. What’s not to like about that? Well, I can hear a lot of you saying that you don’t have the time to do those things. That is indeed a lamentable situation and a difficult problem that’s been addressed here before and will be again.
 
What is a skillshare fair like? Here are two sites to look at that will give you a good idea:
The first is a youtube video from a transition group called Sustainable Northeast Seattle:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tqnvJ6_CU8&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL0B423B06CD96BC77
The second in a promotion for the Whatcom County Skilshare Fair:
www.whatcomskillsharefaire.org
I see this as a two day celebration like the Strawberry Fest only with lots of great things to do and learn. You probably noticed that you could be learning everything from vehicle maintenance and home repair to learning how to whistle with two fingers. Our local musicians and wine and beer makers could even provide an exquisite beer and wine garden. The great thing is that all of us have something that we could share. We may not think of it right away, but it is there. Another great thing is all the connections that we would make with our neighbors, both for support and mentorship in the future as well as friendships. I would love for us to have this experience and I hope that a lot of you would as well. It will take a lot of us to do it, so please let me know if you want to help. If you have a skill you might consider sharing, send it to me at the email below and I will catalog it. No commitments right now, so feel free to venture something.
 
Skills, ideas, volunteers? terry@vashonloop.com