The idea for this blog has developed slowly over the past six months. The story begins with a conversation I had with a friend about skill sharing parties at a birthday picnic and it was further cemented while brewing beer with another mate. I was lamenting the loss of the traditional passing down of skills from parent to child, the break in the cycle. I pinpoint this break to the 60’s when women were escaping kitchens and taking up places in the workforce. The development of instant foods and household gadgets allowed women to be a homemaker and have a job. While this was extremely liberating, it started the breakdown of self-sufficiency: baking your own bread, growing your own vegetables, sewing, knitting, all was pushed aside as modern technologies and packaged goods made these things ‘unnecessary’. A couple of generations passed and the ‘secrets’ were lost.
Now, I talk to people about making my own bread and they react like it’s some form of alchemy, a strange science or magic, and not the relatively simple mixing of a few ingredients. They’re scared that it will be ‘too hard’. This cripples people with fear and allows book publishers to make a lot of money teaching people how to master these ‘hard’ skills. I developed quite a rant while brewing with my mate and realised that I felt quite strongly about this. I think it is completely possible that this break in the cycle can be fixed. While we all can’t necessarily turn to our parents to ask them to teach us, we have new tools to pass on skills. Next month a friend and I will host a skills share party. An opportunity to share what we know and have learned with others in exchange for things they have learned.
We have started the ball rolling by emailing our friends asking them to add something to two lists: one titled ‘Skills you are willing to share’; the other ‘Skills you'd like to gain’. I received an alarming number of emails from friends saying “I don’t have any skills”. While it’s really sad that people feel that way, everyone seems really excited about learning something new. This blog will chronicle our progress and hopefully inspire others to share their skills and learn new ones. My friends will join me here, posting and sharing their ideas. We hope you will join us!
Lucy
