So, many things have changed since my last post - woah - over three years ago. Melania moved to WA, Hannah moved to Newcastle, I moved three times - all around Brisbane. But what hasn't changed, is my drive to learn new things. So, we begin a new chapter in SkillCycle. I'm excited to have it back in my life in an official way. It never really left, I never really stopped learning - but documenting things in this format has been something I've missed.
I think I'm going to start back into it with a sewing day very soon. It's one of my favourite ways to spend an afternoon. Gather a few people together with a couple of sewing machines and mend and repurpose a few pieces you of your clothing while catching up and eating food.
I hope you'll join me at a SkillCycle day soon or think about hosting one of your own one day.
Woohoo! I've managed to pin down someone willing to teach on my long awaited photography skillcycle day. I know Ed from Uni (he sits in my second office) and I'm really happy that he's on board with this. He takes some great photos (even if most of the ones I've seen are from his screen saver when he leaves his desk. Stalky...).
We'll be hosting the day at my house in May. The date is yet to be confirmed but will likely be a Sunday afternoon. I haven't decided what other skills will be demo'd on the day (anyone have anything the want to offer?) but I though it'd be nice if we all bring some food/beer (if you don't want to cook) to 'pay' Ed for his time. I hear he likes Coopers Sparkling tallies...
Ed will go through the basics of photography (aperture, shutter speed, iso) and how to get the best out of your camera. I'm hopeless with these things and I know some of you have said you're in the same boat. If you'd like to come along just give me a heads up here or on the Facebook page. Ed would like to know what cameras people are planning on bringing so he can make sure he's familiar with them beforehand.
So, the second SkillCycle day was a success! We covered pasta making with Kate, knot tying with Kerry, bliss balls with Bron (yum!), green cleaning with Jessie and I did frugal gardening.
My session covered a range of bits and pieces you could collect from around the home/in the bin/on the kerbside throw-out to make gardening cheaper and more sustainable. I went through different options for growing containers like olive oil tins, small tins, yoghurt containers etc., and making your own pots out of newspaper, toilet rolls or egg cartons. Then I discussed making labels for your pots out of recycled food containers (like milk bottles and yoghurt tubs again) as well as old venetian blinds you find on council kerbside recycling days.
I spoke about saving seeds and my general motto of 'give it a go, you never know'. Some seeds are easier to save and grow than others but you'll never know until you stick some in the ground. Remember to try the pantry and your spice rack.
We also covered protecting your garden from bush turkeys and possums. I absolutely love bird netting for this purpose. I had little success with my veggie beds until I covered the whole garden in netting. Now I only have to fight caterpillars and grasshoppers; much nicer than the total annihilation you get from the possums and turkeys! The stuff is very cheap at your local hardware store or nursery. You do have to keep it quite low and watch no birds get tangled in it though.
All in all it was a lovely, inspiring day. I went home and planted some seeds, made some bliss balls (recipe to come in a later post) and generally felt like I'd accomplished something.
Our next SkillCycle day is approaching so I thought this would be a good opportunity to let you know what we have planned and give you some ideas for hosting a day of your own.
This time 'round we have planned a green cleaning session with Jessie. This will involve a bit of a demo and then a Q & A for green solutions to specific cleaning problems. We'll then have a frugal gardening session where I'll discuss seed saving, making your own pots from newspaper and toilet paper rolls as well as salvaging 'rubbish' for the garden. We're also hoping to have a session on sourdough cultures and one on spinning your own yarn by a new SkillCycler, Jane.
We recently had a stall at the BOGI (Brisbane Organic Growers Inc) Fair (I will post about this very soon) and took the opportunity to tell some of the attendees about the theory of SkillCycle. We had a great response and I enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm from all the people I spoke to. The main point Mel, Kate and I tried to get across is that SkillCycle days needn't be huge events, they just need to have an exchange of information. You can run a day in an hour with only two people - you just need to teach each other something. The whole idea is based in the sharing of knowledge, big or small.
So, if you're not local enough to come along to our next day (Oct 23, comment if you want more info), why not organise your own SkillCycle day! You just need a skill to demonstrate, someone interested in learning that skill and a place to sit down together. Skills to teach can be anything you're both interested in. While most of the skills we share are quite domestic, we're trying to include more mechanical skills in future days. If you don't feel you have anything to share why not take it upon yourself to learn something new and then offer to teach it. The best way of learning is often teaching. Just give it a go! Anyone planning any days already? We'd love to hear about it!
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| *Photo from Cycle Skills |
Mel and I have had many discussions recently about how we'd like to have a SkillCycle day devoted to home bicycle maintenance. You can imagine my surprise and happiness when I stumbled across Cycle Skills. Even the name made me happy! I can't wait to head out to Seventeen Mile Rocks for a sticky beak. Might even have to drop into the Rocks Community Garden while I'm there.
Kate, Hannah and I (Lucy) sat down for a meeting over afternoon tea (where we debuted the balsamic onions made last week and ate the rest of a jar of the pickles) yesterday to make sure we had everything sorted for Saturday's SkillCycle day. We want to ensure the day runs smoothly so lists were made and plans were hatched. We have decided that it will go something like this: first a demo on how to make my lazy girl bread, then yoghurt and ricotta making with Hannah. Hopefully we'll then have some yummy fresh bread and homemade ricotta for lunch. Then back to work with jam making and water bath preserving by Mel, followed by basic sewing skills and how to make your own produce bags by Kate. It will be a full day with lots on hands-on activity and hopefully everyone will leave with something made on the day!
We'll take plenty of photos and post an update after the weekend.
