The Interactive Learning Center
This is a vision that I have for the farm. This is my space to learn, and grow, and try new things. This is where I challenge myself to visualize, to find problems and solutions. This is where I hope I make my contribution to my own survival and that of others.
I want this to be a learning center for others as well as myself. I am no expert, and if people come to learn, they will be coming to teach as well.
As I work out the headings for this section I realize it is a recap of much I have already discussed and also overlaps with the 'recipe' section as well. But rather than 'how-to' or recipes, the focus here is 'what can you do' (or learn, or participate in) here?
1. Things We Can Do (at least from time to time..)
Not everything on this list goes on all the time (thank heavens for that...). But, for example, we have 2 spinning wheels, 8 looms, quite a backlog of unprocessed flax stems- it goes on and on. Item with an asterisk (*) are ones not presently pursued at least on an annual basis
Fiber Arts
spinning
weaving
*knitting, crocheting
*felting
growing and processing flax
nettles for fiber
*possible animal fiber production (as of 2013 we have goats and rabbits but still not concentrating on these for fiber- the goats are great for comic relief- any reader of Shakespeare would recognize in them the character of 'the fool'- when they appear in the barn door you have to laugh..)
Crafts
Tie-dye
*Possible Batik
handmade jewelry
basket willow for basketry
Personal Care Items
Soapmaking
Scents
Creams, Lotions and Salves
Astringents
Other 'Potions and Remedies'
Incense
'Hunting and Gathering'- this is my husband's area of expertise- I am an onlooker- altho, after what the wild turkeys did to my grain crop last year, I suspect I'll become an activist this year. (I have Identified the problem, I have the resources, and if pushed, I shall implement the 'final solution'.)
deer
turkey
fly fishing
ice fishing
trapping
skin processing
fly tying
Food Production and Prep
Beef
jerky
corned beef
pastrami
smoking meats
Pork (I am not presently raising hogs)
lard
Cheese
swiss
asiago
romano
jack
provolone
toma
cottage cheese
yoghurt
Breads and other Baked Products
wheat growing, harvesting, processing
loaf breads
flatbreads
calzones
outdoor and earth oven baking
sweet dough products
Fruits
jams, jellies
cider
wine making
Maple Syrup
*Bees and Honey
*hive maintenance and management
beeswax and products
candles
Garden-
Development and Management
Introduction of Permaculture techniques
Harvesting skills-
Sickles, scythes, threshing, winnowing
Processing skills-
Canning, freezing, drying, salting, fermenting. Beginning the study of rocket stoves.
Not everything on this list goes on all the time (thank heavens for that...). But, for example, we have 2 spinning wheels, 8 looms, quite a backlog of unprocessed flax stems- it goes on and on. Item with an asterisk (*) are ones not presently pursued at least on an annual basis
Fiber Arts
spinning
weaving
*knitting, crocheting
*felting
growing and processing flax
nettles for fiber
*possible animal fiber production (as of 2013 we have goats and rabbits but still not concentrating on these for fiber- the goats are great for comic relief- any reader of Shakespeare would recognize in them the character of 'the fool'- when they appear in the barn door you have to laugh..)
Crafts
Tie-dye
*Possible Batik
handmade jewelry
basket willow for basketry
Personal Care Items
Soapmaking
Scents
Creams, Lotions and Salves
Astringents
Other 'Potions and Remedies'
Incense
'Hunting and Gathering'- this is my husband's area of expertise- I am an onlooker- altho, after what the wild turkeys did to my grain crop last year, I suspect I'll become an activist this year. (I have Identified the problem, I have the resources, and if pushed, I shall implement the 'final solution'.)
deer
turkey
fly fishing
ice fishing
trapping
skin processing
fly tying
Food Production and Prep
Beef
jerky
corned beef
pastrami
smoking meats
Pork (I am not presently raising hogs)
lard
Cheese
swiss
asiago
romano
jack
provolone
toma
cottage cheese
yoghurt
Breads and other Baked Products
wheat growing, harvesting, processing
loaf breads
flatbreads
calzones
outdoor and earth oven baking
sweet dough products
Fruits
jams, jellies
cider
wine making
Maple Syrup
*Bees and Honey
*hive maintenance and management
beeswax and products
candles
Garden-
Development and Management
Introduction of Permaculture techniques
Harvesting skills-
Sickles, scythes, threshing, winnowing
Processing skills-
Canning, freezing, drying, salting, fermenting. Beginning the study of rocket stoves.
2. Things We Need to Learn
All the things they taught in shop class for 20th and 21st century technology- welding, carpentry, automotive repair. Everyone has some of these skills, but not enough, necessarily, to 'make the cut' (think Discovery Channel's 'The Colony', or; for an earlier period in history, PBS' series 'Colonial House').
All the alternative, 'older' skills for those listed above- use of hand tools, iron-working- forging tools, producing charcoal, making and repairing horse-drawn or goat-drawn carts, equipment and skills for working oxen; plowing, making hay. How to dig a well. How to box up and improve an existing spring. Making pottery. Making bricks. Making barrels. making boats. Making shoes.
Making primitive weaponry- bows, arrows, arrowheads, knives, spears and throwing sticks, equipment and supplies for muzzle-loading. How to make gunpowder. And my personal favorite; catapults, ballistas, and other related hurling machines. I don't have any practical need for one of these, but I admire the one they use over in the next town- they launch pumpkins with it from time to time. Here is a website; http://www.howtobuildcatapults.com/catapultonageranimation.html
Don't expect any of these to stack up in any way against modern drone- and cyber-technology, coming soon to a neighborhood near you;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle
'...Domestic aerial surveillanceAlthough UAVs are today most commonly associated with military actions, UAVs are increasingly being used by civilian government agencies, businesses, and private individuals. In the United States, for example, civilian law enforcement agencies use drones to patrol the nation's borders, scout property, and hunt down fugitives. UAVs can be powerful surveillance tools, capable of carrying face recognition systems, license plate scanners, thermal imaging cameras, open WiFi sniffers, and other sensors.[103] However, individuals in the United States have few legal privacy protections from aerial surveillance conducted through UAVs. In Katz v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declared individuals have no "expectation of privacy" in public places. In Florida v. Riley, the United States Supreme Court held that individuals on their own, private property do not have right to privacy from police observation from public airspace. The weakness of legal protection from UAV surveillance have led to calls from civil liberties advocacy groups for the U.S. government to issue laws and regulations that establish both privacy protections and greater transparency regarding the use of UAVs to gather information about individuals.[104]
' Some privacy scholars argue that the domestic use of drones for surveillance will ultimately benefit privacy by encouraging society to demand greater privacy rights.
'...Associated today with the theatre of war, the widespread domestic use of drones for surveillance seems inevitable. Existing privacy law will not stand in its way. It may be tempting to conclude on this basis that drones will further erode our individual and collective privacy. Yet the opposite may happen. Drones may help restore our mental model of a privacy violation. They could be just the visceral jolt society needs to drag privacy law into the twenty-first century. — M. Ryan Calo[105]Law enforcement and other government agencies are not the only entities that use UAVs. Private citizens and media organizations use UAVs as well. Occupy Wall StreetjournalistTim Pool utilizes what he calls an Occucopter, for live feed coverage of Occupy movement events.[106] The "occucopter" is an inexpensive Parrot AR.Droneradio controlledquadrotor, with cameras attached and controllable by iOS devices such as the iPhone or Android devices.'
So maybe you better learn about drones too...
All the alternative, 'older' skills for those listed above- use of hand tools, iron-working- forging tools, producing charcoal, making and repairing horse-drawn or goat-drawn carts, equipment and skills for working oxen; plowing, making hay. How to dig a well. How to box up and improve an existing spring. Making pottery. Making bricks. Making barrels. making boats. Making shoes.
Making primitive weaponry- bows, arrows, arrowheads, knives, spears and throwing sticks, equipment and supplies for muzzle-loading. How to make gunpowder. And my personal favorite; catapults, ballistas, and other related hurling machines. I don't have any practical need for one of these, but I admire the one they use over in the next town- they launch pumpkins with it from time to time. Here is a website; http://www.howtobuildcatapults.com/catapultonageranimation.html
Don't expect any of these to stack up in any way against modern drone- and cyber-technology, coming soon to a neighborhood near you;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle
'...Domestic aerial surveillanceAlthough UAVs are today most commonly associated with military actions, UAVs are increasingly being used by civilian government agencies, businesses, and private individuals. In the United States, for example, civilian law enforcement agencies use drones to patrol the nation's borders, scout property, and hunt down fugitives. UAVs can be powerful surveillance tools, capable of carrying face recognition systems, license plate scanners, thermal imaging cameras, open WiFi sniffers, and other sensors.[103] However, individuals in the United States have few legal privacy protections from aerial surveillance conducted through UAVs. In Katz v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declared individuals have no "expectation of privacy" in public places. In Florida v. Riley, the United States Supreme Court held that individuals on their own, private property do not have right to privacy from police observation from public airspace. The weakness of legal protection from UAV surveillance have led to calls from civil liberties advocacy groups for the U.S. government to issue laws and regulations that establish both privacy protections and greater transparency regarding the use of UAVs to gather information about individuals.[104]
' Some privacy scholars argue that the domestic use of drones for surveillance will ultimately benefit privacy by encouraging society to demand greater privacy rights.
'...Associated today with the theatre of war, the widespread domestic use of drones for surveillance seems inevitable. Existing privacy law will not stand in its way. It may be tempting to conclude on this basis that drones will further erode our individual and collective privacy. Yet the opposite may happen. Drones may help restore our mental model of a privacy violation. They could be just the visceral jolt society needs to drag privacy law into the twenty-first century. — M. Ryan Calo[105]Law enforcement and other government agencies are not the only entities that use UAVs. Private citizens and media organizations use UAVs as well. Occupy Wall StreetjournalistTim Pool utilizes what he calls an Occucopter, for live feed coverage of Occupy movement events.[106] The "occucopter" is an inexpensive Parrot AR.Droneradio controlledquadrotor, with cameras attached and controllable by iOS devices such as the iPhone or Android devices.'
So maybe you better learn about drones too...
It wasn't until I updated the preceding piece (on 3/22/12) to include barrels, boats, and hurling machines- and then tripped over the need to include the bit on drones and domestic surveillance; that I realized the profound disconnect between the two ways of thinking. I don't think it is necessarily 'either-or'. It is not that simplistic. In the now, we have, what we have ('It is, what it is'). And 'we' are an incredibly diverse phenomenon- my experience is not your experience.
In the time that is to come- no one truly knows what is to be. We have our predictions and our plans- we may be in positions of power, or not. But we all have the power to think, plan, mobilize resources, and work in a community of friends for mutual benefit.