Couldn't agree more. Aged 74 I'm a polymath. I've built 2 houses, installed 3 off-grid systems on our property, do all the maintenance on our cars and farm and I write too. Oh and I speak fluent French...
As a result we live like kings on the old age pension, I never pay anyone to do anything..... In a post collapse situation we'll survive because I can butcher livestock, fix plumbing and yeah, turn a circuit breaker back on...
Totally agree. You know how to do way more than I do, but I do have some skills,, and , also the attitude that I can learn what I need to. I think that’s one of the mindsets missing in so many people. The willingness to try. So much easier to get someone else to do….. it.
I needed to do some serious log repair on my log house. The supposed professionals were going to cost way too much. So I talked to the owners of companies that sold wood repair products, got advice, and taught myself. Saved a lot, learned some seriously useful skills, and built my self respect at the same time.
This is who you are, and it’s better than gold, and it’s so refreshing to read what you have to say. Thank you.
This is very good advice, Jessica. I've always made it a point to learn to do many different things. It has been such a big part of my life that I probably seemed like an oddball to friends and family. It has worked out well, though, as they will admit now.
That’s impressive! I’d love to learn carpentry. I think there’s basic, non-qualification courses out there too. I’m also trying to live with less convenience eg don’t switch on cooling straight up, adjust the body to discomfort etc. basically toughen up LOL.
Necessity makes us Jacks & Jills of all trades. We may be masters of none, but the masters will be left in our dust. I just want to pass down my knowledge and skills to someone before I die. I do so worry about the utter lack of any actionable knowledge amongst so many of the younger people I meet. Good people, solid people, but clueless people.
This is probably THE BEST advice an academic could give to others who have lived in their heads or from their heads for a very long time.
Thank you, Jessica.
Delighted to have this last jolt of connecting with the experiential world through my hands and social skills like learning a new language that helps me connect meaningfully with more people on my travels.
In my first pre-college job in a gas station in early 1970s, the mechanic was a cum laude grad of a better high school than mine. Because he loved fixing cars, especially since most still didn’t require computer-assisted diagnostics. He liked using his eyes, ears, nose, sense of touch and intuition to make the lessons of hard science come to life for him.
Glad you pointed out the joy, satisfaction, and money- and job-saving value of the everyday “blue collar’ skills that actually keep our everyday lives functioning, and how “lost” or never-taught skills can be picked up.
I know how to do a lot of things from scratch, without electricity, clothes and food and camping and more, from years spent in enthusiastic medieval reenactment... before I got hit with ME/CFS. Now I still have the knowledge but lack the physical capacity to sit up long enough to do any of the things that demand a baseline level of non-disability. It's bitterly unfair that I did everything I could to survive the unchecked global plague and am now too sick to face the sun or even be a passenger in a car, and all the things I'm still able to do, like writing, are about to be made worthless for survival thanks to the slop engine. I have no idea how to make what I know into something people will still be willing to support my disabled life with five years from now. And I spent too long in my university's non-Social Security system to have any fallback available.
"My grandpa was a car mechanic. He even knew how to fix a tank."
As a military historian, that's cool.
Not that I can fix a tank, it just being an academic interest.
I'm very tech averse, so rather than learn to be an electrician I'd rather learn ways to do without. Which will come to us all in the end anyway. Even when the scavengers of modernity 30 years after collapse use remnant solar panels and windmills for some electricity, eventually those machines will break or be swept away in mega-storms, and the knowledge won't be passed on because the ability to manufacture spares will be gone.
Makes you think, what can I do?
Dig holes, I'm good at that. Gardening, I can do a bit of that. Growing veg that the slugs eat; making jam; planting trees; I can lay a hedge and build a dead hedge. I know a little about foraging. I know some birds by their song, and the raptor alarm call of crows. I can put shelves up on a dry-lined hollow wall.
Hohum, I might not be that useful after the end of modernity, but I might live longer than the Muskovites and Faragians. All the money in the world isn't going to get you a plumber or an electrician after the collapse of global industrial civilisation. But a box of jars of jam might :)
Years ago, I looked at the Giant White Carpet, and said "it's got to go". Quotes came in. $12,000 in labor cost for a straight forward "no surprises" hardwood parquetry floor. Wasn't happening, and YouTube is my friend. So, I borrowed my brother's circular saw, got 10,000 parquet blocks delivered and off I went. That "no surprises" thing? A LOT of surprises. I learned very fast how to handcut parquet. About 9,500 of them. The other 500 went in fine...IRL I'm a spreadsheet girl. But needs must. And my gorgeous floor made me happy, every single day.
I wish I was more handy like the things you mentioned. I was a coder in my career. I can create websites. But I left the career as the tech bros were changing how things were done. Overcomplicating everything.
I took a permaculture design course. Then I studied herbalism and recently was able to save myself a trip to the skin doctor treating a skin issue with plants. It felt so empowering. I can grow food (been gardening my whole life), I’m growing medicinal plants, and I can sew and knit. I’m hoping if it all collapses that I have something to offer in a bartering economy. Kudos to you for all you learned in such a short time. (Anything electric scares me.)
Timely! I just got accepted to a part-time, 8-week construction/building basics program by and for women. It's something I wanted do before Long Covid rearranged my life—I was burnt out on tech and suffering from years of writer's block, and I was tired of paying contractors for things I knew I *could* do, but I hadn't learned how.
What's funny is that this brings me full circle. When I was finishing undergrad in DC 25yrs ago, I interned for a tiny nonprofit that supported and showcased these programs: Women's Work! The National Network for Women's Employment. I wrote feature articles about these programs and sobbed after interviews with their graduates.
Now I get to join them.
Maybe it'll mean more work options, should I be able (or forced) to handle more than the 12hrs/wk I work right now. Maybe it means I'll build my chicken coop right the first time. Either way, I can't wait.
Upshot: The national nonprofit barely exists anymore (and got renamed), but some of these programs are still out there at the state level, if your readers want to look for them. ❤️
Couldn't agree more. Aged 74 I'm a polymath. I've built 2 houses, installed 3 off-grid systems on our property, do all the maintenance on our cars and farm and I write too. Oh and I speak fluent French...
As a result we live like kings on the old age pension, I never pay anyone to do anything..... In a post collapse situation we'll survive because I can butcher livestock, fix plumbing and yeah, turn a circuit breaker back on...
You built two houses? Holy shit, that's amazing.
I sold the first one 11 years ago
https://damnthematrix.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/mon-abri-for-sale/
Totally agree. You know how to do way more than I do, but I do have some skills,, and , also the attitude that I can learn what I need to. I think that’s one of the mindsets missing in so many people. The willingness to try. So much easier to get someone else to do….. it.
I needed to do some serious log repair on my log house. The supposed professionals were going to cost way too much. So I talked to the owners of companies that sold wood repair products, got advice, and taught myself. Saved a lot, learned some seriously useful skills, and built my self respect at the same time.
This is who you are, and it’s better than gold, and it’s so refreshing to read what you have to say. Thank you.
Great comment! Also, I'm impressed with your cabin repairing skills.
This is very good advice, Jessica. I've always made it a point to learn to do many different things. It has been such a big part of my life that I probably seemed like an oddball to friends and family. It has worked out well, though, as they will admit now.
I'd also say it turned out well. Very well.
... And congratulations on your electrician's certificate!
This is the one we're currently living in
https://damnthematrix.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/on-future-proof-building/
Well done. :)
Rock and roll! Congrats!
Thanks!
That’s impressive! I’d love to learn carpentry. I think there’s basic, non-qualification courses out there too. I’m also trying to live with less convenience eg don’t switch on cooling straight up, adjust the body to discomfort etc. basically toughen up LOL.
Toughening up is a good practice, to the extent you can.
Necessity makes us Jacks & Jills of all trades. We may be masters of none, but the masters will be left in our dust. I just want to pass down my knowledge and skills to someone before I die. I do so worry about the utter lack of any actionable knowledge amongst so many of the younger people I meet. Good people, solid people, but clueless people.
This is probably THE BEST advice an academic could give to others who have lived in their heads or from their heads for a very long time.
Thank you, Jessica.
Delighted to have this last jolt of connecting with the experiential world through my hands and social skills like learning a new language that helps me connect meaningfully with more people on my travels.
In my first pre-college job in a gas station in early 1970s, the mechanic was a cum laude grad of a better high school than mine. Because he loved fixing cars, especially since most still didn’t require computer-assisted diagnostics. He liked using his eyes, ears, nose, sense of touch and intuition to make the lessons of hard science come to life for him.
Glad you pointed out the joy, satisfaction, and money- and job-saving value of the everyday “blue collar’ skills that actually keep our everyday lives functioning, and how “lost” or never-taught skills can be picked up.
I know how to do a lot of things from scratch, without electricity, clothes and food and camping and more, from years spent in enthusiastic medieval reenactment... before I got hit with ME/CFS. Now I still have the knowledge but lack the physical capacity to sit up long enough to do any of the things that demand a baseline level of non-disability. It's bitterly unfair that I did everything I could to survive the unchecked global plague and am now too sick to face the sun or even be a passenger in a car, and all the things I'm still able to do, like writing, are about to be made worthless for survival thanks to the slop engine. I have no idea how to make what I know into something people will still be willing to support my disabled life with five years from now. And I spent too long in my university's non-Social Security system to have any fallback available.
"My grandpa was a car mechanic. He even knew how to fix a tank."
As a military historian, that's cool.
Not that I can fix a tank, it just being an academic interest.
I'm very tech averse, so rather than learn to be an electrician I'd rather learn ways to do without. Which will come to us all in the end anyway. Even when the scavengers of modernity 30 years after collapse use remnant solar panels and windmills for some electricity, eventually those machines will break or be swept away in mega-storms, and the knowledge won't be passed on because the ability to manufacture spares will be gone.
Makes you think, what can I do?
Dig holes, I'm good at that. Gardening, I can do a bit of that. Growing veg that the slugs eat; making jam; planting trees; I can lay a hedge and build a dead hedge. I know a little about foraging. I know some birds by their song, and the raptor alarm call of crows. I can put shelves up on a dry-lined hollow wall.
Hohum, I might not be that useful after the end of modernity, but I might live longer than the Muskovites and Faragians. All the money in the world isn't going to get you a plumber or an electrician after the collapse of global industrial civilisation. But a box of jars of jam might :)
Years ago, I looked at the Giant White Carpet, and said "it's got to go". Quotes came in. $12,000 in labor cost for a straight forward "no surprises" hardwood parquetry floor. Wasn't happening, and YouTube is my friend. So, I borrowed my brother's circular saw, got 10,000 parquet blocks delivered and off I went. That "no surprises" thing? A LOT of surprises. I learned very fast how to handcut parquet. About 9,500 of them. The other 500 went in fine...IRL I'm a spreadsheet girl. But needs must. And my gorgeous floor made me happy, every single day.
I wish I was more handy like the things you mentioned. I was a coder in my career. I can create websites. But I left the career as the tech bros were changing how things were done. Overcomplicating everything.
I took a permaculture design course. Then I studied herbalism and recently was able to save myself a trip to the skin doctor treating a skin issue with plants. It felt so empowering. I can grow food (been gardening my whole life), I’m growing medicinal plants, and I can sew and knit. I’m hoping if it all collapses that I have something to offer in a bartering economy. Kudos to you for all you learned in such a short time. (Anything electric scares me.)
I wrote a whole essay about this (which is kind of ironic when you think about it): https://dark-mountain.net/literacy-of-the-fingers/
This is spot on! At 68 I took a carpentry class, then a tiny house building class.
Timely! I just got accepted to a part-time, 8-week construction/building basics program by and for women. It's something I wanted do before Long Covid rearranged my life—I was burnt out on tech and suffering from years of writer's block, and I was tired of paying contractors for things I knew I *could* do, but I hadn't learned how.
What's funny is that this brings me full circle. When I was finishing undergrad in DC 25yrs ago, I interned for a tiny nonprofit that supported and showcased these programs: Women's Work! The National Network for Women's Employment. I wrote feature articles about these programs and sobbed after interviews with their graduates.
Now I get to join them.
Maybe it'll mean more work options, should I be able (or forced) to handle more than the 12hrs/wk I work right now. Maybe it means I'll build my chicken coop right the first time. Either way, I can't wait.
Upshot: The national nonprofit barely exists anymore (and got renamed), but some of these programs are still out there at the state level, if your readers want to look for them. ❤️