Crafting

Blacksmiths shop at Hardy Homesteaders Day 2012

When most people think of crafts, they think of the art projects they made in school.  When I think of crafts, I think of the ancient way of life of the craftsman.

In times past, when a child reached a certain age (about age 8 or so), they began to learn a craft or trade.  Farming is a trade.  Being a potter is a trade.  Being a blacksmith is a trade.  Being a tinker, tailor, spinner, weaver, dyer, tanner, miller, stonemason, baker, butcher, cheese maker, cobbler, cooper, fletcher, sawyer, bookbinder, cabinet maker....

Tradesmen and craftsmen (and women!) made the things everyone needed for their daily use.  And finding the raw materials to make the things they sold was an ongoing preoccupation.  You can't weave a blanket if you don't have yarn.  Or a loom, or a shuttle.

The 4-harness Scandinavian style loom we built

You can't bake bread if you don't have flour.  You can't have flour if you don't have a miller, farmer, stonemason, quarry worker, sawyer and blacksmith.  Of sure, you can grind wheat in a mortar and pestle.  It's not as fast or as efficient.  But you still need a farmer and someone to make the mortar & pestle.  And you need someone to build the oven.  A bricklayer and a brick maker.  And you need the dairy farmer for your butter and milk to go into the bread.  And what about the salt?  Where does the salt come from?  Wikipedia Salt mining article

So many of us are so used to going to the grocery store to get what we need.  The old Mom & Pop general stores are mostly gone, which is a real shame.  And the old hardware stores are a thing of the past.

But, if you're trying to be as self-sufficient as possible as a homesteader you have to figure out where to get all those kinds of things.  Who do you turn to for resources?  Who in your community can teach you what you need to know.

Antique stores are a great place to find the tools and utensils of the past.  But you still need the knowledge of how to use and repair them.

I love spinning yarn on my antique spinning wheel.

When my husband Johnnie and I got together 8 years ago, he'd never SEEN a working spinning wheel.  And then I got 7 from Ebay.  And every single one was broken in some manner.  I could tell him what was wrong with it.  But I don't have the wood working skills to make the repairs.  He does.  And now he's teaching our son Joshua those same skills.  Those kind of skills are SO valuable!  I can't spin on a broken spinning wheel. 

Do you remember the old poem "for the want of a nail"?  That is what life is REALLY like.  Not video games.  Not Youtube.  Not Facebook.  Real life is about knowing people, sharing your skills with people, bartering, and building relationships with real people in your area.

I love living in rural America.  It's so rewarding to make things with my hands & share my skills and products with people I know.  And I want to keep busy making things every day of my life.