A Handmade Manifesto vol. 2

The old school groundhog kiln used to fire famous NC pottery
the broom maker, who explain the difference between corn brooms, and using different kinds of corn and sorghum to make brooms.
the cotton baler.


As most of you realize, my birthday was this past weekend. It worked out that friends gave us tickets to this sort of exclusive primitive village event that just happened to be on my birthday.

The primitive village is the brainchild of a doctor in NC. Over time and happenstance, he has acquired all of these primitive homes on his property and now he has a festival each year celebrating the skills and home crafts of early settlers in NC.

There are old homesteads all over the country side in Western NC. Whenever this doctor heard of a building that owners no longer wanted, he volunteered to come in, take it down, and move it for them. As word spread, these structures were donated to the doctor and now more than 90 buildings have been moved and restored on his property.

You can find all kinds of awesome stuff going on at this one day event. Peanuts boiling in a kettle. Soapmaking. Fire building. Cotton ginning and baling. Lacemaking, Wool carding and spinning, a primitive distillery, cane grinding for molasses and syrup. Chair caning. Shingle riving. And if I go on to think, I could probably name about 50 other skills or more that were taking place!!!

It was really an awesome, awe inspiring thing!

And it got me to thinking AGAIN about skills and about HANDMADE, and the nature of human existence and entrepreneurship and basic subsistence on skills and trades.

Have you seen Great Depression Cooking? It's a video series on YouTube and now she has a cookbook, dvd etc.

I really started thinking again about it yesterday when I was reading a blog post about said Great Depression Cooking videos, which has been in my YouTube favorites forever and in the comments, people were sort of negative!

....How unhealthy the recipes were and how they "couldn't eat that."

It really, really made me sad.

It seriously bummed me out about the state of ingenuity in our age and society. Here, this old woman, this relic and heirloom of an amazing and resourceful time in American history is sharing her wisdom and people were saying they couldn't eat it?

I'm aware they aren't the healthiest of recipes by today's standards but as opposed to starving or being hungry, I'm thinking they are pretty damn tasty....and she's in her 90's now so I'm thinking people might want to take a listen. To remember and be MINDFUL of, how to make something out of nothing.

All over the primitive village, there were samples of primitive cooking and eating. We drank sassafras tea, ate pumpkin soup and bread, boiled peanuts, and fresh apples. It was really nice to sample period foods and see how they were prepared, preserved and cooked. I think we would be wise to cling to the old ways a bit. I don't think that economic times are getting better and the more resourceful we are as a people, the better we will live, thrive, and enjoy our lives.

This is the 2nd part in a continuing series. to be con't....

A Handmade Manifesto vol.1

slow down by thewheatfield on etsy

I've really been in a contemplative mood lately. It is a symbiotic thought process really. I live a very simple life by many standards, but I'm always thinking of ways to make my life even more simple. However, sometimes making your life more simple makes it more complicated in other ways. I've been thinking a lot lately about the nature of THINGS, of STUFF. Modern production, the accumulation of stuff, the labor that goes into things in general and my place in the whole realm of it.

For instance, soap, I'm sort of militant about buying all natural soap. Yes, I could probably make it myself, but that is a whole other art I don't have time to be taking up. I started to think about the production aspect of it though. What makes up real soap? Lye, fat, water, fragrance/botanicals. All of those things could be drummed up naturally, except for the lye. How is lye made? A quick google search led me to a rudimentary way to make lye the old fashioned way.

Obviously, those who are making soap are using commercial sources for their ingredients. Some probably grow their own herbs and additives. Botanicals, goat's milk, etc. but most are probably buying the hard stuff commercially (the lye and the fat, unless you're Tyler Durden).

And, that's fine, but I continue to think about "progress." About making something HANDMADE. What is the essence of HANDMADE? My products are made by hand but my resources are still commercial. If those resources didn't exist tomorrow, I would have to rethink my work.

And so, that brings to mind being an artisan. What does it mean to be an artisan? I wish to be an artisan, and yet, I am not. I do not use raw materials to make something. How many of us do? Not many....How many of us even know how?

I would love to hear your comments. Your thoughts and reactions. This is a huge topic which covers economics, art, craft, sustainability, etc. What do you have to say?

This is the first part in a continuing series. to be con't....