Learn a new skill

Those who are on the journey of simplicity often find themselves challenged to do for themselves what they would have had others do for them in the past.

The idea is that we need to revalue the old fashioned skills that our generation nearly lost.
W e need to find out how to

• cook from scratch,
• mend things when they are broken
• make do with what we have got
• be resourceful
  

The idea is that we become more self-reliant, and more able to value the sense of achievement more than the quick lift of having purchased something.


Take this Advent calendar for example. I struggled all day Saturday with those pesky stars. My poor brain could not make them work! It would have been much easier to go out and buy something instead, but where would the sense of achievement been?

As it is I have learned a new skill.

This craft will, I hope, lead me into many enjoyable hours of my future life.

I have already used it to make a whole cloth baby quilt for my neice's child. I had just learned how to use the darning foot on the sewing machine to do free-motion quilting, and it was very satisfying to see the result that this new technique was able to achieve.

This year I have also been setting myself up to grow my veggies from seed -something I have had only limited success in doing in the past.

I am still learning how to manage the veggie garden so that there is a more manageable supply of veggies. At the moment we have huge quantities of rainbow chard, but soon we will be over-run with tomatoes (I hope!).

The thing about growing from seed is learning to stage the plantings over a period of weeks so that there are some veggies in season, some coming on and some going to seed to save for the next time.

All these new skills give me plenty of challenges. I find them far more satisfying than going shopping! And when you don't go shopping, you have time to learn all these new things!

Finally a word of welcome to the new subscribers to my little blog. It is tremendously encouraging to have you here! Please feel free to leave a comment any time.