Home Ec Boot Camp?
Do you have have one of those dreams, right as you are waking up, where you have what seems like a fantastic idea, and you are half-way lucid? I've had ideas for novels like that, but I can never remember them after I am awake. A couple of mornings ago, I had what I think is a great idea, and actually kept thinking about it after I woke up.
When I was in middle school, we had to take 9 weeks of shop class, home ec, art, and music in (I think) the 6th grade, then choose one of those to take for a full class in the 7th. Do they even have home ec anymore? I learned how to iron, sew on patches and buttons, and do some basic cooking. There are a whole lot of 20- and 30-somethings these days that don't have those basic household skills. Going back even farther, into the 50s and 60s, girls learned to become skilled at sewing and repairing clothes, cooking full meals from scratch, making cleaning supplies from items in the cupboard, and so-on.
Jackie Clay, a writer at Backwoods Home Magazine, recently had a week long homesteading academy on her off grid, off road homestead up in Minnesota. That might be too in-depth for most folks, but what if someone were to make a week long, or several weekends long, homesteading-lite school for men and women (or kids too). It would include the basic sewing skills, not how to slaughter and butcher, but how to debone a whole chicken, how to properly can, freeze and dehydrate foods for storage, natural cleaning supplies, homeopathic first aid, spices and herbs from the garden, generator function and hook up, changing tires and oil, working a small chainsaw... types of things that we really ought to know how to do, but that are sometimes kind of hard to get the information on for hands on instruction... things that are just as useful in the suburbs or slightly rural locations as they are off the grid.
It's not something I have the time or gumption to start up, but I'd love to go to such a class in my area. I'd bet folks could start up such classes through their local parks & rec, extension agents, or even community colleges.
Appleseed
Have any of you ever taken an Appleseed marksmanship course? I've heard it is fantastic training for the novice shooter, or like me, a former Marine marksman who has probably forgotten a lot and let my rifleman skills get a little rusty. My wife and I will probably take the course next year. If you have done it, I'd love to get a guest post from you about the experience.
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We're actually kicking around the idea of doing a version of a Home Ec boot camp at the Mennonite church I attend. We're in a rural area. we operate a daycare, and a lot of the moms whose kids come to our daycare have expressed an interest in learning some of these things. I think we might start with some canning classes.
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