How to find teachers to avoid losing old skills and knowledge

I hope many of you reading this text see benefits in the way things used to be done before our disconnected supermarket culture set in. There is a generation of people still living who grew up that way. Growing most of your food, canning, scything and grinding your own grain are just some examples that I'm already looking into online. But I feel some of those things would work so much better with some live coaching, knowledge from actual experience and also very local knowledge of what works.

YouTube and other sources are brilliant, but for me here in Europe, a lot of resources Americans talk about don't easily translate into stuff that can be found here. And of course the climate that YouTuber is talking out of is very different, and local traditions are often formed in a specific way because of hundreds of years of experience.

Now my question: do you have any ideas on how to get in touch with people willing to share the knowledge I'm hungry for?

Most people around here pretty much keep to themselves, as is probably the case with a lot of old farming / rural communities. And I'm also not the kind of guy who'll walk up to someone and start a conversation about this stuff. I may already know the very people I'm theoretically looking for here, as I know plenty of older people, but how do I get past the basic "nice weather" / "nice sermon" / "how are you? Good" kind of conversation and get to scything and peening and gardening and....

Writing this, the answer may be just bringing it up. But if you have any other Ideas on how to find mentors / like-minded people locally, please write something below.

This is the kind of thing that "maker spaces" seem to work well for. A facility which people can book time in for their own projects - woodworking, metal working, etc... and rub shoulders with other people doing the same on their projects. They are fertile ground for people exchanging knowledge and making connections with likeminded folks.

Here in rural Japan I would just go find the nearest craftsperson and ask if they do workshops, or know a fellow craftsperson who does. Some will still do apprenticeships, but many of the current generation of craftspeople are modernizing their businesses in many ways.

Japan has always been a syncretic accumulator culture. They import ideas they like, modify them to be a bit more suited to the Japanese context, and then discard the things they don't find useful. There are tons of remnants of traditional skills and knowledge and some good texts on them, but most of it is passed on in the trades.

Human nature is a funny thing. Sometimes people won't lift a finger to show you how to do it right. But they'll go out of their way to inform you that you're doing it wrong. If you have a thick skin and a sense of humour, this can be a way to tease knowledge out of old-timers.

I started a homesteading club.  It brings together lots of people interested in those skills.  If the club is a happy place, word of mouth spreads it to those people you're after.  Pretty soon you can arrange scything workshops for club members.

This may sound unusual but I've met some wonderful teachers at living history museums. The fall harvest season is a great time to go to the reenactment programs where people dress up in old costumes and create iron tools, mill flour, weave fabrics, spin yarn and so on. Some of the people "act" and some of the people are the real deal. Those who really know what they are doing from a lifetime of experience often offer classes or tutoring or apprentice arrangements. Going to these historical places at festival time is a wonderful opportunity to make connections. I did a search on living history museums in the Netherlands and found Nederlands Openluchtmuseum. I'd love to check that open air museum out!

One thing to look into would be primitive skills gatherings. I know they have some in Europe, so depending on where you are, those might be a great place to both learn some things but also connect with likeminded folks who then can put you in touch with more, etc.

Not so much permaculture, but very useful ancient skills like flintknapping, butchering, hide tanning, making cordage, etc.

Amy Gardener wrote:This may sound unusual but I've met some wonderful teachers at living history museums. ... I did a search on living history museums in the Netherlands and found Nederlands Openluchtmuseum. I'd love to check that open air museum out!

That's a great idea! There is even a smallish pretty local open air living history museum here that I've been meaning to visit, definitely need to do that now!

Any chance you might be able to find historical re-enactors? How about LARP participants (as in, "Live Action Role Playing"). Do you have any "Renaissance Festivals?"

In my experience, these folks (in particular the first and third categories mentioned) love to demonstrate their skills for others, teach, and even sell traditionally-made goods. Some of them may be looking for apprentices and/or someone willing to "carry the torch."

Here's a success story for you.

It began like you, as a desire to keep old skills alive.  They called it a reskilling.  The people that started the group didn't know a thing about this skill, but they read a book from the library and decided the only way they would be able to learn was by trying it.  

What they wanted to learn was if it is possible to grow our own linen cloth locally and process it using only human-powered tools (after the first tilling of the soil).



The people involved were just ordinary people who thought it a nifty idea and no textile skills.  It wasn't until several years later that they got a spinner and weaver in the group.  At the start it was people armed with passion and they attracted the different skills they needed to make the tools.  They grew a plot of flax in their vegetable garden the first year, and from there they started doing public demonstrations.  

Even though they hadn't gotten a lot of success, they were still doing the task in public and people would come with stories of their childhood and occasionally a woodworker would say "you know, I could make you a better one like that."   From time to time, someone would say "oh, I used to do that in the old country" and they would join the group for a few years and we would learn so much from them.  And so the skills in the group grew from that little seed of passion.  

12 years later, we are still doing public demonstrations and the response is amazing.  10+ years ago, it was a novelty with noise and funny-looking machines.  Now people recognize 'oh, you are those people who grow clothes.'  



The core group ebbs and flows, new people come and more experienced fade away.  But the goal is the same.  The passion to rediscover these old skills before they are lost and to share them with anyone who wants to learn.  

But it began without knowing any of the skills and a bunch of small experiments in a backyard based on something they read in a book.  

Amy Gardener wrote:This may sound unusual but I've met some wonderful teachers at living history museums. The fall harvest season is a great time to go to the reenactment programs where people dress up in old costumes and create iron tools, mill flour, weave fabrics, spin yarn and so on. Some of the people "act" and some of the people are the real deal. Those who really know what they are doing from a lifetime of experience often offer classes or tutoring or apprentice arrangements. Going to these historical places at festival time is a wonderful opportunity to make connections. I did a search on living history museums in the Netherlands and found Nederlands Openluchtmuseum. I'd love to check that open air museum out!

In Virginia, USA there's some great places like this that teach these skills: Jamestown and Williamsburg. The reenactors are awesome. I know there are other similar places around the US, but I'm not sure where.

Do you all not know about the Society For Creative Anachronism?  (sca.org)

This is a group I have never (yet) joined; but the members take things very seriously: you cannot join without doing research and presenting your work, which must be historically accurate.  The groups are in "Kingdoms" and actually have a reigning King and Queen; it is great fun for seriously nerdy people who would like to learn Medieval skills of every sort, from blacksmithing, fiber arts, cooking/food preparation, costumes, swordplay, etc. to the building of wattle houses and thatched roofs...and much more.  This goes FAR beyond yon Renaissance Faire; although behind those are probably some serious SCA members, who sell their blades and baskets at them.  Chapters or Kingdoms are in US, Canada, Asia, and a few in Africa, maybe other parts of Europe.  Worth checking out unless you are too busy wresting your subsistence from the land...no, I take that back.  Worth checking out, regardless- it can help!!  IMHO

The caveat is that it is a big investment of your time and energy.  IF you are approved to join, based on your thesis/work.  But some on here would certainly love it!!  Now that I have thought of it again, I would like to seriously check it out, myself.  When I had first heard about this, from one of my Community College students, I was working full time and not a Mom yet; it didn't seem the time.

I would just hang out here.

I know most people are younger and go getters who need to get stuff done, but a few of us are retiring from homesteading, but have been at it for years.

A person the other day needed to tie in a fence with an existing fence and I was able to explain how to do that. Hands on helps of course, but I think some of us Gert on here have some validity still, but also time.

To quote a famous farmer quote, many on here are “plowing a field we already plowed”.

Just ask

We won’t steer you wrong.