M Ljin

Most people around here do burn their brush.

Someone I know, but whom I haven’t talked to in a while, has a big brush pile. I texted and asked if I could use the brush for gardening. This person got back to me saying they were going to burn it but just heard about and decided to make a hugelkultur instead! ❤️

I’ve been playing around with the precipitation option on this world climate map:

https://openclimatemap.org/?variable=PRECIPITATION&resolution=5m&difference=true&month=4&yearRange=1970-2000&lat=43.209680&lon=-72.990417&zoom=10

I notice something. Areas that are mostly farmland around here have between a little less than 3, and 3.5in of precipitation monthly. Whereas in areas that are more deeply forested, precipitation goes up from 3.7 at the forest edge, to over 4in deep into the wilderness.

This is an area that would naturally be 98% forest if it were allowed to regrow.

They said it right, trees make water, not the other way around!

Something I’ve been working on is something like a PEX which is focused on ancestral skills. My goals differ somewhat significantly from SKIP so I am not sure, but I think that the work I’ve done so far could be applicable to other things too. It could turn out as a booklet of sorts, or a curriculum for education in self sufficiency. Nevertheless, it’s something I’ve worked on a bit. Though I’ve hit a bit of a lull in progress. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I’ve been more focused on other things for the winter, or maybe that I need to push myself to learn these things more thoroughly.

Anyway, I am creating this thread for getting some feedback on what’s already written, what I could add, remove, etc.


Here is what it looks like so far, to the exclusion of some more detailed descriptions of badges:

Philosophical underpinnings:

—Human power
—emphasis on wildness
—traditional skills

Focused more on wild plants and wild beings, emphasizing the local wildness as much as possible, with domesticated species being a more minor role.

I also feel a pull towards minimalism: focusing on fewer aspects, but making them especially thorough so that they (theoretically) can cover all or most of one’s needs.  

Another element philosophically is to do whatever works, allowing a lot of leeway for diversity based on climate and situation. Not everyone will benefit from X,Y, and Z medicinal plants, but usually people can benefit from harvesting some of three medicinal plants, whatever kind they are.

A few current ideas for badges:

—Foraging (learning the land’s staple and non staple foods, and how to cook them)
—Kitchen (cooking by wood fire, using, cleaning cookware & dishes)
—Gardening, for a closer relationship with the natural landscape—sowing, transplanting, weeding, dealing with waste, etc.
—Medicine. Learning a good variety of medicines from the land.
—Fiber & clothing (learning to process fibers, especially focused on wild ones)
—Earthworks (swales, clamps, terraces, you know)
—Natural building (incl. various traditional architectures)
—Woodworking
—Tool care
—Nest (firemaking, cleaning, organization, maybe food storage, etc.)
—Transportation (human & possibly animal powered. Could involve shoemaking, trail maintenance, etc. maybe merge with earthworks and clothing? Also packing a rucksack for a journey, etc.)
—Community (as it has its own difficulties
—Woodland
—Pottery & basketry

Some of the above list may be merged, eliminated, or added to depending on what I can fit.

Some things I’m thinking about:

1. I would like this to be more privacy conscious than PEP, which in the areas of medicine and to some extent community, doesn’t meet my particular standards. It might be that the community badge has to go; I haven’t come up with anything for it yet, as I am not sure how it could work. Maybe there are ways to meet these standards (no faces, etc.) in a way that’s more comfortable for me and others.

2. The person I imagine benefitting from this is not exactly Gert, but another personality, someone who’s interested less in inheriting large tracts of land, more in being able to contribute, benefit from, and bring together people in community. They are interested in a community-oriented, humble life, even if this doesn’t mean owning a lot or even any land. They might therefore have little to prove to any Otis figure, but such a relationship may form naturally along the way.

So maybe it isn’t SKIP at all, but something adjacent?

Anyway, it would be nice to discuss.

I liked it!

Robin is doing a year of eating only foraged foods now.  

I’ve cut brush and carved wood using it. It definitely isn’t an axe, though.

Daphne Rose wrote:Wow, just today I was cutting firewood when I noticed one of the logs had a heart-shaped cross section. So I made some coasters.
No tools needed besides a bow saw. These can be used for a lot of things.

That’s lovely! I should have said woods with curly or unusual grains—there are a lot of kinds of figures, like spalting, that aren’t as difficult. Although different places I look have different definitions of what constitutes a wood’s figure so I’m not sure. I think the heart may be spalting?

On a similar vein there is a piece of eastern redcedar/tree juniper that has this lovely lavendery color, and also has spalting. Strangely, it was the perfect shape for a banjo neck when split. According to one of the definitions this is also the wood’s figure. Unfortunately it seems to fade to red after a month or two but I’m not sure if there is some way to preserve or seal the color in. But I think the red is nice too.

I use one of these and am entirely satisfied with it.

Second from top in picture:
https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/catalog/122526-vintage-4-j-a-henckels-international-serrated-edge-kitchen-knives-ready-for-use


There is also a thinner one of the same sort, which I may like a little better.

Nettles love fertile soil and water, and enjoy part shade. They don’t like full shade so much, but their eating quality is diminished in full sun, and their stinging quality augmented. In full sun they also are more prone to pests.

Keeping the soil moist, partly shaded, and very fertile will help them thrive, and so may some light weeding if necessary. Interestingly, while stinging nettles are often found around farms, in my ecosystem they are often a sign of high quality, abundant forest ecology, which is where they taste the best anyway, and sting the least. They are of course resilient plants. If you snip their tops every now and again, waiting until they look full and healthy before coming back, I think you should be fine.

The last load of firewood came, astonishingly, with quite a large amount of flame birch, a kind of curly grained, shimmery yellow birch wood. I’ve been saving whatever pieces I see, either big ones for a woodturner friend or smaller ones for my own purposes. Something tricky about figured woods seems to be that they can’t be carved with ordinary knives, planes, and so on, as far as I can tell—do this and the grain starts to split. I have had success with files and saws so far, but maybe there’s something I don’t know.

How do you work with these difficult but beautiful woods?

I have said before that nettles are a very good food I wouldn’t mind eating for most of my food, too.