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Want to know how it feels to have a dream, work really hard at it for a long time, and then have that dream come true? It feels amazing. I’ve wanted to write books since I was five. I know that because I have an illustrated flipbook I made in kindergarten that says: “When...
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Re-Skilling in a Virtual Reality … I’ve never been a gamer. Aside from Mahjong Solitaire and the occasional click through Minesweeper I’ve never been tempted. Perhaps it’s because I already spend the majority of my day staring down a computer screen, so when I earn a free evening or weekend I prefer to debate...
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A theme is emerging with these re-skilling workshops: we’re learning to do things that our ancestors used to do, but then society got a little too efficient and now we depend on companies and other people to do these basic things for us. As a result, some of the most simple tasks now seem...
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We began the workshop with champagne, and it was immediately my favourite Renaissance Women gathering. Everyone oohed and ahhed at the table set for 14, almost covered in shiny wine glasses and 14 place settings. “Wine appreciation” made it onto our list of skills to learn sort of as a joke, but it easily...
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Making yogurt is so easy that I’m just going to post photos. See how easy that is? Yogurt is a living food, like kombucha or sourdough, and therefore yet another DIY food that’s good for you. Go heat some milk and give it a whirl!
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Our past four years at Makaria Farm have been a gradual process of getting to know our land: which path the water takes across the field when it rains in the winter; where the wild rabbits live; where the deer are mostly likely to attempt to breach our fence. After my July workshop with...
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Here are some how-tos I’ve picked up sporadically throughout my 31 years: How to clean a ceramic teapot Rinse the teapot with water. Dump in a bunch of baking soda. Wait 5 seconds, then wipe the teapot with a wet cloth, smooshing around the baking soda. It’ll be spotless, and without using any gross...
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At first I didn’t think our upcoming December 2011 wedding was suitable for my re-skilling blog. It’s not like I’ll be able to knit socks afterward. But once we started brainstorming priorities and plans, I realized that weddings are just another example of how out of touch my generation has become with the essentials....
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My four-day Easter weekend started with a beautiful sunny day, so I asked Brock what I could do in my garden. (How handy, to have my own personal gardening advisor.) Brock had spaded my kitchen garden a week or two ago, but he wasn’t able to get at the 15′-ish-long row between the two...
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For our second Renaissance Women workshop we decided to learn to sew from a pattern. Patterns have always seemed like some other world to me. Delicate paper that makes me think of old people’s skin. A whole new language of “notions.” And, while the clothes pictured on the pattern envelopes are frequently unstylish, I...
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