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Cultivate Simple 31: Five Things

May 27th, 2013

Today we discuss the 5 things that would we like to learn next. We are always learning about new skills or topics that interest us. Our attitude is, “If they can do it, so can we!”

Brian’s Five Things

  • Welding
  • Small Engine Repair
  • Cider/Beer Brewing
  • Horse Back Riding
  • Sailing

Susy’s Five Things

  • Making Silage
  • Traditional European Butchery
  • Keeping a Dairy Cow
  • Mushroom Foraging
  • Laying Hedgerows

Brian’s Geeky Corner

Use Skitch to capture and annotate screen shots. These can be automatically uploaded to Evernote. This is handy when you want to save a receipt or a snippet of a website, like a recipe.

Google Sketchup of Chicken Nesting Boxes

Books of the Week

Brain Pickings Blog, one of my favorites.

What are your Five Things?

16 Comments to “Cultivate Simple 31: Five Things”
  1. Amy S on May 27, 2013 at 10:03 am

    I can’t get your link for chicken boxes to open on my Mac. What am I doing wrong?

    Reply to Amy S's comment

    • Mr. Chiots on May 27, 2013 at 5:32 pm

      Hi Amy,

      The file is a zip (archive) file which you have to ‘un-zip’ or un-compress before using. To do this on a mac you should just have to double click on it.

      Reply to Mr. Chiots's comment

      • amy on May 28, 2013 at 10:49 pm

        when I double click it, it says it cannot open as there is no available application can open it. I’m so computer illiterate.

        to amy's comment

      • Susy on May 29, 2013 at 9:34 am

        You have to download Google Sketchup (which is free) in order to view the file.

        to Susy's comment

  2. Mich on May 27, 2013 at 5:36 pm

    I did smile at your 5’s list. In this household we make cider & lots of cordials. I keep a horse and have kept a herd of Dexters & crossbreds using one as a dairy cow. We have never made silage but always made 1200 or so small hay bales. My other half is agricultural engineer no idea how to use the washing machine but can take it apart & fix it! Lol.
    Out of interest are you allowed to despatch your own animals at home for meat?
    We can do rabbits and poultry for our own use but that’s all, pigs, sheep, cattle have to be taken to a licensed abattoir.
    My list of 5:
    Make kombucha.
    Learn to knit.
    Hedge laying (happening winter 2013/14)
    Hmm this is hard…

    Reply to Mich's comment

    • Susy on May 27, 2013 at 9:50 pm

      Yes, here in the U.S. you can slaughter your own animals, but you can’t sell them if you do.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  3. Lexa on May 27, 2013 at 11:44 pm

    Great pod-cast today. The topic really got me thinking, which is always good! So, my list would be
    1) Learn to Knit
    2) Advance my knowledge of native plants/tree
    3)Advance my knowledge of native birds
    4)Learn to make pasta from scratch
    5)take a watercolor class
    P.S. It was great to hear from another person who loves to mow! It is such a satisfying task.

    Reply to Lexa's comment

  4. Crinia on May 28, 2013 at 12:38 am

    Mushroom foraging
    Learn to make and build with mud bricks
    Milking
    Meditation

    Reply to Crinia's comment

  5. Jessie - Rabid Little Hippy on May 28, 2013 at 6:40 am

    Wow. Great post. Ok, my 5 things…
    Learn to graft fruit trees (going to a demo in 2 months)
    Learn to make soap (going to a workshop on Saturday)
    Learn to butcher a chicken (I have seen it done when hubby did the deed but I want to be able to do it myself.)
    Learn to make cheese
    Learn to crochet (I can crochet a chain and I knit competently but I can’t crochet despite being shown when I was 12 by my super crochet grandmother)

    Reply to Jessie – Rabid Little Hippy's comment

  6. DebbieB on May 28, 2013 at 9:11 am

    Though I always enjoy the guest speakers, I love these “everything” podcasts where we learn what’s going on ‘around the run’ and what’s planned for the future.

    You really got me thinking (ow!) about my own list of 5 things to learn next. 6 months ago I would have said “learn to grow my own food” but you’ve got me doing that now (first harvest this weekend – a little lettuce and a handful of green and yellow bush beans, hooray!) so it’s scratched off the list (well, I know I’ll never stop learning about growing food but it won’t be a brand new thing anymore).

    My list today:
    1) Learn to make cheese and yogurt (I dabbled in the yogurt making years ago but want to make it a regular thing, and don’t remember how it goes)
    2) Learn to competently bake our “daily bread” (right now it’s a special occasion treat, because I don’t do it very well)
    3) Learn to sew (I weave and spin and knit, but don’t know how to use a sewing machine)
    4) Learn rug weaving
    5) Learn how to use my camera beyond ‘point and click’
    4)

    Reply to DebbieB's comment

  7. tj on May 28, 2013 at 10:01 am

    …I have to ask, what is Traditional European Butchery? After reading your list via email I Googled it but really didn’t come up with anything. It did pique my interest however. :o)

    …Oh, my list wouldn’t stop at five so I won’t elaborate. As I get older I just fly by the seat of my pants as to what I want to do/learn next.

    …Enjoy your day!

    …Peace & blessings. :o)

    Reply to tj's comment

    • Susy on May 28, 2013 at 11:02 am

      It’s also known as seam butchery, or sometimes referred to at nose to tail butchery. Essentially, it’s learning to butcher to waste less of the animal.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  8. amy on May 28, 2013 at 12:30 pm

    1) Making a cobb oven
    2) A living roof for my green house or garden shed this year
    3)Making elderberry wine this year
    4)Learn to weld and then use it in my sculptures
    5)Learn to identify mushrooms

    Wonderful podcast! Thank you:) Blessings.

    Reply to amy's comment

  9. Amanda H on May 30, 2013 at 4:19 pm

    I’m not sure why this took awhile for me to think up, but I feel like I’m learning new things all the time!
    1. Trad climbing (a method of rock climbing)
    2. Learn more about permaculture (you guys sparked this one!)
    3. Photography, learning to use the camera and take a decent shot
    4. Making and using herbal remedies from the garden, sometimes I get to the point where I’m growing it and then I don’t know where to go from there.
    5. Making sour beer. My husband is an accomplished home brewer but he doesn’t like sour beers and I do, so I’ve got to learn to make them myself.

    Reply to Amanda H's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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