Re-skilling days
We’re all a wee bit concerned about how the world is going to change over the next few years in relation to climate change. We all need to try to alter our behaviour to lessen our impact on the environment, but we also need to adapt to the effects of climate change. We don’t know exactly what is going to happen, but we do know that we can’t carry on exactly as we are - relying on fossil fuels to bring us everything we desire from around the planet.
We think it is likely that in the future we will have to be more reliant on local or regional products and services whether that be food, clothing, shelter, energy or those little luxuries. We suspect that our communities and ourselves, will need to be more resilient.
Things to look forward to
It doesn’t need to be a gloomy future. In fact, in some ways it could be nicer than now, less hurried, with richer community bonds, eating high quality locally grown fresh food and enjoying the beauty of what is on our doorstep.
New skills
We at New Caledonian Woodlands would like to get cracking on this, teaching ourselves and you new skills which are bound to be useful in the future and fun to do now. We would like your ideas about the kinds of useful skills you would like to learn, bearing in mind that our special niche is woodlands and woodland products, such as timber, fuel-wood and food from the forest.
So far our volunteers have come up with the list you see below, and from that list, we have come up with our first re-skilling days programme of events. We are very excited about this latest venture as it encompasses much of what we believe in at New Caledonian Woodlands and also much of what are striving for as an organisation.
Since our special niche is trees and woodlands we have tried to incorporate a woodland theme into each of our events and we hope you are as keen to try them as are we are!
Re-skilling Days 2011
Building an Iron Age Roundhouse—Day 4, Topping it Off, Saturday 27th August 2011
Working with Willow, Saturday 24th September 2011
Autumnal Foragers Feast, Saturday 22nd October 2011
Apple Day - Preserving, Pressing and Pies, Saturday 5th November 2011
Have yourselves a Crafty little Christmas..., Saturday 3rd December 2011
Suggestions from our volunteers
tree classification different uses for different types of wood straw bale building building your own shelters grow your own food permaculture forest garden foraging for food/woodland gardening - fruit, leaves, fungi, roots cooking on an open fire without pots and pans making containers for stuff out of natural materials/recycled goods papermaking making twine /grass ropes carving spoons making plates/cups carving a totem pole how to collect leaf mould without damaging the forest floor wood bark types and how to use for the different applications wood burn ash how best to get the most out of this seaweed and wood products how best to combine pine needles how can they be used can permaculture be set up in northern woods trees such as oaks can alter their chemical mix to ward off insect attack can this be harnessed for natural insecticide? using nettles crafting - felting, sewing, knitting etc fire making dry stone wall making bushcraft looking after fruit trees vegetable gardening composting making elderflower wine and champagne identifying and collecting wild mushrooms how and when to harvest willow for basket-making keeping woodland chickens beekeeping sustainable wild camping skills
