2013 Outlook - Part Two

Last week, I shared my hopes, goals, and accomplishments in the immense field (haw) of organic gardening. This growing season is shaping up to be pretty difficult, given that we still have an abnormal amount of snow cover, the ground is frozen, and temperatures have been hovering about ten degrees Celsius below the historical average. The risk of flooding is high, which won't necessarily impact the city all that much, but one of the gardens I steward is on the river-side of the dike. I keep my fingers crossed and hope for better weather in the coming weeks.

As promised, here is the second part of my plans for the rest of 2013. What I'm sharing with you today is my propensity to try a whole lot of different activities to see how I'll take to them. These activities have a fairly specific aim, which is to be a viable backup in a situation where my "1337" computer hacking skills wouldn't really be in demand. There's an impulse that exists within me, and I'm sure it's not unique, but it's an unmistakeable passion to create. I love to make things that require skill, craftsmanship and attention to detail. The satisfaction of creating something that meets my standards just feels so good! All the different skills and trades I'm trying, and have tried, satisfy those requirements.

  I could spend days writing about my stories and experiences with each skill individually, but to save everyone's time, here's a list of the activities I've tried with the intent that they may lead to earning a living:

• blacksmithing
• woodworking
• construction
• brewing
• cooking and baking
• writing

Having put them all in a neat little list like that, I'm glad to see that they all satisfy the primary criteria of being viable in a de-industrial society. Whew! I've been focused in that respect, at least. Of the skills listed there, I've found that brewing, cooking and writing have been the most satisfying personally, and I do believe they would have value to others. Who wouldn't like beer and bread along with a tantalizing short story written up by yours truly?

I readily admit that my focus may be a little off here. I get the feeling that future economies will be more forgiving to generalists rather than specialists. Specialization, especially to the degree that modern civilizations have achieved, requires immense amounts of energy to support the required complex web of manufacturing goods and providing services. These include things like mass production and transportation networks to the massive service industry that attends to matters that specialists just don't have the time, or skill, to address. If generalists, i.e. people who have a large and varied skill set, are going to thrive in a low-energy future, then that really is good news for me.

I am a few weeks away from finishing an introductory woodworking class. While it has been interesting, it hasn't ignited a passion in me like I thought it would. I also have my doubts as to how applicable modern woodworking skills will be where the availability of all the wonderful and specialized machinery to cut and shape wood is severely curtailed. This highlights an important blind spot in my "future sight" because I have only a vague concept of what the next couple of decades will look like in terms of energy and tool availability. It's probably safe to say that tools and machines that have been around and in use for decades will most likely be around for several more decades. This has prompted me to look once more into the appropriate tech movement that was born during the energy crisis of the 70s. I definitely want to talk more about that in another post.

A person very dear to me once suggested that perhaps my purpose in life is to support others, to help those around me cope with the difficulties of a troubling and confusing future. Whether that be through emotional support, sharing information or lending a hand, it would seem that almost in spite of my attempts to find the one "perfect" skill, I am unintentionally developing the real talent that I'm meant to use. That thought brought a certain comfort to my mind.

The role of adviser is something I've thought a lot about, and as time goes on I experience more and more synchronicity related to it. Since the concept was introduced to me over a year ago via the Archdruid Report blog, I've entertained the idea that I want to be the modern equivalent of a medieval wizard: adviser, intellectual freelancer, the man with (almost) all the answers. This concept of being a source for information for others ties in very neatly with the appropriate tech skills I mentioned above. I certainly wouldn't mind if everyone thought of me as a wizard. I may have to grow out a beard!

The final part of my outlook for this year will be about the beginnings of my search for a place (or places) that would be suitable for settling down for the long term. The vagaries of fortune and the world in general make it almost impossible to guarantee that I'll end up living in any one place indefinitely, but there are specific criteria for what would be an ideal environment. I'll get into those criteria, as well as how some places I've considered measure up. Until then, happy living!