I have to tell you about our Making Days… A group of women I know decided to start having these days regularly. At first the venue moved around, and the ‘hosts’ taught the skill and organised what everyone needed to bring etc. Now the Days are mostly at one person’s house because it’s very family-friendly and all-weather too!
Some of the things we’ve made include sauces - worcestershire was the best, followed by the brown onion relish. Cloth menstrual pads in two styles (sewing). Pash-Orangina - a whey-fermented drink with orange and passionfruit juice (a la Nourishing Traditions). Sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables have been made in bulk from local foods in abundance. Local beef fat has been simmered down to make tallow. Some of this will become soap at a future gathering. There’s a very long list of must-share skills within our informal group, and the great thing is that if we miss a Making Day, several of our friends now have that skill and can share it with us another time!
Making Days are an informal effort at reskilling each other. It’s fun to learn together and makes sense to buy raw materials in bulk and share them. The meetings were in part inspired by the MamaBake phenonomen, but we wanted to do more than just make meals. In fact, I don’t think we’ve got around to making any meals together yet! Many of us Makers are homeschooling parents, so we have our kids in tow at these Days. The children and teens are free to join in if they wish, and we’ll probably be organising some projects where they can be more involved with the Making.
Another little Making Days hub is starting up near me soon (in the opposite direction) - materials are being gathered right now! It’s something I can see catching on to groups of friends in the same neighbourhood all over the place… Go on! You know you want to!