Learning to weave baskets
Eleven years ago, when I was a wannabe homesteader and gardener but didn’t really have many skills yet, I created a Word document on my computer called “Reskilling.” It was a list of all the skills I wanted to pick up over the years to become more self-reliant. (I’ve told you I’m a list-maker, haven’t I?)
Weaving baskets was close to the top of that list. It always called me. I love baskets; I love the idea of meditatively weaving fiber that results in something so practical. But apart from the giant wisteria vine basket I wove at a workshop years ago, I never really got around to learning to weave baskets, properly. I was working on two handfuls of other skills I wanted to build first.
This past winter, when we were looking at a winter of staying mostly home, I decided I might as well spend some time finally practicing basketry. I ordered a couple of basket-weaving kits and checked out basketry books from the library to teach myself some basic techniques. There may have been some expletives as I tried to weave the first bases without letting everything fall apart. But I was hooked and I knew it. It was one of those crafts you just fall in love with. Basketry is one of humankind’s oldest crafts and when you try it, you’re tapping into something primal, a feeling of “I was meant to do this.”
My hands felt the materials. Smooth, flat reed and beautifully slender willow rods in different shades of brown, purple and green. My hands automatically began to bend and test them for flexibility. After the first two challenging steps of forming the base of the basket, my hands simply took over. Sliding natural fibers into the weave, rhythmically passing them over-and-under, over-and-under, I watched the pattern of the weave emerge and something in me said, “Of course. This is how it’s supposed to work.”
* * *
I share this story because I often meet people who are just getting started with gardening or homesteading crafts, with impatient overwhelm written all over their faces, who ask me: “Where do I start?”
It took me eleven years to get to one of the skills I most wanted to learn. There is time. You don’t have to learn it all at once. If it’s meant to be a part of your skillset, it’ll come.
Where should you start? Start with what calls you the most. Some of us are really drawn to working with fiber — that was the case for me. Others find that pottery or blacksmithing is what makes them tick. Yet others go on a wild food tour and the floodgates of a hidden foraging urge open.
Having said that, there are some skills that are “keystone skills” — they start to build a knowledge and muscle memory base for you that will be useful in a hundred other tasks. Growing food is one of them. Learning to repair simple tools and do basic mending is another. Learning to make at least one food item per year that you currently buy at the store is another — it could be vegetable stock, or simple bread, or yogurt, or freezing summer berries.
And here, because I know you’re curious, is my original “Reskilling” list. Maybe it will inspire you to create your own?
knitting
crocheting
sewing
yogurt-making
candlemaking
gardening
making veg stock
soapmaking
canning
cheesemaking
spinning yarn
goat-milking and basic goatherding/goat care
chicken care
natural dyes
seed saving
composting
grinding grains
foraging for wild foods
basketry
fermenting
financial savvy
baking bread (better)
building with natural materials (cob, adobe, strawbale)
pottery
freezing foods
drying/dehydrating foods
making laundry detergent and other home cleaning supplies
orchard care (fruit, pruning etc.)
drying and using herbs for food and tea
using medicinal herbs
weaving fabric
animal husbandry
woodworking
grafting & pruning
electrical
plumbing
irrigation
metalworking
pond construction
mushroom propagation
plant propagation
bee keeping
pedal-powered machines
solar hot water systems
photovoltaic systems
mechanical
make string and cordage/ropes
weave baskets
learn knots
basic blacksmithing
weaving
tanning
salting & smoking foods
