Epic Skill Swap

Laura, here:

As Transition Town Jericho is now in summer hibernation I experienced a sort of village convergence of my own at last weekend’s (June 1-4) Epic Skill Swap in Wilmot NH. The sixth annual, this event brings together mostly young people, sharing skills in small groups/one-on-ones in a beautiful bucolic setting.

I was there just for the day, but most people stayed the weekend, as evidenced by the colorful sprawl of tents. Stocked with my own grown and dried gourds, I offered a workshop “Make your Own Shekere”. (Shekeres, those colorful beaded instruments from Africa you can’t help shaking your hips to, when listening to or playing). I only had to give a few instructions before people were on their own, creating varied and impressive renditions.

It was a really pleasant two hours, sitting around the picnic table beading together over conversation. I realized this is a pretty activated group of individuals, including a social worker, a teacher of theology at prisons, an art therapist. If people walking by expressed interest, they were handed a gourd and joined in the crafting.

Being in the middle of opera season (I’m a classical violinist) I was only able to stay for the day, but enjoyed a tasty vegan lunch, then attended informative workshops on bike camping and primitive pottery (did you ever imagine you could make clay/pottery from your own backyard soil?!). Examples of other workshops were: Setting up a Website, How to Build a Wall, Primitive Firemaking, and best of all, the Art and Science of Procrastination (decided to wait until next year for that one!)

The only thing that would make a Skill Swap even more epic is having one right here in Jericho... let’s see what the future holds there.

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