Source:
http://tinyurl.com/d8u2vm
A disclaimer: The exact tools and techniques most suitable to a livable future is unknown because they are dependent on which future scenarios unfold – from technological utopia at one extreme to nuclear winter at the other. The perspective taken in this article is, I hope, a conservative middle ground that sees a future that is far less energy intensive than the present, radically more solar energy-based, and by necessity far more localized and community-oriented. The tools and techniques of living well into a post-oil future will be as varied as the context of their application, and range according to site, scale, social conditions, and the specific aptitudes and interests of the individuals using them. Yet, they have several characteristics in common distinguishing them from the typical tools and techniques we relied on in the oil age.
Tools and techniques of solar-powered societies tend to be:
○ Human or animal powered: they function on relatively small amounts of energy available on site.
○ Site-specific: they are customized for and born of relationship to the exact location in which they are applied, adapted to the conditions of place, including soils, climate, and resources available.
○ Small scale and diverse: they number many but are applied in relatively small increments, not rubber-stamped generically.
○ Adaptable: they change over time as conditions dictate.
○ Simple in technology, complex in technique, skill-intensive, awareness-based: they tend to be the reverse of oil-dependent strategies, which are usually complicated tools requiring simple application. Consider the scythe versus the lawn mower: The scythe is infinitely simpler mechanically, but using a scythe is more complex and skill-intensive than using a gas-powered mower.
TECHNIQUES
I. Food and Water
Wells and springs
○ Locating, tapping, diverting and maintaining water sources, spring digging, and spring-box construction
Gardening
○ Garden positioning, site preparation, soil-building, planting timing, seed selection, seed starting, plant arrangement, pest identification and management, companion planting, weather predicting, harvesting and timing, seed saving, season extension
Food processing and storage
○ Dehydrating, canning, cooling, freezing, and other strategies
○ Wine, mead, beer, kraut, kimchee, and other fermented foods preparation
Hunting and Fishing
○ Gun, bow/arrow mastery, tracking, stalking, identifying habitat, skinning, hauling, processing, storing of game
○ Deer, turkey, moose, grouse, woodcock, rodent; dog training
○ Fish habitat and identification, casting, lure/bait selection, fly-tying, cleaning, processing, storing
Animal husbandry
○ Birthing, training, caring for and communicating with, slaughtering, processing and storage; fencing of chicken, duck, rabbit, pig, goat, sheep, cattle, llama, horse, oxen, alpaca, geese, and other animals
○ Saddlery, shoeing, harnessing, driving, plowing with livestock
○ Beekeeping
Grazing
○ Pasture management: species selection, seeding timing, rotation timing and stock density, animal tractoring, fencing, keylining, water systems, predator control, soil food web health
Orcharding and Perennials
○ Species and variety selection, planting arrangement, soil preparation, inoculant selection and application, planting, disease and pest management, pruning, harvesting, mulching, foliar feeding, guild and understory development, groundcover selection and management
Wildcrafting
○ Ecology, habitat identification, fungi, tree and herb ecology; identifying, gathering and maintaining populations of mushrooms, elderberry, nettle, ginseng, willow, bearberry, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, butternut, beech nut, black walnut, hazelnuts, Echinacea, mountain ash, cattail, chicory, chokecherry, crab apple, apple, cranberry, bilberry, dandelion, dock, wild ginger, wild leek (ramps), wild grape, groundnut, hickory nuts, lamb’s quarters, mulberry, New Jersey tea, pickerel weed, plantain, hawthorn, sheep sorrel, serviceberry, milkweed, sorrel, thistle, yarrow, mullein, rhubarb, burdock and many others (there are more than 100 well-distributed edible and medicinal plants in Vermont’s woodlands)
Forestry
○ Tree selection, felling, hauling, bucking, milling, splitting
○ Understory crop development, slash and char soil building, mushroom production, managing to grow “wild”life
○ Road construction: siting, culverts and drainage, bridges, shaping, maintenance
Ponds
○ Siting, construction, succession-management, seeding, fish rearing
Mushroom cultivation
○ Siting, choosing substrate, gathering substrate, inoculating, maintenance
II. Shelter Construction
○ Building and repair, re-insulating, wiring, plumbing, weatherizing, deconstruction and salvaging, barns, coops, pens, fencing, root cellar retrofitting, working with local raw materials: wood, clay, stone, fiber, grasses
Machinery, milling, manufacturing, tool-making and maintenance
○ Blacksmithing, mechanics, woodworking, small engines, pulleys, gears, hydro power, bearing repacking, lubrication, engine repair, salvaging parts and retrofitting
Clothes-making
○ Sewing, weaving, knitting, darning, felting, cobbling, tanning,
III. Wellness Nutrition
○ Whole, live, nutrient-dense and antioxidant-rich food preparation and combining
Medicine
○ Herbalism, homeopathy, allopathy
Body work, mindfulness, spirit
○ Massage, Reiki, acupuncture, yoga and movement arts
○ Meditation, “wilderness” immersion, ritual, ceremony, community, music
Counseling, support
Allopathy
IV. Energy Biomass
○ Wood heating: processing, drying, storage, burning, chimney maintenance and repair
Solar PV, micro-hydro, wind, solar thermal
○ Siting, installation, wiring, plumbing, maintenance
V. Local currencies, cooperatives, shared infrastructure
Home and neighborhood enterprise, organization, communication, networking, trust, teamwork, determination, vision, value-adding
TOOLS
The following list is not exhaustive, but represents some of the more important tools needed for rural self-reliant and/or community living.
Home and Neighborhood Scale:
○ Knife, chisel, adze, axe
○ Rake, hoe, cultivator, fork, etc
○ Rope/cordage, knots
○ Hammer
○ Shovel
○ Hand saw, pull saw, chain saw
○ Scythe, machete
○ Sockets, wrench, pliers
○ Fencing tools
○ Plumbing torch, pipe cutter, wrench
○ Wire stripper, cutter, wire nuts, etc
○ Screw gun, drill
○ Oxyacetylene torch
○ Bench grinder
○ Hacksaw
○ Hoists/jacks, block and tackle
○ Tractor
○ Truck
○ Horse/ox-drawn sled, plow
○ Welder
○ Wood gasifier, pyrolysis/biochar/charcoal-making
○ Cider press
○ Ice house
○ Root cellar
○ Gun, bow
○ Pick-mattock
○ Rock bar
○ File
○ Cultivator
○ Spading fork, U-bar
○ Shears, pruners, clippers, loppers
○ Wheelbarrow/cart
○ Dibble
○ Loom, sowing machine, needle and thread
Village and Community Scale:
○ Backhoe, excavator, dump truck, barn, sawmill, hydropower-milling
○ Nursery, seedbank, library, greenhouses, plant and spore propagation facility
○ Yogurt/cheese-making, distillery, cold storage
○ Animal slaughtering/processing, microtextiles
○ Methane digestion/biogas, large-scale composting, biochar facility
○ Wood/metal/engine/machine shop, pottery shop, forge
○ Child care, health clinic, theater, galley, shops, markets
○ Biomass-based cogeneration food canning and dehydrating
○ Log splitter, chipper
○ Oxyacetylene torch
○ Generator, solar PV, wind/hydro turbine, inverter, batteries
○ Micro-power grid
○ Schools, research facilities
Urban Renewal Think Tank
Brainstorming community revitalization through urban farming, bioremediation, and DIY infrastructure.
