Mountain Musings: On Versatility

Mountain Musings – A guest column by Dottie Simmons who lives in eastern Humboldt County describes life at her rural homestead:

Weaving baskets

Living this life requires being able to learn a lot of skills, sometimes on the fly. Seeking self-sufficiency includes the knowledge to do all the things individuals tend to specialize in. Fortunately there are two of us and we compliment each other’s skills.

I have tried – and tried again – to wrap my head around electricity, but amps and ohms and volts and watts just won’t sort themselves out in my brain. My partner can do it in his sleep. He can also play musical instruments… I can play the radio.

On the other hand I can keep the pantry full from farm to table and over the winter and where he fixes plumbing and tools I fill other utilitarian needs.

Along those lines I just made a new onion storage basket. The 20 year old one we had was repaired fairly often in the past few years and was ready to give up the ghost. Fortunately I still had a stash of basket reed appropriate for this project and a long Winter evening to make it in.

Not near as intense as the major plumbing project that also got done (I get to be the go-fer and assist where I can), but holding up another little corner of this life.

We are ‘Jacks of all trades, masters of none’, and not afraid to make mistakes in order to learn new skills. Providing one’s own food and shelter is basic at its core, but requires a multitude of abilities, constant observation, and endless learning.

From construction to canning; heat, power, and water supply; garden and orchard; storage of food and firewood; repair and sanitation; animal husbandry to first aid, the spectrum of living one’s life is endless!

As I wrote back in 2023, I am a ‘duck’, as described to me by our daughter’s host mom in Thailand. In fact we are both ducks, as is anyone who lives a life like this:  A duck can fly, but not as swiftly as an eagle. It can swim, but not like a fish. It can run, but not with the agility of a horse. But a duck can do all of those things, a duck is versatile.

And to live off the land we must be, too.

Building screen doors

Preserving food

Tiling counters

Growing food