PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
It started with a YouTube of how to turn hemp plants into rope. Serendipity struck when her DNR newsletter offered classes on survivalism and building simple dwellings with wood and mud.
As she scooped clay from the river bank and mixed it in the pit, she felt like a child again. As others chopped and notched saplings, she felt part of a community. That chill evening, mud fireplace crackling, the smoke rising through the chimney, each grubby person sat on benches inside of the hut. Sipping libations from tea to whiskey, they laughed, their fatigue worn like badges of honor.
[100 words]
This story is part truth, part fiction. My son directed me to a channel he watches on YouTube called, Primitive Technology. I watched a video of the guy building a mud and wood home and was impressed. The next day a video of turning hemp plants into rope showed up in my facebook feed. I watched that and sent the link to him. Yesterday, reading my DNR newsletter, I read about a series of classes being offered this summer, and one of them was about survivalism and bushcraft. Am seriously thinking about taking it.
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields is the illuminating host of Friday Fictioneers.
Tao Talk 
Connection, bonding and community feeling.
So much camaraderie.
Great idea to learn and enjoy such skills while networking with those with similar interests.
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Anita, I’m so happy you enjoyed the story. Thank you for reading and your feedback 🙂
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And I bet she didn’t look at her phone all day
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Amen!
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Dear Lisa,
I definitely felt the sense of community. Intriguing story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Rochelle, thank you and glad you found it intriguing.
Shalom,
Lisa
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Skills that could come in handy of we carry on as we are!! A good way to build some bonds. Nice one.
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Iain, thank you! I agree. Also wanted to let you know that the website where your book is approved me getting a copy to read but I tried for over an hour to follow various instructions/program downloads, etc. to open it on my desktop and was unsuccessful. I can’t read it on my phone because my eyesight isn’t that good. If you have any tips for me to get it to open on a desktop (I tried Kindle and one other program and then another reader program that didn’t work) I may yet get to read your book.
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Ah that’s a shame. Kindle is the one I use and generally works well and quite straightforward, or a good old paperback copy! Hope you manage to find a way to read it.
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What is DNR (only thing comes to mind for me is Do Not Resusitate!)
And it must be wonderful to be part of a community like this!
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Sorry for the unfamiliar acronym. It stands for Department of Natural Resources. Each state in the US has one and I think there is also one federal umbrella agency also. This one is just for Michigan.
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No worries 😉 And what a wonderful thing!
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Oh wow! Awesome its based on a true story!
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Thank you, Carol Anne 🙂
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Nice work of incorporating actual things you’ve witnessed into a poem, Lisa. It’s amazing to me how some folks leverage YouTube to build a huge following, especially when some shallow reality TV type crap or otherwise questionable content. But you can also find great stuff on the channel, and “Primitive Technology” sounds pretty intriguing!
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Thank you, Christian, and I agree there are some loony — at least imo — youtube sites out there that are hugely popular. I guess this one is also mega popular but also useful. He’s based in Australia so the soil might be different but I know we have clay soil in MI also which is probably what he’s using.
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Back to the roots lifestyle sounds appealing.
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Yes, it does, Sadje.
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👍🏼
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All those things we used to know. In fact, most of our grandparents knew that stuff. (K)
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My great grandpa was a blacksmith!
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My grandfather grew up on a farm and was a carpenter. And my grandmother was an excellent seamstress and canned her own food, made soap, etc. When we visited the family that lived in Southern Ohio it was like going back in time–they still had outhouses. I imagine all that’s gone now. My other grandparents had a small farm in their back yard and a farm stand. All that lost in a generation.
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😦 i know
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Good for them! As long as their sense of community remains, and they manage to keep themselves out of power games, it can be a delightful place for them …
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Indeed, Na’ama. There is no place for ego.
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Ah, and yet … Ego seems to want to occupy and inordinate amount of space … Here’s to giving it less!
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Yes, going back to the basics can be liberating. However, all our mod-cons will be appreciated more when we learn how a survivalist life is a struggle, especially find enough food in the wild and cold winter.
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Oh I can believe it. When it is practiced as a hobby, it’s one thing; but if your life depends on it, a totally different matter. Thanks for reading and your comment, James.
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My survivalist instincts go no farther than an operational air conditioning system. Well done, Lisa.
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LOL Bill. Weren’t you in the military? You must have a few more than that…
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Bygone days, Lisa. 🙂
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🙂
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Great skills to have and for bonding with other people. In todays time…too little of bonding goes on in our life. I think that is part of society’s problem right now…more and more people are becoming isolationist…I’ll get off of my soapbox now! lol
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Max, I’m 100% in agreement with you. Preach all you want 🙂
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I hope that they had built a shower hut, 🙂
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They will probably just strip down and use the (ice cold and clear) creek in the morning 🙂
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Back to basics, and all the better for it. In some ways I envy them.
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I hear you, Keith. “We’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.” (Joni Mitchell)
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it must have happened before the internet and smartphones. 🙂
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🙂 seems like it, doesn’t it
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I’d enjoy doing a course like that. Getting right back to simple essential basics for survival. Great story!
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Thank you, Fleurl 🙂
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This is fun! And there’s that feeling of content after a productive day. Well told!
I love this stuff and have always tried to know what is around me, how to build shelter, what edible plants to find in the wild, how to make a fire and simple tools and such. That was mostly before youtube and smartphones to look stuff up. These days it’s quite popular and since I’m stuck in the middle of civilization, I, too, love to watch bushcrafting films. I’m not fond of the prepper stuff though.
It’s also a link to archeology and how our ancestors survived thousands of years ago. Getting these skills grounds us.
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Thank you so much for your lovely and seasoned comment.
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Back to basics – nice!
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Thanks, Ali!
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This seems like an ideal solution but I wonder at the underlying tension in this peace. I fear there is a reason they are having to make do out in nature away from the cities. At least they are working together
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Laurie, you may be right, and I agree working together increases their chances of success. Thanks for reading and your comment.
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