High on the Saddleworth hills, the Oldham family have created an inspiring kitchen garden which provides a wealth of rich flavours for the kitchen and larder. This column, written by Andrew and Carol, follows their journey throughout the year
For more information, visit their website www.lifeonpigrow.co.uk
We’re passionate about skill sharing. Skills are the last free thing we have to barter with – it is a reminder of our past, our heritage and our ability to use our ingenuity to solve a problem.
Many of us learnt our skills at the kneecaps of our parents and grandparents. We can remember that chair we pulled up to the big table as we were shown how to make pastry, dough or biscuits.
That same chair was often pulled up to the sink so we could be taught that other valuable life skill, washing up.
That chair became something we associated with loved ones who taught us a way of life that didn’t involve commuting.
The chair still burns in us – I bet you can tell us what colour it was and how it made you feel all grown up when you stood on it. More than ever, we need to pull that chair out and pass on our skills.
This year we are asking Saddleworth people to stand on their childhood chairs and share their skills. You may think it isn’t that important anymore that you know how to knit, bake or preserve. You may believe your dry stone walling, whittling and spinning skills are a thing of the past.
They aren’t. If we do not pass on these skills they will be lost forever. Imagine a world in which no one knows how to bake a loaf.
It was only when we started to share our own love of bread baking on our Facebook Page that we discovered there are more people in the UK today who do not know how to bake bread than there are those baking it.
We seem to have become a nation obsessed with watching baking programmes but never taking that next step into baking.
How many people know how to knit nowadays? Our Grandmas and Great Aunts were never far from a knitting needle or crochet hook, they knew how to sew on a button, darn a sock and make do and mend.
As we have moved to a throwaway culture we have lost these skills but soon there will come a time when we need them again.
Saddleworth people get in touch with us at contact@lifeonpigrow.co.uk and share your skills, let us film you and include you in a living archive that celebrates our ingenuity, skills and passions.
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