[Artemisia] A New Discussion - SCA Skills in a Modern Plague

[Allen Hall]

The below is off a website I monitor, I thought it was pertinent to the general discussion, though it's not exactly medieval.  Contact me off-list if you'd like the website.

Alan



        
            It’s
one thing to prepare for an unexpected event that you can ride out in
the course of a week or two; secure, defensible shelter that functions
without the grid, a store of food and water, and stockpiles of
essentials such as ammo and medical supplies may be more than enough to
last until the disaster passes and social order is restored. But what
about long-term survival in the face of TEOTWAWKI?  
I’ve always found it instructive to study how we lived before
20th-century innovations such as electricity and refrigeration and
potable water piped right into the kitchen. It wasn’t that long ago; my
dad’s folks didn’t have electricity until he was a teen and his
grandparents spent most of their life in a home where going to the
bathroom at night required boots and a lantern. When great-grandpa shot
a mink that was threatening the chickens, his wife didn’t think twice
about making gloves and a stole from the pelt. Could you
produce gloves from a rabbit pelt? Or, for that matter, turn a sheaf of
wheat into a loaf of bread? They had skills that we have forgotten;
knowledge that we need to relearn should our technologically-enabled
lifestyle be unexpectedly set back a century or two. 
Mechanical Arts is an obsolete and archaic term from the
European Middle Ages; it referred to the practical skills required of
the lower class, as opposed to the Liberal Arts and Performing Arts
mastered by the upper crust and intelligentsia. The eight mechanical
arts make a good springboard for reviewing the skills that we need to
re-master if we are to live – not just survive – in the face of
long-term social collapse. The eight mechanical arts of
medieval tradition are weaving, blacksmithing, war, navigation,
agriculture, hunting, medicine, and theater.
Modern weaving encompasses everything from basic sewing skills – on
a non-electric machine – to the production of thread, cloth, and yarn
from basic agricultural products. The latter requires quite a long-term
view, but it isn’t out of the question to make sure that your group has
a functional antique sewing machine and people with the skill to use
it. Knitting and crocheting are fine hobbies that might prove to be
useful skills should the need arise. And basic hand-sewing is a skill
everyone needs; in a crisis, cloth may not be the only thing that needs
a bit of emergency stitching. I would include tanning in this category;
make sure someone in your group is able to turn a deer hide into
useable buckskin.
Traditional blacksmithing is also a fine hobby that becomes a useful
survival skill. In the modern view, competence with cutting and welding
equipment falls into this category as well. The ability to cut and
shape metal – however you do it – will put your skills in constant
demand. I would include basic mechanical skills as well. If you have
useful, non-electric machinery (windmills and well pumps and that
antique sewing machine come to mind) and animal-drawn farm tools that
you can keep in good repair, you’ll be in better shape than most of
your neighbors.
Much has been written about home defense in the face of chaos. Every
member of your group needs to be trained in the basics. Again, this
makes a fine diversion here in the real world; I am continually
astounded as to how readily the girls take to occasional outings to the
local shooting range. Advanced skills range from leadership training
and gunsmithing to tactical surveys of your terrain. One acquaintance
(and this is an example of extreme and probably illegal preparedness)
has located the most likely spots where an assaulting force might take
cover and has not only set up lines of fire into those locations but
has run underground wires so he can quickly connect and conceal his
Claymores. I’ll hail his bunker from a good safe distance should the
need arise! 
Navigation by the sun and stars is an art that most of us
GPS-enabled survivalists have never learned. It’s probably not
necessary; chances are you’re already quite familiar with the locale
around your refuge and establishing north from the stars or tree moss
runs a distant second to a good pocket compass. But it wouldn’t hurt
for your group to master some basic wilderness trekking skills. This
makes for a fun activity; take a day class, or set up a course of
waypoints and instructions yourself, with a prize (or food and beer!)
at the end.
Agriculture and hunting are probably among the most necessary and
most varied of these skills. Your group may already include avid
hunters who can not only bring down food but prepare it in the field.
This may include gunsmithing and bow hunting; it does not
include recreational fishing, which is fun but usually
calorie-negative. Agriculture in the face of adversity is actually more
difficult than hunting. If you already have a hobby farm (and you
should, in conjunction with your survival compound), think about how
you would get water to your plants and animals without the electric
pump at the bottom of the well. Raising fruits and vegetables is one
thing; can you turn your wheat and corn into flour? This is a skill
that will stand you in good stead in the face of long-term separation
from the local grocery store. I would place cooking and food
preparation in this category as well, where the big question is: can
you prepare and store food for long-term storage without electricity or
refrigeration? And for those with large enough lots, keeping animals –
whether they be chickens, pigs, goats, or cattle – will be a great
benefit over the long run. Sadly, agriculture as a hobby is almost
always a money-loser – you simply cannot produce eggs for what they
cost at the store and I weep every time I see corn at five ears for a
dollar – but you may find home-grown tomatoes and free-range eggs
sufficiently tasty to give it a try. And, while illegal, running a home
still is both educational and entertaining – and good moonshine whisky
might be as valuable a trade item as gold as well as useful as
antiseptic or emergency fuel. In a real emergency, you can drink it as
well.
A doctor in the group is pure gold, but the problems of long-term
survival without access to modern health care are numerous and
difficult to overcome. Are there diabetics in your family? Insulin will
be impossible to find. Do members have high blood pressure or severe
allergies? Your stockpile of medication will not last long and
lifestyle changes will be required. Survivalist medicine runs the gamut
from medical diagnosis and emergency surgery (do you want to lose a
child to something as routine as appendicitis – or mistakenly cut into
a belly when the problem is merely heartburn?) to growing and
processing your own medicinal plants. Willow-bark tea is a far cry from
oxycodone, but it may be all you can get. But at the least every member
of your group needs to be trained in basic first aid, including
dressing wounds and setting broken bones in the field. And for the long
term, a good class in childbirth for the potential mothers and midwives
in your group.
Like it or not, you and your group will have to interact with those
around you – if for no other reason than to get news and barter what
you have for what you need – and good social skills are a must.
Fortunately, most of us work and play in large groups and the isolated
hermit is a curiosity of the past. However, it wouldn’t hurt to brush
up on your negotiating skills; the day may come when your life depends
on it.
One could not expect any individual to master more than a handful of
these; indeed, one could argue that the advent of individual
specialization was the beginning of modern civilization. But even a
fairly small group can cover most with relative ease. And practice of
these arts as hobbies may lead to a good deal of personal satisfaction
as well as the comfort in knowing that you are prepared for the
worst.