Bone Broth, Bread & the Table: Traditional Skills for Health & Stronger Families with Josh Thomas

Disconnect From Food and the Land 0:00

As humans, we're bent towards convenience. Our disconnect from where the food comes from, which I would say is our disconnects from the land, is just a disconnect form basic human experience. More and more people think they're owed something. It's me, me me. You were made to be productive, not just consumptive. How about we start with just explaining, well, what are traditional skills? Sure. I think let's look at it this way and talk about around food, which is the core of how we've got founded and where we're at.

We're gonna go into other skills eventually, but people have a problem today procuring good, healthy food. Whether that is because they're in a food desert. And we can talk that if you want. There's different types of food desserts. or because the food's really expensive. That's another barrier. So we're creating classes, working with all kinds of different people that teach different skills to make that healthy, reliable food more accessible. Whether that is growing it and raising it yourself, like kind of the whole food chain, you grow it, raise it you preserve it.

And you learn how to prepare and cook it serve it to your family. Whether thats working with maybe more local people that are growing and you're doing the preserving cooking part. There's a lot of places to enter and engage with these skills when it comes to healthy food. But really that's the heart of it is helping people have some transformation, get closer to their food, And just cultivate health both physically and even relationally as it relates to couples community families engaging in their food from wherever it comes out of the ground all the way to the table and the conversations that happen around the Yeah, the disconnect between consumers and really farmers has gotten very wide.

What Traditional Skills Include 1:51

The gap is widened extremely. I mean, to the point where I think some kids I've run into, they don't even realize that pork comes from a pig, you know, things like that. No. Well, and you know what, our content director here at the school that helps get the classes produced, she got on this journey long before we met her because her daughter at one point, they were in Southern California and her daugher, They realized how to disconnect when she saw a real chicken and it hit her that that was what they were eating and she had no idea.

And she was seven, eight years old. That was a huge mind shift for them. They packed it up, they moved to the country and they started raising their own food. For them, I mean, there were already into healthy food, but they realized the disconnect of what you're talking about, deeper than just farmers, our disconnect with our food and all that comes with that from whether it's the farmer, whether your own relationship to the land, to preparing the food, what happens around the table when people actually sit and eat together food that's been raised, grown, prepared either on their own land or in their community.

It's huge and it's really fundamental. It is something we've lost. I think we can trace the beginning back to the industrial age, but particularly in the last 50 to 60 years, we might even say 70 years now, where that disconnect has just grown larger and larger. People, when they think of traditional skills, they like starting a fire with flint and rock, or they thing of bows and arrows. They think potentially even like whittling a stick to an arrow, to potentially dressing an animal, like in the wild that you've killed.

Are these some of the skills you learn, what are some examples of the breadth of skills that someone would learn should they go down this course. And I imagine are there many stages to the courses or is it like you go one path and you kind of learn it all and then you, how does that work? Well, I think you're right. That would be one perspective on, on traditional skills. And I, think that would correct. It's kind of where do you, where'd you want to land in time? And, and I to, before I get into like the school and where it's at again, just connecting with our food, with environment.

Um, you know, it an agrarian mindset. We've just gotten very digitized, very disconnected. Everything's the push of a button flip of the switch. Yeah.

Why the Dinner Table Matters 4:47

So there's a lot of places you can go. We are starting and we have started, we started in 2022 centered around food. Eventually, yeah, will go into survival skills and hunting skills. And we're actually getting ready to start picking up more home ec and shop skills right now. So carpentry, metalworking, sewing, soap making, that's kind of the next step that we are seeing people want. But we've started around food. And that just is out of Carolyn and I's own journey, own desire in providing healthy food for our families and then seeing the benefits over time as we started working together, growing food together preserving it, sitting around the table talking about that journey and what that was doing for family.

I mean, there's just so many benefits that come besides we know the value of the family table, right? I was just reading an article about this in Epic Times, you know, they had a lot of articles about Thanksgiving. We're coming back to that. Just the studies they now know of, of just the family sitting together at the dinner table once a day, what that does for relationships, for personal security and value. So for us it started that so the school is starting in that place we've got a long long journey as far as tackling traditional skills but for right now it's classes on gardening on raising a variety of animals you know from chickens to pigs to the dairy cow and more.

onto food preservation, different food, preservation methods. So, so we can meet people where they're at, whether you're in a, you know, a suburban lot or even an apartment, or whether your on 40 acres, there are skills that all of us can embrace that connect us with our food. That connect with each other and ultimately again, help us get healthy and nutritious food on the table. Yeah, that's really powerful. And I so agree, you know, I feel like the dinner table is really becoming more and more of, uh, of the center.

I think back in the day, you might've seen it as like the living room, where people would connect, but it's very much. And then I thinking, and then it moved to the kitchen, But now it even more specific to know it. It's the dinner table. Like it it sitting down, being in that parasympathetic state together, like interacting, talking, sharing, loving, whatever it is. What do you think though we are losing? Do you the loss of some of these skills that you're teaching has kind of created a fragility within the modern families?

Yeah. I mean, on multiple levels, our disconnect from where the food comes from, which I would say is our disconnected from the land is just a disconnect, from basic human experience. You know, I'm a creationist, and I believe we were created to be close to the Land. That's the original picture we have. And when we get disconnected from nature and from the land in general, I think everything starts to unravel. And so it's not just food production, but food is just the thing that brings humanity together.

Going back to that table for a second, it is not the family. So much of history, so many major decisions, and so much happens around the table. And for human interaction and connection. Food is obviously the you know one of the things that sustains us and it's one other things everybody can commonly enjoy and its just that place where we come together so. You know as we've as with gotten disconnected from food i think we got disconnected eating together and so relationships become more fragment and of course there's all kinds of other polls on relationship devices today the technology that we have but even amidst that.

Coming back to the table is that place where we can put all that stuff down. She don't i donno even the mechanics of eating right you're not gonna have the phone in your hand or you shouldn't.

Convenience, Learning, and Reclaiming Skills 9:08

Yeah and you eating and hopefully you talking and so i think it's just a very basic human experience that binds us and that brings us together. And, you know, we've lost that experience as we lost our connection to food, food production, to the land. That's just a, it's a thread or maybe many threads that have kind of unraveled. You know something occurs to me like when I When I was first learning to cook, when I went to culinary school, I, was taught to make hummus, for example, that was just one of many things, right?

And I remember, because back in the day, you know, humus was a new product. It wasn't something most Americans grew up eating. New to Americans, Right? Yeah, specifically Americans, yeah. But it sort of had this international, you know, glamorous kind of don't understand it kind feel to it. And then when I learned it and I was like, wait a minute, it's just three ingredients? Like, what? And how simple it was to make to a degree, I felt so empowered. Like I just was just like oh, this thing that's felt impossible is suddenly possible.

Do you think that in a sense that most Americans are carrying around that myth or that disempowered feeling around these traditional skills? They're easier than people are led to believe, or is it all really know this is challenging and you got to give it time to learn? Or is the disconnect what's making it seem so impossible for some people? I think it's a mix of both. I mean, as humans, we're bent towards convenience. And so we'll give up a lot of value for convenience, and I and think that's something we just have to reckon with our nature.

Modern industrial food system is convenient. You can go grab it up, barely unpeel a wrapper, and you're good to go. So there's that convenience that makes a disconnect. As far as learning the skills, yeah, it takes time. I mean, that's why we're here to help speed that gap up because so many people are wanting to get reconnected with their food and learn some of these skills. But the generational pass down, the generation knowledge is broken. And so, yes, it's an extra effort than if you just grew up learning a lot of these things that have been natural until the last 70, 80 years and passed down and just kind of part of your human experience.

And, so we're trying to reclaim that. So that has worked to it, that it has some failure, some challenge. That's why the school exists is to help overcome that barrier as people are trying So yeah, it's a journey for sure. Yeah, what are some of the things you're seeing, you know, the changes in when someone joins the traditional school, a skill school? Like what kind of changes are you seeing in some, particularly the kids? Are you seen, are seeing people kind step into their power around these things?

do you see them get healthier? What kind of changes do see? Yeah, you'll see all of that. I think empowerment is huge. When we realize that if the grocery store stops, I forget what they call it, there's a name for that cycle. They've got three days on the shelf and so we've all realized in the last few years and people have realized different pockets of society what happens

Empowerment for Kids and Families 13:11

when that faucet gets turned off for a little bit. And so to know where your food's coming from, know that you have the ability to raise some of that food is very, very empowering. It's very confidence building when you start getting successes. Again, it doesn't have to be the whole food chain. You may start just, you know, learning to make broth and bread. I mean, Sally Fallon Morell, she teaches broth at the school, but she also teaches cooking, traditional cooking. And so you can start there.

Somebody might start with food preservation. Wherever it is, it becomes very empowering to know that you take care of this yourself and you're not just dependent on what's down the road. For kids, what we see as they're involved in the process is they are empowered, but they also valued. That's something we've really worked on in our own household is that a lot of modern society doesn't really value children as their becoming adults. They're just there to play and go to school kind of. And I don't think inherently that we build the sense of like they needed in society.

Today the the way the modern way raises kids where when you're in a like a family economy is my friend rory groves talks about. In those kids are helping in your working together and you accomplishing things together as a Family Unit. There's a lot of self-worth, there's self value that gets built up in those kids. And we see that in our children over the years now where they're not wrestling with, you know, am I good enough because of all the social media and all of the things that they see out there.

They've grown up into a context where their contributing to the good of a whole. And that gives you confidence. That gives yourself worth. And so I think when it comes to the kids learning these things, besides just like, you know, what seems odd for us to be, have kids so disconnected their food, they don't know where an egg comes from or what that chicken breast is attached to or a steak, there's bigger values here that are cultivating important character traits. Yeah, you're reminding me of, God, many years ago, we were sharing on socials about how we we're trying to instill chores and just trying educate people and showing them how our young daughter, and I can't remember what age she was, but she's pretty young, was helping with the dishes and doing these kind of things and how important that felt to us and how many people responded of like, you slave drivers, putting that kind of emphasis on your kids, You should be to your point, letting them play and just do flip around.

You have a nice size family. It's like what are your thoughts on that? Like, at what age should we, in your opinion, be kind making kids, supporting kids and feeling as though they're part of this family, so they have to do the things that help make the family run. Well, I mean, to address the deeper part and people telling you, which I've heard, oh, you're making your kids work too hard and all those things. I think look around society, look at where youth is at. Look at the demographics of young men.

in our culture who are starting life later, they're often glued to the video games, They're not very productive, their overweight. That is the fruit of, I think catering to childhood in a way that's not healthy. Yes, kids need play. They need a lot of play, that how they learn, That's how the develop. But when that gets imbalanced, and there becomes this give me mentality, it's very disruptive. And I think we see that in our culture where when we're working together, and I it has to be done well, you just can't have everybody just work and see no end or no purpose to it.

It's got to done with purpose. You've got communicate that purpose, we have to build them up and encourage them and we've to walk alongside. Like one of the things Carol and Early on with the kids and and we just we discovered this walking in the grocery store when they were in a hurry and just picking the kid's up and going and but it was right at the stage one of our children was learning to walk and it's like well no if we want them to learn to work well. We need to put them down we need a slow down and walk alongside them not just carry them everywhere and that that hit us at a very specific moment.

And it became part of our philosophy of raising kids is that we've got to slow down a little bit and walk alongside them at their pace. I mean, that can't be a hundred percent of the time, but that's part bringing them along. So as we get into this lifestyle, say of, raising our own food and preserving it and cooking it. We're attempting to bring them along in that journey and explain the why to them. Not just the work, not just chores, but this is a common human experience.

Parenting, Discipline, and Humility 18:38

And they learn a good work ethic. They learn how to problem solve. Like I said a minute ago, they learned their own self-worth and value, and they've learned to appreciate good food, hopefully, when they go out in the world. Whether they decide to pick up a homesteading lifestyle or a farming lifestyle like we live, They're getting these character traits, but they're also understanding just common human health as well, right? And we're seeing that fruit in our kids, for sure. I love how you're talking about this.

Can you give, you know, I don't know a real world example of how, You've approached this with one of your kids and how how did it and, and and How you kind of met them where they were, But also serve the greater good of the family. Yeah, I mean, it's a million little ways, right? One of the earliest memories I have with my oldest son, who's often married now, he wanted to help bring in the firewood. I was bringing in fire wood, you know, and he just wanted help. And so he'd go grab, He was like two, And he go, grab a big old piece of wood that he couldn't even carry and try to drag it along.

Cause he, just wanting to be alongside dad, You know? And I could have gone, Oh, no, so don't worry about that. I got it, you know. And instead, what he does, I've got him his little Tonka truck and showed him how to put one piece of wood in it. He'd trail me with his Tonca truck, and bring in a piece wood. Then as he got older, he just started doing that, but that was a place where it's easy to go fast. It's easier to pass them. They're going to make a mess. You know, drop wood, they might break something, get wood shavings, whatever.

But by allowing him to do that and then praising him and like wow you know bring in the wood that's great you're helping us. Stay warm you don't let me talk about that somewhere when we're sitting by the fire that that would be a you no that will be description of a common experience that we try to replicate in different places throughout you throughout ages. same as they get older and they're doing bigger things and you know i don't think we've necessarily done it well all the time but the attempt is not to just give them a job and a chore but to then you when we can come work alongside and talk about what is the value of this that we're.

You know, and what's the value of this meat? We've got animals, we raise all kinds of animals. And sometimes we're having conversations about, you know this animal and the reality of, of yeah, it's messy to take care of the animal in the winter, clean out the stalls in spring. Um, but you don't look at what we get to eat, look what, what do we do to steward? Look at how we improve the land and work with creation. And and then yes enjoy a shared meal together that you contributed to you you helped make this happen so it's that kind of story over and over a million times over many many years and at different age levels you know appropriate conversations.

that it plays out. I mean, I guess the little kids tend to stand out, a silverware drawer is another big one, right? That's one that somebody can do super easily. And it's a mess, the silver ware drawer's is a mass because they, you know, it takes them a long time, years to figure out how to get everything that are just right. But just by doing that, they're now, instead of in front of the TV or off in the room, there now alongside mom and dad or brother and sister, and they're just participating and it's completely normal to them.

It's not a chore, it is just human experience and everybody's doing it. We've just seen remarkable fruit in that and others as well that we know that are trying to live this way with this intentionality. What happens Cause you even mentioned, you're doing the best you can. And of course it doesn't always, it always goes smooth as you hope. Obviously you are learning as your go, just like any parent. You're such a, from my experience of you, you're an even-keeled, very gentle energy, at least, when I've seen you.

But what is Josh like when that's not, like, the need is like hey, I can't go at your pace, we gotta go this pace? Or what does discipline look like within your school of thought? Oh, those feel like two different questions. Well, let's focus on the first one then. So what does it look like for you in this scenario of like, well, when you can't go the kid's pace, is that just kind of you stay in the moment and then later kind talk them through it or what is I look? Well I think, and this is where I got to deal with my own failing and that my big tendency is to push harder.

And to push too hard. And, you know, um, my own growing up experience was pretty rough and I was latchkey kid and around adults and was just expected to be able to come along at their pace. Yeah. So I default to that at times, with the older kids, especially where I feel like, ah, You should have this down. That's that, that would be a weakness in my. Shepherding is just the tendency to, push to hard and like Come on, why don't you have this? Let's go, let's, go let go. You know, we're out of time and, and increased pressure.

And I mean, We all got to deal with pressure sometimes. Yeah. and you do have to know like, Hey, I got, to pick this up. I gotta get done. Got to pay attention. So, you know there's an appropriateness to that, but that would be one of my struggles and trying to shepherd well on that pace is, is being patient when the pressure is on and not pushing too hard, which you can certainly do. How do you, do, how do You react to the different from how you were taught like do you find that you have a little bit more mindfulness about it cuz i i know with my own self like i also have different upbringing than what i'm bringing to my daughters and.

One of the big differences is similar like always kind of pushed into someone else's pace. And what I find is when I'm kind of in a state due to my own doing, you know, my kind perspective, I am able even in that state to say, this isn't about you. Like I feeling upset right now. You don't need to take this on, but I need be upset. I mean, so I able to separate my feelings from projection onto my kids or my family. My parent, my father particularly, was never able to do that. And so I'm just curious, because you're a smart, sensitive person.

It's like, how are you doing it differently, or are Well, that's a long journey because you can be smart and sensitive, but emotional habits and patterns are strong. What I try to do, I have to be attuned to the kids and a lot of this is with the guys particularly. And realize when something's off it's you know it often me i've caused that i push too hard and it might be over weeks or something or a period of time

Gender, Personality, and Community Life 25:40

where it coming out and and so you see it and you and i'm gonna be able to say hey what's what going on. Invite and sometimes coax the story that comes into they're not feeling appreciated are feeling over pressure or they are not really valued. because I've been in that mode, whether it's once, but I think usually it is growing, this growing thing. I'm willing to be humble and willing hear that and understand that experience and acknowledge it. Hearing that though helps me go, oh yeah, okay, I am defaulting into this place.

Hey, thank you for sharing. You know, i'm a human like you growing and I know I m dad, papa, um, But I make mistakes too and i m sorry. Very different right different from how are the parents generation taught us right it's like no yeah even that humbleness of like hey i'm i am human. Cause i always saw my dad and mom to degree like is super humans like. They could do no wrong and they they remember much fill that role you know i mean like they. they treated it as though they were superhuman. So that's really powerful that you are bringing that perspective, because I think that is a new perspective.

Well, and I think as humans, that's the best we can do is when we realize we're off track as quickly as we, can look to get back on track, try to restore relationship, be willing to listen and hear, because we are all going to do it wrong. We're, we were human, were going air, right? As a Christian, I would say we going the sin. And we've got to be willing to humble. And sometimes, I'm a hard head, takes a while sometimes. But hopefully, the kids see on this journey as they're learning these other values around traditional skills and homesteading, land and food, we're growing as human beings and they are seeing that their parents are also growing us human being.

They're not just parents that are the king and the queen or whatever. You know, and this is just how it is. I mean, there's, you know gotta be authority and structure and all of that, but we're also all humans. We're all God's children. And I would say, uh, growing and learning who it, is that we are to be, we've got to try to. Humble about that and, um, walk the road together, even though we were the parents shepherding, sheparding the children and through this life. Yeah. Now, do you see, Do you see a difference in teaching these traditional skills to a male or a female?

Is it different how you teach them? And is it a different skill? I mean, yeah, we're different. So, you know, I'm, obviously as a parent you're working with both, but, it's not 100% even like the guys do all the outside work and the girls do the inside work. And so guys are usually with dad, girls usually, and that usually would be the case, but not all of the time. We try to cross it over, there also just has to be efficiency in life. I think you have to take each person when it comes to working with somebody, male, female is part of it, each has their personality and character.

That's something we've had to learn in a large family. You know we better take your general parenting philosophy but. Each individual is unique. And so we have to learn how to approach them over time, whether they're a male or a female. Yes, of course, the girls can be more sensitive and, um, and the boys more rough and a boy is more. But it's easy to forget. Sometimes it. To lose the fact that, that the boy still have feelings and they can get hurt and you don't see it and honestly, same with the girl.

Some times some of the are pretty. you know, put together and you don't always see that they're emotionally sensitive because we're all different. And I think that's part of the part, of our responsibility is trying to see each person and understand them for who they are and how we are impacting them as parents and, you, know how the world's impacting. But I, I. You know what these, these skills of living this life this way, provides a lot of good ground for those experiences. I think it's easy to talk about the food and the health and all of those benefits that so many people are after today and kind of where this conversation started.

But this life, what I would wrap up in the word like this agrarian life. And that doesn't mean everybody's farming, but just that we're more connected to the land, we are more connect locally, which means our families are connected. The human experience has a lot more opportunity for us to know each other and experience each and grow together in this context that that is the antithesis to the modern life that's getting us all sucked in more and more into our individual lanes and less connectivity individually.

Or we can escape that where we do gotta connect. Well, I can go, all right, you're not feeding into me, so I don't even need to deal with you. I'll just go find what I wanna look at on Facebook or Pinterest or whatever and find my worth or my something there. And then you are not dealing with the relationships even though you have them. The agrarian life is just something else. Yeah, I like that perspective, though, is you're facing the relationships head on. You're kind of not only instilling, but modeling how to do that when you stay engaged with each other, you are listening, curious, and you have the greater good in mind.

Well, and you have to, like, this has come back to like raising your own food or preserving it. There's a, all these people, you know, we can talk about the family, but you, know community, it happens in community too, where, your food's coming from here and it's got to get from this person.

Producers vs Consumers 31:48

And there's, a couple of people may be responsible for the garden or, or this over here, But then it has got it to make its way to the kitchen. I mean, the dairy cow is a great example. One person's often milking the cow, another person's often feeding the cows, that milk's then getting in and it's gotta get processed in the kitchen. And so there's all this relationship that happens just in that process, say, of taking care of a dairy cow in our scenario. Different people that by the time you sit down and you enjoy homemade butter or homemade cheese or whatever it is to just leave it in in a particular context, Um, there's a lot of relationship that has happened and a lotta interaction, you know, to just get to that point at the table.

And sometimes you're talking about that because you were talking. Your experience out there today, man, it was cold or it, was this or that, or, Hey, I have this problem or on top of, wow, but the butter is so good. We, we love it. You know? And thanks, and so it's just this beautiful web that happens where so much life happens. I love that though, because to your point, when you're a part of the system that brings the nourishment to the family and you are savoring the texture or the flavor of what you've all co-created, you have more of an agency or more investment in like, oh wow, this is good and I supported this process.

Yeah, well, and I helped. And so, you know, the eight-year-old, even the five- year- old is learning that they're contributing to the family table. You know everybody says, dad brings home the bacon or whatever, right? But in this context, everybody's contributing somehow, and hopefully everybody seeing that, or especially us as parents, is helping everybody see that. Here's a whole other vein, if I can go down a little bit of a different trail, this is being producers, not just consumers. No society No nation, no town, not family, nor person can survive long-term consuming more than they produce.

It's a limitation. We're in a point in civilization right now where we're faking that to a degree where can. we've got some crutches that are allowing us, and debt is a big one of them. But we are also depleting the landscape. And we've got fertilizers and synthetics that are having to get, we don't see it, but they're having get applied heavier and heavier because we're degrading the landscape. We're pulling more out of it and we are not putting enough back into it. And so this is happening in different places and you know, We can't fix all of that, But we can start in the home and teach our children that you were made to be productive, not just consumptive.

And you're gonna feel better about yourself when you are a producer in this world. And we're all contributing the greater good when we learn that we have got to produce more than we consume just to survive. that that's that the principal we can't get around we could fake it we got a lot of technology that helping a stretch it out but i think we also i want to do in bloom but we've got consequences to face eventually because we are such a consumerist people today and uh... you know our our goal is to turn that around both with the family but even what when we're teaching the skills and you what happens when you go to learn these skills well If you're gonna learn these, you gotta spend time, and you do have to spend a little bit of money.

Ultimately, the rewards... You know, people are finding are greater than, you know and they're worth that time and money, but you're also not consuming somewhere. You're saying, I'm not going to go buy those Starbucks this week, or I am, not gonna buy the candy or, going go to a few less movies. Whatever it is for you, if you are going tackle this, well you going consume a little less because you investing over here. That creates a really, really cool cycle in somebody's life, whether it's individual or a household.

Yeah, I love this because there's so much of Modern tech to a degree is about consumption and it's not you know, we call about our consumption Yeah we're constantly saying that to our kids of like when they're like, well, I want to have screen time. I'm like look, we'd give you screen-time if you were actually producing something, but you're just consuming. Like it's, you know, actually doing anything with your time, um, your not researching. You're not learning something new. Your literally just watching some pain, very painful in my judgment, like a short, stupid video, in, my judge.

But do you think that, This, what you said, and you started out kind of talking about the convenience, you know, so this convenience culture, do you think it's. Creating dependence, on this kind. Of creating dependence on what exactly you guys are trying to counteract, like the dependence. On the current system. Oh, absolutely, it's creating dependence on the current system. I mean, again, go back to talking about the kids that are raised like, oh, no, you shouldn't be having them doing chores, they need more playtime, and they more of this, It's me, me me.

And I, there's a whole nother conversation we can have, I think this has been done intentionally, And it think it engineered to a degree, but regardless of whether it is engineered or just what we've defaulted to in our human experience, It's absolutely cold at cultivating dependence on large systems and on government systems more and more people think they're owed something whether it's from the government as myself as an entrepreneur that's employed many many people. You know a lot of the younger people particularly and i used to build custom homes and construction and even twenty five years ago i was seeing it.

I was watching the young men shift and getting this higher expectation instead of like just the normal expectation that, yeah, I'm going to start on the shovel. I want to work hard. And as I show myself, you work your way up, right? And more and more people expect to just be lifted up and that's not healthy. and paid for it without having earned it. It's very troubling. The entitlement, I think that's the word I would probably use is that entitlement. I have this theory that basically self-driving cars, for example, I think they're inevitable.

I suspect that the skill of driving will one day be obsolete for most people. You just won't need to know how to drive because you are always taking a self driving car. Just like, in a sense, Riding a horse. You don't really need to know how to ride a horses to to, you know, be a part of society. Anymore is back in the day you had to no how-to-ride-a-horse right right. So what skills do you predict will matter most in next ten or twenty years. I guess matter most from which perspective, if it's human health, I think we've got to stay grounded and connected to the land, to our food production.

I agree with you that the technology is inevitable. Some of these things are coming. You know, even the phone, the devices, you know that there there's a lot of destructive qualities to them. There's also a. A lot. Of productive and powerful qualities. To them and that's that. Our challenge is to use these things well, but they don't have to replace. Um, some, what I think are fundamental human experiences that are just good for us in that naturally help bind us together,

Best First Skills to Learn 39:50

right? Like, like, the meal table, to culmination of, of us, you know, this journey of working together or, or you, we're talking a lot family but in an ideal sense there's a community picture of this too right because not everybody's going to raise their own food and so there are local producers i got a friend of mine that's sitting right here next to me working who you know they've done dairy for a long time and they provide high quality dairy products for the community and And that creates inner relationships and understandings.

And so the more we can move towards that and use technology where it's appropriate to do that, well, I think is great, but we need to stay close to each other and close the land. I'll just go back to that word agrarianism helps us do helps us stay together and glue together, even in the midst of technology that some of it we're not going to like, and some it's going help us along the way. Well, if someone listening just chooses one skill to learn this month and they're a newbie, what do you think it should be?

Hmm. I don't know if you're familiar with permaculture, but I'm a permiculture guy. And so the answer is often it depends, right? Because we wanna look at the specific situation. Who are you? Where are are? I mean, some of the easier skills to pick up are something like learning bone broth, Right? You and I care a lot about quality food and health. Bone broth. You don' have to grow anything. you don''t have raise anything, you can go and buy some chicken and make a high quality bone-broth. and begin to improve your health and you're learning some just little bit of traditional cooking.

So I think that's one of the most common places that people can start is because everybody can cook food. You may not be ready to grow it, you may be not ready preserve it. But you can obtain some good quality food and learn to cook it and put it into a form that's enjoyable and healthy for you. And bone broth's a great one because you cook a chicken, you get dinner, but then you got a really nutrient-dense broth that you then can either drink for your own health. It's been extremely helpful to me in my digestion.

So that's one that is really easy, making your own bread. I mean, bread is a great one. You don't have to learn how to grind wheat to make good quality bread, you just got to get good-quality flour and you can make bread that way, way better tasting and better for you than the best bread you could buy in the store, pretty much anywhere. Unless you've got somebody locally, again, and of course I'd want to support them, if you got someone locally making it the way you would make it. You know, we're seeing that a little bit more.

Um, but so bread making is another great one. That nice thing about breadmaking is again, you know we, all appreciate good bread and we can actually produce something for ourselves with a minimal time investment that costs less and gives more, You can make a phenomenal loaf of bread for under $2, um, where, and it's going to be better than Dave's or whatever. the best bread on the shelf is at the store, you know, better quality. So cooking is a good place. Cooking's a great place, but it depends on where you're at, I see a lot of people get in the home setting and they're very focused on growing their own food and then they get to the problem that all of a sudden they start to get good at growing it and all the sudden, they got a bumper harvest and haven't really learned how to preserve it well.

Right. And, or even how to bring it into the kitchen and utilize it well, you know, over time. So it all kind of depends on where you're at, but cooking is certainly a common thread that anybody can pick up and do anywhere that they are. Yeah, I love that. And when I hear you particularly talking about the bone broth, what I here you saying is that instead of purchasing that boneless, skinless chicken breast, purchase a whole chicken that has bone in it and actually utilize, you know, making a broth with the whole Chicken versus just a piece of it.

And I think that alone might be very uncomfortable for some people and maybe a really good start. So I really like that a lot. I wonder as well, you, you we talked, we've talked a lot about in this episode, like, uh, just about human connection and community and, and just sitting at the dinner table. And I have to wonder if like maybe for the person watching or listening, maybe you're not actually eating with your family when you have dinner. Maybe that's the first thing you can do is just set the intention that tonight you guys are all going to eat together or you are not eating your partner.

I mean, I'll, take ownership of when I was a kid, there was one point when, I think I, was in high school that we all went to separate rooms and we were all sat in front of different TVs. So my brother was run room. I wasn't another. My dad was his office. We literally all at dinner time, we sat separately and were on at the time. Obviously there were no devices other than these small TVs, but that's what we're doing. And if that's your life, then maybe your first step is just sitting together at the dinner table.

Yeah, and learning to just make a simple meal, get a few things. And if you're alone, invite somebody over and share. That's great, yes. If you are on a journey and you like, hey, I'm gonna learn how to cook something or I am gonna take that whole chicken and cook it and get couple meals and then turn it into broth which leads into a couple of meals or which turns into health program, all the collagen and the nutrient density of that broth, but share it with somebody. And because it's exciting, you get excited when you start to take real food and turn it into something that's enjoyable to consume.

I think we can't help but get exciting to share that. Yeah, well, I'm very excited that you took the time today to show your gifts with everyone here. So if you could wave a magic wand and give every household one traditional skill overnight, what would this be and why? Wow.

Bone Broth, Family Meals, and Getting Started 46:38

I think it would be, I've never thought of this before, but in this way. But I, think, it, would, be the bone broth, like taking that skill of getting the whole chicken, cooking it making the broth. And then I would say, say like, if you took Sally Fallon's class with us, you would also learn how to cook some other meals in that as part of it. And I think what that would do to bring you into the fold of understanding what you can do with real whole food. the enjoyment of that, and then the coming together, sharing that with your family or with a friend, it's just a very doable first step.

It's extremely easy and it is extremely rewarding. So that's where I'm going to tell you guys that are listening. If you haven't done it before, Buy whole chicken learn how to make bone broth sit down share it with your family or a friend have a couple meals out of that whole Chicken, and it might just change your life I love it, and we're gonna put, to give you this gift, we'll make sure to put a link to a bone broth recipe with this episode so you can immediately start just incorporating this Josh's magic wand gift immediately.

All right. Thank you so much, Josh. So if anyone listening wants to join the School of Traditional Skills, what do they do? Hey, go over to school of traditional skills.com. We have both individual classes. So talking about bone broth, you want to hang out with Sally Fallon and learn bone bra from several animals. Or you can join our membership and community and, and getting, get onto the journey. And there's a whole lot of people there besides the classes for gardening and you know, we can, can help you figure out where's it a good place for you to start, but you also have an amazing community as well there to share, to learn with and to grow with.

So school attritional skills.com. Thank you so much, Josh, and thank you all for joining us. I hope this has been helpful. be reminded of these traditional and even ancestral skills that were basically the foundations of what got us to this point. If we can make sure that we remind ourselves of those are and Josh is doing a fantastic job at School of Traditional Skills, they're really doing what they can to make we don't lose these skills and that carrying them with us into the future. So I hope you'll check them out.

And I appreciate you following and listening to this podcast because that's what we're trying to do here. We just want to maintain this humanity as we enter these very inhuman modern times. Thank you all and stay curious. Thank you so much for joining me on Everyday Ancestral. If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one. You can find the show notes, links and resources mentioned at eatpluck.com. That's E-A-T-P-L-U-C-K dot com. And hey, if you know someone who gets something out of this, share it with them too.

Stay curious, live well and keep it ancestral.