What Do You Plan to Be When You Grow Up…Post Peak?
Sharon August 5th, 2008
Ok, everyone who thinks that your job will still be there in five years raise your hands. For those of you with your hands up, how sure are you? How secure are you in a deep, systemic crisis? 70% of the economy survives on consumer spending – what happens if 50% or 80% of that dries up – if really all we’re buying is food and oil, and not that much of that?
The truth is that the one thing that all of us should be planning for is a job loss – and by this I don’t mean a short term job change, but a job loss in a deep Depression with extended, widespread unemployment – where there is no unemployment insurance anymore and most of your neighbors can’t get work either. Is this inevitable? No, merely probable, I think. But probable enough that we should be prepared for it to happen.
Now I realize this scares the hell out of most of us – and not much less me than you. My family buys groceries too. But that’s what happened in the Great Depression, and where more than a few people think we’re headed. We can all be happy if we don’t go there, but we should be ready for the formal economy to stop feeding and housing us.
So the question becomes – what are you going to do to keep body and soul together? What are you going to be when you grow up – how are you going to feed yourself and keep a roof over your head? As the formal economy begins to tank, we have to look to the informal economy – that is, the economy made up of subsistence work, criminal acts, barter, under-the-table work, domestic economics, and self employment in cottage industry. That doesn’t mean none of us will work in the formal sector, but all of us need to be able to shift as much as we can to the informal economy – to save our precious cash for the house payment and thus provide food and heat by barter or subsistence work.
If we do have formal sector work, it may be in businesses we set up for ourselves, as more and more employers begin making layoffs. In many cases, we may want to (even though it is a Pain in the Ass when you are doing too many other things too) start the businesses now – begin doing a bit of extra work on the side in your potential cottage area so that you’ll have a customer base and experience when the time comes.
How do you decide what to do? Well, it is possible you already have an obvious and marketable skill – either that the work you do now could be done for yourself, or that you have a useful skill set you aren’t using. Maybe you used to buck trees and can set up a firewood business quickly, or your current skills as a nurse could be applied to a community clinic you set up. In these cases, the solution may be obvious.
In other cases, it may seem hard to figure out – what will the job market for marketing professionals look like? What will construction workers do in a housing bust? Now might be the time to reorient yourself, gently or broadly – instead of building new houses, get in on some retrofits and start learning home reinsulation, instead of corporate marketing consider setting up a business providing something useful – bulk food, water filters, fishing worms and equipment, warm clothes, farm-direct products – or perhaps local marketing help for those products – to your community.
The one thing I warn against is allowing your enthusiasm for some project to warp your perspective about its future. I’ve met a number of people who blithely expect to make money marketing high-value organic produce or their exquisite hand knit objects or something like it. And while there certainly will be markets for some knitted goods and food in the future, the truth is that what we are seeing is rapid economic deflation – money is disappearing. That means people aren’t buying stuff – and those who have, up to now, been paying extra for quality may not have the spare cash to do so – so while it might make sense early on to rely on high value, high effort products, the idea that enough people will be going out to expensive restaurants to allow them to pay $25 lb for your basil or $40 to give you a fair living wage for knitted socks is unlikely. The same is true if you do crafty cute stuff with no real use – funky beer mugs and wall hangings are lovely, but they are salable in an affluent society, not a poor one.
Nor should you be duplicating immediately things we have a lot of – adult clothing, for example, may simply not be bought in many cases, since people have enough in their closets for a lifetime. Eventually making clothes may well be an important project again, but short term and long term may well be different, and we all need to be flexible. Think *practical* and be adaptable – be able to produce not just a high value product, but an immediately useful one that people might need.
What might people need in the short term? Food. Warm blankets. Firewood for heating. Insulation. Childcare when both partners are working multiple jobs. Elder care. Medicine. Distractions – theater, gambling, alcohol, sex, dance, drugs, music, things to make them laugh, newspapers or the electronic equivalent, cartoons (and yes, even struggling people will find some money for these things). Shelter. Shoe repair. Security help. Toiletries – obvious ones like soap and toothpaste, and things to make them feel attractive – even under the Taliban, women used perfume. Education – people will still want better for their kids, and training to get new jobs. Tools. Anything that breaks and wears out easily. Handymen, plumbers, midwives, doctors, nurses, ministers of every faith, anyone who can fix, mend and repair. Livestock handlers and dog trainers. Gardeners and people who can teach how to adapt to low energy life.
You may need to do more than one of these things – in the short term, the money may be in helping those who can afford it retrofit their homes, for example, while in the long term it might be in growing food. Or you may find yourself doing several seasonal things – cutting firewood, growing plant starts, building furniture or sewing in the winter, milking spring to fall. The informal economy is going to require multiple skill sets, rather than the single job we’ve been used to – and our ability to get out of the mindset that says “I have this one job, and that is the only thing I can or should do” may be the thing that defines most how well we do in the coming difficult times.
It is worth thinking what you will do in this new economy – maybe only watch and thank G-d you got to keep your job. But just in case, it is worth making plans, and perhaps putting a foot into the informal economy, testing its waters and building the beginnings of a new personal economy along with the old.
Sharon
- adapting in place
- Comments(108)
Just a question- How secure do you think teacher’s jobs are? In a public school, I have some senority so I wouldn’t be among the first to go when downsizing. I feel pretty safe, but then again, you never know.
My husband, on the other hand, builds hand carved spiral staircases for the rich folks along the shore in CT and Long Island. At least he has lots of skills to fall back on, because I can’t see that business continuing in an economic collapse.
My hubby keeps talking about taking a job driving fuel delivery truck for the same company his dad works for. *shaking head* I remind him that with less and less people able to afford fuel, that would be a stupid move, esp. as the company will keep oldsters like his dad (with a VERY good driving record) while laying off newbies (like my hubby would be) with little to no driving record (or a bad record). He’s not perfectly secure in the job he’s got now (loading rail cars with chem. blends for the fuel industry and the military bases surrounding our town).
As for me….. Not a perfect sitch, I know… But I’m working on getting into the local library as a Lib. Assistant. I’ve got yet another application in (this will be my 4th time interviewing for this position, and they’re running out of reasons to not hire me, as I gain more of the required experience with every turn-down). I seem to be the only person who wants to work in this library who lives within walking distance. (And I HAVE walked to this library even at -40 deg. F. in the middle of Jan and Feb., when I started out working there as a page, years ago.) I’m hoping that once I get myself in as a lib. assistant, come the harshest of Peak Oil when others are quitting and nobody wants to drive to NP just for this job, the fact that I live very close and can walk on a daily basis will enable me to keep the job long after others quit or are laid off.
In the mean-time, crocheting, knitting and sewing, baking bread, gardening, canning, learning survival and hardship skills from books and friends….. Doing what I can to best guarantee some sort of life-quality for myself and my family.
So how big a market do you think there will be for outdoor tv producer
Yeah. That’s what I thought. And I won’t miss it.
We’ve discussed this before… police work. Some of us are a part of a sector that might continue to exist, but in what form? I am very afraid of it being a form that I find abhorrent – gun grabs, debtor’s prison, etc. Our personal/civil liberties are becoming nearer and dearer to my heart and I hope that my significant other never has to take a stand between what is right and what his wife thinks is right. Which we’d hope would be the same thing, but I am known to be more, shall we say – “anti” – in my thinking.
I suppose we all need to re-read The Grapes of Wrath and remember that things will be much different. But we WILL SURVIVE. Heck, we might even THRIVE!
I’m hoping to not have this exact job in five years, though given the economy, I’ll take what I can get. Even though I’m not going for the certification (too much internship to do it while working), I’m trying to take school library specialist courses so that I can do both “librarian” and “teacher” (and, while we’re at it, “really overqualified babysitter”). Both of which, of course, pay beans in a wealthy economy, never mind a depression, but at least they’re both varying degrees of necessary. I’m already haphazardly in business with my sister — I spin, and she does every other fiber art on the planet.
Right now, I’m a secretary at a power plant (I know, I know). I’ve worked for this company for 16 years and my job is pretty secure, but …. it’s my heart’s desire to be a midwife. I have 2 little ones, work full time, and we’re trying to get our little homestead up and running, so life is already VERY busy. I’m having trouble wrapping my head around adding another to-do to my already hectic life, but honestly if not now, when? I just need to convince myself that it’s possible.
This is one place where my ridiculous, varied, low-paying resume is going to be a plus.
I am good at pricing pawn items; I can figure compound interest on paper; canning (incl canning over a wood stove); basic welding (and my friend has all the equipment); mending (and I have a treadle sewing machine); teaching basic literacy skills for multiple learning styles; cashiering using just a piece of notebook paper (thanks, anarchist book store!); and guerilla gardening. I walked a coworker through her accounting homework today, and I’ve taught essay and resume writing to people of all ages down to 8 and all sorts of literacy/english skills. My spanish is Not Good but I get by, and if I were using it more it would get better fast.
But really I think my fallback is “boarding house management”. It’s a skill set that’s not much called for, but our house actually was a room house in the 1940s. Plus we have a garage big enough for a herd of bikes, with a hay loft/extra sleeping room. I can feed a lot of people on not much food – once, I made vegan pot pie for 35 out of flour, water, salt, scapes, kolrabi, and two sad carrots; do laundry by hand; keep a diverse dinner table conversation civil; keep accounts; deal civilly with people who owe money; kick out the drunk or unruly without remorse. And thanks to Sharon, grow potatos in our driveway.
Unless things fall to the “ravening hordes pour out of the cities” level, we’re in an excellent spot for people biking or walking (or skiing, which happens occasionally after snowstorms) to work almost anywhere in the city. If we had a wood stove already i wouldn’t even be thinking about leaving this house. And I’m one of those people who can’t afford to move unless the market picks up.
We’re both in libraries. Both library admins are talking about frozen positions, finding savings — and a library system a few counties south of us actually went comepletely belly up, and then was reopened half a year later by a private contractor, offering some of the original crew their jobs back at a little over half the pay.
I have only 1008 days to go to retirement. Assuming that money exists for much longer. Our place is paid up and so is our transportation — for now. And we have an acre. These things help if you don’t get the “roving gangs” scenario.
Sharon talked about doing retail from garages. Our garage is spacious and we are pretty good chandlers — and there’s a good wood stove available on which to heat the wax (or tallow, whatever) and we have drying racks for the tapers. And I have a printing press, built in the 1800s, that can do without electricity, and so it’s capable of post-power print jobs.
But we’re nearing 60. No one lives forever. It’s the kids I’m thinking about. I asked one of our sons about this, and he said that he and his friends (all of whom are in the Society for Creative Anachronism) already have a tribe, a plan, and a route.
“That’s nice …” I said.
“And the route comes by your place,” he added.
Well, good. I guess.
A gathering of the clan, and we’re included. But I’m saddened at the thought that, with all that we’re doing here in hopes of being able to feed them, Stony Run might not be, or be able to be, the ultimate destination.
Abbie, there might be a nitch market for your husband’s skills in squeezing in tiny staircases for people who are tying to make attic space livable, at least for a while.
I’d sort of hoped to make a living off my extensive salvaged zipper and button collection.
I’m a county librarian, which is fairly secure for a while, but not forever. I could run a lending library out of my house, but so could most of my neighbors.
Basically, I’m stumped. I don’t have the flexability timewise to catch babies or nurse though I could lay out the dead. I cann’t undertake, though, b/c I don’t have the strenght to dig graves. Do you think there will be a market for mutes? I can teach, but I’m not sure that English lit is high on people’s list of necessary skills. Mending, taking in washing?
Organizing infomation — that’s an oft over looked need, but again, I’m surrounded by librarians.
MEA
risa b
I can set type — or could 25 years ago, I’m sure it comes back. Any chance you 1) live near Trenton and 2) need partner? I can also make paper, but don’t have the equip. for large scale production.
What’s with the rash of library folks here? I’m a cataloger. I can spin, knit, crochet, sew some… what I desperately want to do is learn how to grow food, making the most of space and fighting pests and disease and dealing with weather conditions, on a smallish scale like what people can (but mostly don’t) do in your average backyard. Currently I live in an apartment without any yard at all. I’m desperate to get out.
Here’s my theory about libary folks and PO — we see a lot of books as they pass through our hands — we read a lot, and we are used to making informed judgements. What do you think?
MEA who is thinking about buying a gypsy caravan and moving her household and books into it and being a traveling librarian. I’ll need a team of goodly draft horses.
So many librarians!! Interesting! I retired as a librarian, early retirement, 1 year ago. Adrienne, I was a catalog, too, most of my career.
Maybe because we’re such information oriented people we’re all here?
thanks for these thoughts and this class, Sharon.
cheers,
Shamba
I’m hoping my being a nurse for 35+ years will mean my job might be safe. I figure they can’t kick the poor sick old people out on the street so somehow the state/federal governments will have to pay for their care. Might mean pay cut or reduced hours but I already work only weekends which there is never any help for anyhow. As to the “living” part of my life my husand and I have been homesteaders for 40 some years and there isn’t much we haven’t done in the way of farming/livestock/gardening/canning/etc. He is a beekeeper and imagine his honey would be a darn good barter item. We are slowly finding like-minded people who wish to barter their products or time with us.
Several local libraries cutting operating hours and spending their smaller budgets on paperbacks….I LOATHE them–not friendly to readers-in-bed! Hopefully Amazon and half.com will still be in existence!!!!! DEE
[...] Casaubon’s Book » Blog Archive » What Do You Plan to Be When You Grow Up…Post Peak? Ok, everyone who thinks that your job will still be there in five years raise your hands. For those of you with your hands up, how sure are you? How secure are you in a deep, systemic crisis? 70% of the economy survives on consumer spending – what happens if 50% or 80% of that dries up – if really all we’re buying is food and oil, and not that much of that? The Survival Podcast: Setting and Prioritizing Survival Planning Goals August 5th, 2008 [...]
I’m struggling with this right now myself. My profession (that which pays the bills) is that of IT guy/software and web developer. Tough call to predict whether or not my kind will still be needed. I think some will, but I can’t bank on my being one of them. Besides, we live 65 miles from the technology center of this part of the state. That commute can’t continue. If a website is up but no one is visiting it, is it still there? Probably not for long.
My entire life has been spent learning to be DIY Superguy. For economic reasons when I was younger. But then came stubbornness and later still came the need to be entirely self-sufficient. I have not paid someone to do what I can learn to do myself for decades. Every problem presents an opportunity to learn something new. That has made my personal skills resume quite extensive: welding, plumbing, basic carpentry, machining, reloading, electronics repair, small engine repair, appliance repair, bicycle/automotive/motorcycle maintenance and repair, photography and darkroom… and so on.
I think Sharon may have just hit me between the eyes with this:
“The informal economy is going to require multiple skill sets, rather than the single job we’ve been used to – and our ability to get out of the mindset that says “I have this one job, and that is the only thing I can or should do” may be the thing that defines most how well we do in the coming difficult times.”
Oh. Yeah, that’s me. For some reason I am fixated on turning just ONE of those things into my new job, and am having trouble getting the concept of not having a job title. I mean, that’s what you do! You set up a business doing ONE thing, you advertise and build a customer base that will call you when they need that ONE thing done, right? How do you convey to the public that you’re simply a generally useful guy that would be good to know in a crisis?
I am a pharmacist. I have no illusions that medicines as we know them now will be available. However, I have made a hobby of making various tinctures, ointments, and infusions (not the IV type). These may be useful for family and tradeable with others.
Alas. MEA, we’re in the vicinity of Eugene, Oregon … and there’s not much economic justification for letterpress yet. And these presses were the office photocopiers of their day, doing more numbering, die cutting, punching, perforating, and signmaking –
TUESDAY’S SPECIAL
BONELESS HAM 17 CENTS/LB.
– than much else. Though Anaïs Nin bought one and set up and printed two books on it, with a hired hand, I think.
… there might be so many librarians here because the word Casaubon gets our attention … ya think?
I suspect there is as much danger in getting too far ahead of the curve as falling too far behind. Its when people start being too certain of the shape of the future that they make dreadful mistakes.
Systemic collapse sure is possible, so it makes sense to be able to grow some of your food now, and have the capacity to grow a lot more if you had all of your time free to do it. But right now food is still so ridiculously cheap it isnt worth trying to grow everything you need. Learn basic skills, cook for health and economy, but do it as a pleasurable persuit rather than a frantic dash.
I think radical transformation of the economy is the more likely outcome, with distinct winners and losers in terms of purchasing power and income stability. Think carefully about which sectors have the capacity to keep running, and find ways to make yourself indispensable. For me it means leaving the bloated tertiary education sector and trying to get into the electricity or water infrastructure systems. But at the same time I am growing ~20% of our food on the weekends because I love it.
Take a bet both ways for a win-win outcome….
Literally half my friends are librarians, and I’m looking into going back to school for film preservation/archiving.
I figure if the worst hits, I won’t make any money in it, but at least I’ll have the skills, connections and passion to save what I can. Hell, I’d do what I can pro bono. Not looking forward to the loan debt, but I doubt I’ll be alone on that count.
I would really love to do midwifery on the side, but man, it’s way more expensive than the degree I’m looking at, and takes longer.
In the post-degrees world, should the worst happen, we’ll take whatever midwife is in the neighborhood, my dear.
I have books – I can be a lending library!
I can run a meeting so it doesn’t digress too far. I can run a shelter. I’m lousy at starting seeds, but great at composting and learning how to dry things (maybe someday I’ll master drying without electricity). We already have a home based business, but we do consulting, development, and software for the electronics industry. I’m learning how to use herbs to help promote health/healing, but can’t imagine how to get some of them when trade goes down – I can grow ginger but not star anise in my area, for example.
I’m trying to get $200 to take Master Gardener classes, but son’s college tuition/books, my need for new bifocals (mine are cracking), my need for two root canals (no dental insurance), still paying off a hysterectomy and credit cards, etc, makes that out of reach right now.
I guess I’m just proceeding to venture into whatever appeals to me-I have no way of knowing what will happen down the road really. I think that making career choices based on some notion as to what the economic landscape will look like even 5 years from now could be a mistake- we could be right or very very wrong…… So given that, I’d rather go with where my interests lie.
Fortunately, maybe, I tend to be the type who has multiple skill sets- it doesn’t pay in this current economic climate when one single well honed skill such as web design or something is rewarded, but perhaps my natural tendency to be bored doing only one thing will be useful…
In any event, I plan on continuing to run my small organic produce farm. I wouldn’t mind teaching others how to grow, can, etc- basically do it for free now…… I think I want to get back into doing some writing again. And finallly, I am exploring getting some training and experience in crafting and repairing string instruments(violin etc) and /or bows- I am really drawn to that and think I want to eventually be able to do this as a small business. The thing is even if money is tight, musicians gotta play music- and bows have to get rehaired and fixed, etc- so I don’t see this as disapearing in terms of a need for this service unless we were truly in a “mad max” scenario- and then at least I could keep mine in good repair!
MEA said: “MEA who is thinking about buying a gypsy caravan and moving her household and books into it and being a traveling librarian. I’ll need a team of goodly draft horses.”
For all you librarians, have you seen the latest American Girl movie? “Kit Kittredge, An American Girl”? In theatres now. There’s a “mobile librarian” in it, and she’s funny. Great idea.
BTW, everyone here should see that movie. It’s about the Depression years. The American Girl books are historical fiction for girls ages oh, 6-12 maybe. They’re excellent!
For those studying herbal medicine, study what grows wild in your area as much as possible. This is so important! You won’t believe what value common everyday everywhere weeds have. Look for a local herbalist to teach you. Get a book like _City Herbal_ by Maida Silverman, avail. on Amazon. Or Steve Brill’s books on wild plants. Get less into exotics, more into local. What grows in your environment has adapted to your environment and makes the strongest medicine for you anyway.
That said, I’ve had a feeling that my herbal medicine studies are going to be extremely important to me in the future, though they are now too. But more so, later. Also I can garden, raise chickens in the city, put up food, knit, bake bread and am willing to try my hand at a lot of other things too.
My DH who is a public school music teacher is also an extremely handy around the house, “jack of all trades” kind of guy. Since he teaches music in the last two years he’s gotten call after call from parents wanting him to teach their kids private lessons so he schedules one day in summer and one night a week during the school year to do private teaching. Now, parents may not be able to afford this for long but this will be a great barter skill. If nothing else, he can stand on street corners, play his flute and put out a hat for change too. Believe me, I’ve thought of all of this.
Lots of folks had to re-train in the midst of the Great Depression and in depressions before that. If you’re strong and willing to work hard, that will help a great deal. We should all get in good shape!
Lisa in MN
I’m planning on running a travelling brothel called, “The Chicken Tractor”.
Finally! My skills as a seamstress, milkmaid, horse handler, veterinary technician, trumpet player, herbal medicine maker, writing teacher, and angler will come in handy.
Well, we’d be in a bit o’ a pickle. DH drives delivery for a local office supply company (they supply the schools in a 4 county area as well) and works PT at that big store with the smiley face. I stay home with the kiddos. Yep, we would be in trouble if these were our only skills.
We’re both pretty handy when it comes to broken appliances, herding cattle (though DH is afraid of cows) and general farming stuff. DH can do hydraulics work, but really how much of that will be called for.
I knit, sew, crochet a bit, make soap, garden, preserve food in various ways, know my herbals and do most of the home repair. Plus I homeschool the kids. Not big huge qualifications but enough that between the two of us we’d be able to make a little money. Whether or not money would be useful is a different story.
Think once we finally get the homestead ready enough to move into, we’ll be honing the skills we have and more.
I teach high school chemistry. The pay isn’t much, but it comes with medical insurance, is as stable as a job can be these days (desperate shortage of high school science teachers, especially of chemistry), and the high school is 1.6 miles from my house. Also, knowledge of science is essential in the society we live in now and any society we construct later, if it’s to be above Stone Age level. Also, I enjoy it.
Trying to learn to grow food. When I know enough, I’ll teach that, too.
I have been thinking that I think perhaps I would be more useful in that society than I feel like I am now.
My herbalism training should be useful, especially as I am starting to grow and wildcraft more of my own herbs. I totally agree with the poster above who talks about becoming the most familiar with herbs that grow in your own area. Being an herbalist isn’t very useful if you have to depend on herbs that come from a store. Most folk herbalists focus on the herbs that grow well locally. One of the things my husband and I want to do is to start some goldendseal rhizomes under some some trees we have behind our house. It grows here but those who are lucky enough to have it, tend to hoard it.
My gardening skills are improving and *keeping my fingers crossed* hopefully I will be accepted into our local Master Gardeners program this fall.
I think that of everything I have done and do on a regular basis, I would really like to make toys. I did a fair job on our hobbit hole and my first attempts at making Waldorf dolls, although finding materials might be difficult.
Well, I don’t really have a job right now, as I’m in school; but I’m pretty sure I’ll be alright in the years to come. See I’m studying ecology and agriculture, and where the two come together, in other words, sustainable agriculture, organic farming, etc.
One of my dreams is to have a organic farm; and since I grew up on one, I already have a lot of the skills and knowledge necessary.
[...] at Causaubon’s book bloggers have been answering her question What do you plan to be when you grow up, post-peak? I think it was the first time I ever thought about there being a practical reason for the way I [...]
We’ve thought about this often. My husband is a music teacher and performs. This past spring he went to shearing school and has been working with sheep farmers in our region to build up his shearing skills. My skills are more domestic. Cooking, gardening, food preservation, But I have built up the fertility in our soil, developed a composting system that yields a fair amount of compost. I knit and have a knitting machine so I can come up with volume. But my favorite item is knitting and darning wool socks; something that is really needed during cold winters. I used to work on a maternity unit and have some experience helping women learning breast feeding.
Homesteading is all about building skills. One of the most important skills has been learning to barter effectively so that each party comes out square.
I looked at my skills. My life’s gonna suck. I may have to see if Crunchy can use a has-been in her herd.
But I’m good with weapons and I do have chemical warfare training. (Sorry, not real popular in a peaceable crowd, I know)
My husband is an LNA working in a nursing home. We think his job is pretty secure, but if not, he has many years of landscaping experience he can fall back on. He makes noises about starting his own landscaping company part time so he can be outside again, but we have no place here to store the equipment he would need. He desperately wants to learn blacksmithing, and I want to get him a forge and starting equipment with our tax refund next year.
I myself am a jack-of-all-trades. Currently (and for the last 5 years), I stay home with the kids and homeschool them and try to keep the house running smoothly (as if that is even possibly with 5 kids from almost 2 to 12 years old). I have worked in retail, restaurants, factories, office reception, traveling salesman, quality control, just to name a few. I can sew, knit, crochet, cook, bake, draft sewing patterns, etc. I am learning gardening, preservation, and how to stay sane. I want to learn herbal medicine, soapmaking, candle-making, spinning, quilting and weaving. I have lived without electricity and running water. I have raised a herd of ~30 goats (well, I was 10, so really it was my folks who did most of that work, but the exposure is still very useful). I remember the pointers my dad gave me on how to safely cut down a tree with a chain saw. Is any of this monetarily rewarding right now? No. I hope someday it might be, though. But if not, at least I will have the skill to make the most of whatever money my husband can bring home.
When I was a kid, I was blessed to have a stay-home mom until I went to college at 17. All the time I was growing up, I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. It is a job that will never go out of fashion or need no matter how bad civilization gets. I just wanted to be a mother.
Meadowlark – I can totally use you as one of my peeps. We’re going to need protection on the road and your weapons training will be most handy. I’m not so sure about the chemical warfare training, but you never know. You’re hired!
We used to have a gallery that was called “Stop Laughing This Is Serious” …. my husband now jokes that we can do comedy funerals instead.
Orlov is fun reading on this subject. Black marketeer, anyone?
A la Orlov, my husband is a great scrounger and repurposer, as well as being knowledgeable (the skill comes on quickly whenever he has any actual time, as tends to be the case when you’re unemployed) in a wide range of metalworking techniques. He has put some thought into keeping his shop low-energy, too. Besides repair work and odd jobs, we thought it’d be nice if he could establish a little line of garden tools that don’t fall apart if you actually use them. On the whole, though I worry about mortgage payments if/when his decent-paying high-tech defense contractor industry job goes poof, I think he’ll be happier in the informal economy.
Me, I certainly don’t define by a career, although my actual job experience isn’t too useful, unless you count being able to reliably pinch off 4 oz of pretzel dough over and over. I do grow and use herbs, and am actively trying to learn more about that (as a rule, I try only to use herbs I grow or at least could grow, which is also much cheaper). I figure that really, as always, food is my thing. Growing, yes, but more processing–preparing and preserving in ways that are important but not widely practiced right now.
I don’t think this is me, since at the moment I’ve yet to ever successfully make cornbread, for pete’s sake, but I think there could be real security in a wood-fired bread oven and the know-how to use it. People will not readily give up bread, but most also won’t want to make it all the time.
I have always thought that I was born either too early or too late…I’m not a member of SCA but I am a big fan, and my skills include: brewing beer and mead, herbal infusions and tinctures, local wildcrafting/foraging, sewing, darning, knitting, spinning, dyeing, weaving (small scale at least), crocheting, baking, solar oven construction, gardening, rainwater harvesting, nursing, paramedicine, and more.
I spent a lot of time on a farm as a child, and grew up eating mostly what my family hunted or grew…been talking to DH about getting another shotgun and hunting quail/pheasant this fall. He is actually up for the idea, amazingly.
I had a talk with my oldest son about the fact that I am the ‘conspiracy theorist/paranoid mom’ but that if they NEED to come home, I am preparing for that eventuality and they will be welcome…he surprised me by saying he and his wife had already talked about the possibility and they have an ‘escape plan’ in place.
We live in a very economically depressed area, and have 10 years worth of equity in our home. I figure that if, in 5 years, neither of us has a job, that they will have to arrest us to get us out — and I doubt they will bother. There are houses in this neighborhood that have been vacant since before our loan closed. In fact, I am seriously considering farming on the vacant lots across the street and next door using rainwater harvest if need be; the owners are dead and I am friendly with both surviving families.
I trained as a teacher and my husband is an engineer with the hydro-electric company that supplies the power in our home state. Both useful now, but not so crucial to survival that I feel safe relying on them in the future. As I drive my children to school in the morning I can imagine the day that we will no longer be able to afford the petrol and so will organise a small school for local children in my lounge room…..
I have started to learn about herbal remedies and my husband is becoming pretty nifty with diy stuff- although he glazes over when I begin to talk (rant?) about peak oil and things that I am a little crazy. He doesn’t understand why I continually try to convince him to use hand tools instead of electric ones
My husband is an academic with a secondary skill is as a concert pianist and accompanist, and I’m a writer by profession, but we’re looking into and learning beekeeping and winemaking.
I have some skill in herbology and making medicines from scratch as well as home remedies, which may come in useful, but I’m pretty much assuming that our value-added income will be from alcohol and food growing. He may earn extra income from keyboard skills at churches – we’ve noticed that in the past religion usually becomes quite popular again!
We are currently 100% debt free (no mortgage, no credit card debt, nada) and are looking to buy our next own house and land outright, after many years of careful saving and scrimping while many of our friends went holidaying, bought luxury items, and partied on. Do you think I am a bit proud about that? Absolutely!
Other skills we’re learning at the moment are tight budgeting (hehe) and water management.
As an aside, a teenage woman who I was mentoring a few years ago and over whose career I was fortunate enough to have some input has chosen the career of midwife, and is now in training, aiming to be a homebirth midwife. My husband and I talked her out of fine arts, which she was going to study. I am now very glad we did so, in light of what we now know – her skills will not go to waste in a post-peak world.
I have been watching a lot of Clint Eastwood westerns lately and the guys that always have work despite the ensuing chaos are the barbers, the prostitutes and the coffin makers…so Lis and Crunchy are onto something…we just need more hairdressers to come forward.
I’m a chemistry student about to go senior, so far I’ve learned how to work in normal chemistry labs as well as microbiological ones and industrial installations.
I could synthesise certain fertillizers from very basic supplies, some simple anaesthetics and drugs , maybe even certain antibiotics as well as clothing dyes, paint, artificial resin, glue …
A brewer might have use fo my skills with a still and analysis capabilities (no blindness inducing liquor here!) and I could piece toghether AC units, refrigerators and radiators (car, house, w/e) with a little mechanics training.
I could also synthesis explosives (removing tree stumps, well digging, demolotion, …
So, my education could get me far, provided that I can get the necessairy supplies.
Some things are very simple and can be improvised (stills, condensors, electrolysis devices, gastraps), but I’d still need some standardised things (thermomethers for example, scales)
Oh I forgot:
My microbiology training lets me set up efficient yeast beads for brewers or bakers, algae farms, yoghurt production, mushroom farms (edible or others)
I can help docters, nurses and midwives keeping things sterile and acting as a nurse/assistant
Seriously, chemistry is very usefull if you think outside the box!
Wow! I am so impressed by the skills and foresight of the folks on this blog!
I am retired and living on savings and social security. I feel the SS will be continued as long as possible, that is until the gov’t is totally insolvent. I keep the savings divided among 3 local banks in FDIC insured deposits. Also good as long as the gov’t survives.
The house in this rural area is paid for, likewise the car and truck, for as long as they are useful. No debts.
I am a retired teacher with a store of knowledge and the ability to teach almost anything. I could teach home schooled kids in areas where the parents don’t feel competent, maybe in some sort of barter artrangement. But that’s about it.
With our heavy equipment, we’re thinking about grave digging. Seriously.
What worries me, Michael Hawkins, is finding synthroid for DH’s thyroid problem. It doesn’t keep well, I understand. Is that something a chemist or pharmacist could synthesize?
With a recipe and some specialized (not always hard to find) supplies it would be possible, thinking up a simple way to make it is beyond me at the moment … looking at the molecule, I can see what would need to be done, and I know most of the reactions to make it all happen, so I do suppose somebody with more serious experience in organic sythesis should be able to do this.
Fact is, there’s going to be a much higher (mass) demand for things like bleach, soap and glue than complicated drugs that require a lot of work, have a limited market and only sell in tiny quantities, so the latter may become prohibitively expensive with labspace and equipment being limited.
Thyroids … hey, does rocksalt have iodine in it? I’ve only stocked up on ‘regular’ table salt with iodine, so it’s not an issue here at this time. But some sources out there have suggested getting cheap rock salt for preserving and such. But it just struck me that goiter used to be a huge problem pretty much everywhere from lack of iodine. I can preserve meat with rock salt, but then I’d not be salting meals with the ‘regular’ salt…
I was happy to see your list, because about half the jobs listed either my husband or I can do, and/or are doing on a small scale now.
My husband is learning to make cider and wine (his apple cider from our neighbors “drops” got rave reviews
. He’s also planning to set-up an beehive next spring for honey production. By profession, he’s an electrical engineer, which might translate into something. Worst case, he can certainly teach math skills or science-y stuff. He’s still young enough and spry enough that he could do things like chop firewood. He’s proficient with a bow and arrows, and he has experience with dressing an animal and tanning hides – rabbits, at least. He also knows a thing or two about carpentry. He won’t have any trouble making a couple of bucks.
By training, I’m a teacher, but I’m currently self-employed and provide secretarial and transcription services, mostly to medical providers. I have no delusions about the future of my “job”, and I’m pretty certain that it won’t exist. I’m currently homeschooling, and I could, in a pinch, fall back on my teaching credentials and do some tutoring, but that wouldn’t be my first choice for a paid occupation. I’m taking a correspondence course in herbal medicine, and that’s my career choice for my future – oil-starved or not. Someday, I’d like to train as a home-birth midwife.
As a potential side-line of work, I’m thinking I’d like to talk to the local diary farmer where I get the (raw) milk my family drinks and collaborate with him using his cows’ milk to make cheese and yogurt and maybe offering to provide delivery services of milk and cheese to people in my town. I already have a bike and a trailer … and come to think of it, my husband keeps them both running in tip-top shape. He could always go into bicycle repair
.
We’re also learning small-scale, suburban gardening techniques, and we’re surrounded by maple trees, which we’ve learned to tap, and we made about a gallon of maple syrup this year – from just two trees. I imagine maple syrup will be a good barter item
. Oh, and we’re raising chickens (for eggs and meat) and rabbits.
I was worried, but now, after having read your post and kind of hashing it all out here, I think we’ll be just fine
. Thanks, Sharon!
I think one thing we need to develop is a sense of “knowing,” of listening to a deeper mind within us. No one can guess what we might actuallly have to face, but we all have an innate sense of guidance inside – if we only listen to it. Call it your higher self, intuition, spirit, call it your connection to a higher power – whatever you call it, it knows what you should do in any situation.
This is sort of a scary way to go through life, never knowing how you might have to respond, but, really, that IS life, isn’t it? We can plan, organize, save, garden, preserve, learn new skills till the cows come home, and life will still surprise us.
So don’t get too attached to a plan or expend a lot of resources on a narrow path that might not be flexible in the coming times. Basic preparedness is essential, and learning new skills is valuable. But don’t get busy juggling so many balls that you don’t take the time to be still. To go within, to ask yourself what you really know, as opposed to what you think or what you want.
And listen to that inner voice, expecially when a decision has to be made, and especially when that voice tells you something that conflicts with what you want. That is how you will know it is true.
Yet another library worker here! I work in the book repair dept of a University-and it’s a ridiculous drive to get here-so I’ll be priced out of of job sooner.
But it’s a transferable skill and something I could do locally……
Michael, don’t forget processing raw latex into useful objects. That’s a basic chemistry skill.
In one of Marge Piercy’s novels there’s a woman in a tenement in the lower east side of New York who makes latex condoms in her kitchen. That might be a very useful skill, depending how bad things get.
I’m counting on things getting poorer, but not apocalyptic – if things really fall apart I’ll just be another refugee.