Roosters and the Undervalued Nature of Traditional Skills

My son received an egg incubator last year. We have been putting it to good use and hatching out our own eggs roughly every month since January. When hatching out the eggs, the chance of obtaining a rooster is supposedly 50% but it really feels greater. Over time, we found ourselves with an abundance of roosters and a shortage of space for them. What do you do?

We could sell them at a small animal swap.

We considered an animal swap but with the Farmers Market, soccer games and other commitments, we simply didn't have the time nor energy to attend one. Additionally, these roosters are kept on pasture. They are not exactly amenable to the idea of being caught and placed into a cage. The idea of dragging these feathered fighters to a town parking lot was really low on the list of options. 

We could dispatch and freeze them ourselves for stew meat.

We have dispatched chickens in the past. It wasn't a new thing. However, we are not very good at it. We are slow, clunky and inefficient. When you add these characteristics together, it turns out to be a very frustrating day for everyone involved. We want to be good stewards of the land and take care of our animals but there is a time when they have outlived their usefulness on the farm. Utilizing the unwanted roosters for meat and broth is a prudent way to ensure that they do not go to waste. Yet, time is a valuable resource that we seem to always have in short supply. Spending the time (lengthy time that we do) in dispatching these chickens was not working!

We could sell them online.

This sounded like a great idea! The world is available at our fingertips with the use of the internet. All we have to do is set up posts on social media and local selling sites and we would be flooded with calls, right? Not exactly. It turns out that there are only a few willing souls that will take on a group of roosters. It took a while, but we were lucky to have found one of those people. This sweet lady was unassuming, patient and had the air of someone with quiet confidence. 

What was so different about her? What did she have? 

She had the confidence of someone with many skill sets. She didn't shy away from the bristling fowl as they were protesting their new accommodations in the back of her car. She joked about the especially mean mister as she separated him from the others. She stated that she was planning to process them for meat and broth in soups for the cold winter months. She appeared as if this wasn't a new thing for her. She was kind when I shared my frustrations of our inefficient processing and lack of knowledge regarding the best methods of creating good meals with what most will call "tough old birds". 

Why am I sharing this with you? 

I spent years in formal education environments where the goal was to be the smartest one in the room. The competition was fierce as we fought to achieve the highest score on the next exam. A specific reported letter of the alphabet became the mark of accomplishment. It took me too long to realize that the supposed accomplishment was fleeting. The usefulness of the regurgitated information wasn't very applicable in day-to-day life.

During these years of academic rigor, I would call my grandmother during my commute. She was always happy to speak with me and despite having multiple grandchildren, she always knew it was me on the phone (without caller ID). In these conversations she would share, in her humble way, the accomplishments of her day. I realized that the "commonplace" tasks that she took as being easy were a complete mystery to me. I remembered watching family members canning food, but I really didn't participate. I fought with my cousins over my grandmother's wonderful biscuits, but I had no clue where to even start making them. I took for granted the meals that magically appeared on the table without understanding the work and planning that it took to obtain and prepare them. 

Even today, years after her passing, I still find myself thinking of some little thing that she did that I am at a loss to replicate. Luckily, I have aunts and my mom who will help me with my canning questions and attempts at recipes. I have a plethora of books, the internet and videos that can explain the processes of various skilled tasks. What I don't always have... are the skills. 

Skills cannot be simply imitated from a video or a book. Skills take time to develop. Skills are the result of repeated practice of a task in different circumstances with different results. The ability to troubleshoot errors in the repetition of a task is valuable. Skill level cannot be faked for very long before someone will notice the discrepancy between the verbal boasting and the actual results. 

Why do we dismiss the value of traditional skills?

I think that society has started to dismiss the value of any skill and especially those that are considered traditional or old-fashioned. It takes time and effort to develop proficiency at a task to be able to claim that you have earned the skill. It's too easy to veg out in front of electronic entertainment and ignore the work that it takes to improve oneself. 

In my embarrassment of admitting that I really don't have the skill sets that many of my ancestors took for granted, I have been hiding. I haven't been sharing my failures. I will brag when I manage to create butter but will hide when I have killed another sour dough starter. I will share the glorious pictures of sky-high tomato plants from last year's crop but fail to admit that the hornworms have been a formidable foe in the garden this year. We don't want to admit that we struggle with some skill that another can tackle so easily. 

Why is it important to develop new skills? 

I don't think that everyone should rush out and create sourdough bread, butter or even grow a garden. I do think that we should spend some time in introspection about the skills that we desire but do not yet possess. What are the things that you are embarrassed to admit that you don't know how to do? What things do you find yourself calling a "professional" to do that you wish you could do yourself? 

There are times in life when it is better to allow another person to complete a job for you so that you can spend your valuable time working on another task. But what happens when the person that completes this task quits or retires? What happens if the local market for a specific skill is bare, and no one is available to help you? What happens when you cannot afford to hire someone else? 

Another reason that we should work on improving our skillset is the intrinsic sense of accomplishment that we feel when we have learned something new. One newly adapted skill can be applied to another, then another, then another... Before too long, we can begin to present ourselves with confidence that only comes with self-knowledge and appreciation that we are capable of many things. A perfect example was my grandmother that casually dismissed anyone that complimented her biscuits with a wave and "anyone can do it" phrase. 

Why should we focus our energy on traditional skills? 

The computer world is expanding at a pace that rivals the industrial revolution. The flashiest and best program used by all of the companies today could be obsolete in a few short years. I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't try to keep up with a changing world. We should work to be aware of the upcoming changes in technology so that we aren't left behind, but we may not need to be experts in those areas (unless you are a person that really loves it). 

During the industrial revolution, many people found themselves confused and out of place. How long will it take until a lot of the work in the field of healthcare, that I deemed a safe career field when I was young, will be pushed out by new technology? 

While robots and computers can do a lot of things, we have to remind ourselves, what is the cost? We live in a world of abundance. We throw things away faster than our ancestors could imagine. We have microwave meals and instant snacks aplenty. We have praised the ease of replacement and tolerate the planned obsolescence of appliances. We celebrate the ease of quick food-like products and ignore the unpronounceable ingredient list at the peril of our health. What will happen to a society that no longer possesses the basic skills to grow, store and prepare real food? What will we do when there only a few truly competent plumbers, electricians, welders, nurses, etc. because so many are now being trained to be completely reliant on computers? How can we educate our children on how to care for themselves when we are constantly calling someone else to fix our problems?

Traditional skills give us a way to touch the past. We can reconnect with memories of those loved ones that have long since passed. We can look up to heaven with a canned jar of pickled beets and hope that they do not laugh too much at my blundering efforts to recreate what they considered a simple treat. 

Traditional skills allow us to be more hands-on. They are tangible. You can see the result of most traditional skills and feel pride. I have spent hours working on a computer program and even when the job was completed, I was still anxious and complained of an aching neck. When I accomplish a new skill, like baking a loaf of great bread, I have great pride in my accomplishment and enjoy the fruits of my labor with a sandwich made with tomatoes grown in my own garden.  

Traditional skills usually require more activity. We are a nation of obesity. We eat the wrong things and are too sedentary. Running on a treadmill seems pointless to me and I've always struggled to do so. However, flipping compost, caring for animals or standing in the kitchen storing food will expend calories and create an exhaustion that allows for a restful sleep. 

Traditional skills aren't commonplace anymore. There are many people that struggle with what used to be considered simple tasks. We were recently milking goats. The task of milking a goat sounds simple but there is a technique to it. You may not desire to find yourself in the hind regions of a dairy animal but any skill that you may learn can be useful. You never know when your new traditional skill will be sought after by others who have no idea where to start. Even if your friends aren't begging you for goat milk, it may be a fun conversation piece at a party!

What do you want to do? What skills do you want to be able to teach your grandchildren one day? It's never too late to learn a new skill. You just have to make the decision and work at it. Maybe by this time next year, you can humbly exclaim "This old thing! If I can do it, anyone can!"