We've been discussing blacksmithing operations a lot lately. Blacksmithing is a basic
method of metal working. At one time it was an industry all its own. Today it can be a hobby
or a business or both. To many people it has become a skill of self sufficiency and survival.
For those interested in self sufficiency and survival, blacksmithing is not just a skill or
hobby, it is a basic industry. One which may help to rebuild civilization or kick-start a
devastated economy. Our economy is in a crash right now. I don't believe it will be turned
around, although I do believe that it can be turned around. It won't be turned around
because those in government who claim to be trying to fix the current crisis is taking a two
pronged approach to it. Their first approach is denial. Although they acknowledge that the
economy is not doing well, they deny that the problem is bad and that it is getting better.
Whenever a local news piece is broadcast concerning the economy it is always preceded by
graphics and announcements of "Economy In Recovery". Even when the news is bad. We
all know that the economy is not in recovery. Their second approach is to blame capitalism
and add more socialist/communist regulations on, get this, not Wall Street, but you, the little
guy.
Socialism and large social corporatism got us into this mess, not free market. More
socialism will get us deeper into this mess. Unfortunately, more socialism is all we are going
to get from Washington, D.C.. Once again, it is going to be up to us little guys to put this
country right. A bit of guerrilla capitalism is what we are going to need to engage in and we
may need to build over from the ground up before the socialists/communists in Washington
are through gutting our economy. We all have hobbies. Most of those hobbies involve
working with your hands. Those hobbies can be the cornerstone on which we build a trade in
which to engage to make some extra income while the economy is collapsing. As we work at
our hobbies now, we build skills in them, creating the means to work in the trade.
I've recently taken a similar idea and wrote about a re-build of civilization in an article. That
article, "Metallurgy: Post 2012" will be featured in an upcoming issue of Survivalist
Magazine. Being a blacksmith, I've focused on what was my hobby and now part of my
profession. In the article a global crisis has disrupted civilization and a group of survivors
begin to build a blacksmith shop from the ground up. Much of the equipment is made
expediently at a remote campsite. The blacksmith shop is used to make tools that are used
to work wood, dig gardens and build a village. When other survivors are contacted, they
bring other skills and civilization is slowly rebuilt. We may be seeing the start of such a
crisis today with the collapse of our economy. We don't have to allow this to happen. We can
take control of our own future and our own lives as was meant to be by developing our
hobbies into a means to trade and do business. We may have to work around or in some
cases in spite of our government, but a skill is something that can't be confiscated and can
be used to rebuild lives and civilizations.
You can learn more about Survivalist Magazine at http://survivalist.fm/ or at
http://survivalist.com/. There are radio interviews hosted by Ed Corcoran of Survivalist
Magazine at survivalist.fm. You might find a couple of those radio interviews in the archives
where yours truly is the guest. Check them out. They are interesting. And develop your
hobbies into the skills you need.
Check http://northwoodstraders.ecrater.com/ for some ideas on creating hobbies into
products for sell.
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