It seems cliche to say we learn all our lives.
Yet, with so much overstimulation in this modern world, we are adapting and learning for our survival. Who would ever have thought that we would actually use that QR code reader on our phones? My new mission for Bathurst Tack Box is to make available the hands on learning that doesn’t use technology that gets outdated after 6 months but the kind of learning that we would have achieved by sitting beside our grandfather as he tinkered away to make a useful tool for the land from scratch.
I am very lucky in this in finding several amazing teachers prepared to give up hours to help those wanting to learn. I could not achieve this without them.
Another cliche comes to mind “from little things, big things grow”.
We held our first workshops over the weekends during our days of freedom. It was a lot of work for a small business. We built a belt that turned into hobbles when you need to stop your ride and take a pee or camp for the night.
In the other workshop, our learners made their own leather stockwhip. They pulled and plaited and knotted and walked away with something made by their own hands.
Does it have an application for our modern world?
Well I will leave that up to the participants to assess.
In my reasoning, just for one day we caught up in our evolution to horses. For one day, out of the busy life, I got to sit using tools I had never used before to just do one thing well.
The act of using both hands in hand stitching provided an opportunity for my brain to work both right and left at the same time much the same as learning an instrument or horse riding.
That was good for my soul. It replenished my reserve of creativity and centred me. This was meaning enough.
Thank you to those who came and took part. There will be more to come.
In our future year, we hope to hold workshops in rope and halter making, more stitching, leather stamping, making our own simple girth and the use of basic farrier tools and cleaning tack. We also want to precede the next art exhibition with workshops to create some of the works.
Is this ambitious?
Well so was opening a community based enterprise in the middle of a drought, fires then a pandemic.