Run Back to Your Roots Challenge: Traditional skills for the modern world

We live in a time when traditional skills are more important than ever. Every time I go into my grocery store, the shelves are looking barer and barer. It’s scary actually.

The traditional skills of cooking and sewing, for example, have been lost to those who now rely on fast food and store-bought clothes. But as we know from the recent economic crisis, these traditional skills are what will sustain us through hard times. That’s why I decided to take part in the Run Back to Your Roots Challenge. I saw the post from Danielle Jones on Instagram and knew I had to get in on it. See her post here.

What do I consider to be traditional skills?

What are traditional skills?

• from scratch cooking
• sewing
• growing your own food
• plant medicine
• canning
• and much more

Traditional skills are those that have been passed down through generations, some for hundreds of years. They are often not taught in traditional educational institutions, but rather taught within families by family members. Traditional cooking, traditional sewing, traditional fishing, and traditional mending are all examples of traditional skills.

I personally don’t remember being taught any of these skills. NO shame to my own family but it wasn’t a priority and it wasn’t a priority for many of the families of my time. We were so busy with practices and preparing to get into good colleges that we missed many of the skills passed down from generations passed. My gosh many of the home economic classes have been scrubbed from the schools these days.

Why are they important in today’s society

In today’s society, traditional skills are more important than ever. With the advent of technology, many traditional skills have been forgotten altogether. I personally was so freaked out when I saw the number of chemicals in our food, clothes, laundry care, etc. and I felt like this was not the way God intended for it to be.

My youngest said to me a few weeks ago, that he didn’t remember God putting a pharmacy the way we know it in the Garden of Eden and yet God said He gave us everything we needed. It really prompted a great conversation about how people for centuries used plant medicine and how we were so much healthier as a species when we did things ourselves.

How to learn/practice the traditional skill

Honestly, Danielle is crushing it with her Run Back to Your Roots Challenge. It’s completely self-paced. She sends an email each week. Each month has a theme. Someone in the group was kind enough to put all of her emails with recipes into a Google Drive folder so it’s insanely manageable. I am loving it and highly encourage you to come to join me!

I can tell you my family has seen a difference. I started our holistic/crunchy journey a few years ago by making slow swaps and it’s made a huge difference. At first, it was simply making all our breads. Now, I make our laundry detergent and our yogurts. I sew everything these days. & now I’m excited to learn for the next year alongside 11k other women with this challenge. It’s an exciting time to really just reconnect with God’s purpose for humanity and how He designed us.

To me, adopting a more healthy and holistic lifestyle is about connecting with God. It’s about seeing the goodness and the provisions He has given us. It’s about seeing how He has a plan for everything. It’s about seeing how He has a purpose for everything.

Traditional skills give me a deeper appreciation for our Creator and help me feel a little bit more connected. It helps me feel like I’m really His hands and feet here when I’m serving my family with the tools and resources He provides.

It’s also been really cool to see how this has impacted the kids. The boys are personally on a plant and bee kick. They are growing their own little gardens to save the bees. They watch bee-keeping videos and learn a ton about good pollinators so they can have a garden that thrives. Traditional skills aren’t limited to the ladies.

Traditional skills are becoming more important than ever in today’s society. From traditional cooking and traditional sewing to traditional farming, traditional skills can help us thrive in difficult times when they may otherwise falter. This blog post has explored the importance of traditional skills with examples from my own life that has benefited me tremendously.

What is your favorite traditional skill? How do you think it could benefit others? Let me know below!