As part of Heritage Week 2023 join the team at non-profit social enterprise Common Knowledge for a free Open Day (August 12th) and 4 Day Course (August 13-16th) in The Burren, Co Clare.
So many of our valuable traditional skills, practices and methods have fallen into decline due to the rise of mass production and global trade. And yet, for a sustainable future, there are lessons for us all in the ways things were done in the past – especially in the areas of building, food, culture and land.
The School of Lost Skills is a new way for us to celebrate and practice these skills and themes together in a deeper way so that they can thrive and engage people beyond traditional generational boundaries.
Common Knowledge Co-Founder Harrison Gardner says: “Join us as we kick off The School of Lost Skills during Heritage Week 2023 with a free Open Day, featuring discussion and practice of skills linked with building, food, culture and land.”
What to expect at the Open Day (August 12th, free admission):
The day will start with a discussion hosted by Anja Murray with guests Darina Allen, Manchán Magan, Mary Reynolds and Harrison Gardner discussing the danger of losing our ancestral skills and knowledge in these areas. The discussion, hosted in our Octagon Hall, will ask what we can do to change the tides on lost skills, to start flowing back towards knowledge, understanding, empathy and togetherness.
The discussion will be followed by interactive skill sharing workshops throughout the courtyard including cob making, weaving, fermentation and an Ark workshop with Mary Reynolds.
Tickets are extremely limited to this intimate event so please book early. The event will be live streamed for anyone unable to attend. Book now: https://www.ourcommonknowledge.org/schooloflostskills
The School of Lost Skills – 4 Day Course (August 12-16th, €680):
The School of Lost Skills 4 Day Course will be a chance to practice a range of skills like basket weaving, stone wall building, fermentation, foraging and more with expert instructors from all over Ireland. Breakfast and lunch provided each day.
Participants will gain an introduction and training in:
Stone carving and stone wall making with Dominic Keogh
Soap making with Clem Horan
The art of fermentation with Llewyn Máire
Cob construction with Alexander O’Brien
Vernacular architecture with Hugh Kavanagh
Willow basket making with Kate Burrows
Storytelling workshop with Aindrias De Stack
Seed saving and foraging with Ciara Parsons
Scything and grassland management with Chris Hayes
This Open Day and 4 Day Course comes off the back of Rekindle: Festival of Lost Skills which took place in Ennistymon this summer. Now in its second year, Rekindle is an intergenerational festival of lost skills celebrating and showcasing the knowledge of older people in our communities that can help us all to live a truly sustainable life. Rekindle: Festival of Lost Skills saw more than 500 people meet 18 exhibitors who showcased skills ranging from pen making, Aran knitting, rope making, boat building, basket making and also included a farrier who brought his anvil to display blacksmithing skills.
Common Knowledge has now moved into a new home with 50 acres to grow, experiment and explore. Whether coming to take a course (Common Knowledge offers courses covering building, making, mending, and growing), immerse yourself in nature or take in nearby sights of The Burren, Cliffs of Moher and Wild Atlantic Way, people can now stay on-site in their range of Lodge or Courtyard accommodation, as well as hire the space for their own events.
The Common Knowledge Ethos: True Sustainability
For Common Knowledge, a truly sustainable homelife means that it is sustainable for you, the planet and those around you, but also attainable and maintainable by you. Along with Common Knowledge’s vision of true sustainability, they value empowerment, and delight, because they believe joy is one of our basic human needs.