Give me a project and I will move the world. Some ideas to get you started this spring. Above: pH test strips from a past indigo dyeing project.

 

Making:

  • Sewing

  • Indigo dying

  • 8 x 10 photography

  • Landscape watercolors

  • Weaving

  • Clay hand-building

  • Quilt making

  • Woodturning

  • Basic metal forging

  • Leather painting

  • Chair making

  • Drawing with Sharpies

  • Frame making

  • Brush making

  • Box making

  • Pyrography

  • Poetry

  • Flag making

  • Felting

  • Plaster cast making 

 

Restoring & Repairing:

  • Knife sharpening

  • Axe sharpening

  • Small engine repair

  • Handheld electronics repair

  • Outerwear Maintenance

  • Darning

  • Kintsugi

  • Chimney sweeping

 

Observing:

  • Weather patterns

  • Bird migration

  • Cloud spotting

  • Stream dynamics

  • Plant identification

  • Animal tracking

 

Documenting:

  • Archival storage

  • Collecting natural specimens

  • Portrait photography

  • Mapmaking

 

Engineering:

  • Plumbing

  • Measuring

  • Basic house framing

  • Stone wall building

  • Parging

  • Timber framing

  • Portable sawmilling

 

Helping:

  • Dog training

  • Search and Rescue

  • Dog first aid

  • Human first aid

  • Wildlife rescue

 

Farming:

  • Perennials

  • Fruit trees

  • No-dig growing

  • Beekeeping

  • Silviculture

  • Firewood

 

Community Organizing:

  • Newsletter publishing

  • Clean-up / Maintenance 

  • Event planning

 

Exercising:

  • Stone lifting and throwing

  • Hillwalking

  • The Burpee club

  • Stretching

 

Recreating:

  • Solo canoeing

  • Canoe tripping

  • Icelandic horse trekking

  • Orienteering without maps

  • Shelter construction

  • Pigeon racing

  • Tenkara fishing

  • Drift boat navigation

  • Tramping

 

Communicating:

  • Analog radio operation

  • Sign language

  • Storytelling

  • Speech writing

 

Cooking:

  • Baking with sourdough

  • Making shrubs

  • Cold smoking

  • Japanese ice cubes

 

Misc:

  • Bushido

  • American Folklore

  • Slight of hand

  • Dowsing for water

  • Meditation

  • Film Noir