Lifeskills Resume — Express your talents, rather than conform to corporate structure.
This is a form that can be used, keep name and copyright!
Stella Jane
Life Skills Resume and Tools Inventory
Animal Care & Breeding
Animal Training
Beadwork
Book Production
Building Design
Building Construction
Canning
Child care, education
Child care, experience
Cooking, Commercial
Cooking, Gourmet to Survival
Consulting
Dehydrating
Drum and Rattle Making
Fencing, Design/Construction
Freezing
Gardening
Greenhouse Construction
Homemaking
Inventions, Patented/Disclosed
Leather Work
Medical/Nutritional Intuitive
Mothering, Foster Care
Mothering, Nutritional
Office, Organize/Account
People Skills, Interviewing
People Skills, Team Building
Repairs, Clothing
Repairs, Tools & Equipment
Rug Making
Sewing, Clothing
Sewing, Commercial
Sewing, Tents
Sewing, Harness/Equipment
Staging land/building development
Tanning & Hide Uses
Teaching
Writing, Professional
Writing, Children’s Books
Please contact me if you have enhanced information or wish to express yourself.
New thought/information is always a good topic for an interesting conversation.
© 2001-2015 ongoing
This Lifeskills Resume was originally written as a presentation for who I am and what benefits I could bring to community life.
Any person or group can talk to me on the sTELLAPHONE.
Animal Care and Breeding
Raised animals since age of 5 starting with a pet goat, then a pony age 7. Rode daily and taught beginner riding at a stable by age 13. Extensive care of many horses, trail riding, tack and harness care/repair. Animal midwifery with cows, goats, from age 14. As an adult, I’ve worked mainly with rabbits, sheep and poultry, including turkeys, ducks, geese, egg and meat chickens. All aspects of care including the incubation of eggs and successful raising of years of young stock. Dogs were used for farm predator control: dog care and training, whelping and raising stock for service purposes.
Rabbit stock available, Satin meat type rabbits AND recently Satin ANGORAS.
Tools: Incubator (40 egg), rabbit cages, transporters, automatic watering systems.
Animal Training
Pulling animals, such as ponies, donkeys, small horses, can be outfitted and trained. A pony with an acre of grass costs less to feed per year than a housecat, and could be used daily for cart work, plus being used for children’s balancing and educational work.
Dogs can be kept on runs for specific garden management, ie border patrol on 50 foot runs. Taught many dogs to hunt and kill rodents on command, rout raccoons and possum, deer, all the while not disturbing the rabbits or poultry at all. Breed selection is of major importance here.
Beadworking
While not a supportive skill, beadworking is good for supplemental income especially during winter months. Have taught hundreds of people “Beading Basics” and six other formal classes. References available for Native American Restoration work, and also antique repairs of all kinds, especially purses and clothing. Present output is mainly barrettes. These classes could be marketed locally.
Tools: All types needed, including personal supplies of size 11 seed beads.
Book Publishing
Adept at presentation of words and pictures to serve a function, whether it be a Garage Sale flyer or a serious book. Worked in a print shop that published government pamphlets before living on The Farm, and spent nearly ten years at Book Publishing Company as office manager during the conception and publication of many books.
Building Design/Construction
First experiences with animal housing. Later, my family restored a 130 year old home with 18 rooms, located one hour from New York City. While living in community in upstate NY, more restoration and interior improvement work. Living in a large community, married to a builder, many designs of multi-family homes were built, including “fast” housing with tents, most using my leak proof tent windows. Can design an efficient small home to fit any terrain and accommodate the inhabitants needs. Using 16 Army tents and 2 months of volunteer labor, I engineered and executed the covering of a large frame, which was used for a community building. Recent work includes a practical design from a dream, for a very efficient multi-family community home.
Basic knowledge includes framing, insulation, sheet rock, texturing ceilings, window repair and glass cutting, painting & estimation, table saw, skill saw, chain saw use. Experienced in instruction and guidance of unskilled young people. Supervised a woman’s daily labor work crew.
Tools: Mostly basic household, plus skill saw, small electric chain saw.
Canning
Working with my Mom canning peaches is one of my first work memories. All types of canning experience, over thirty years, including personal recipes for pickles, relishes and specialty jams.
Latest work is very low sugar canning of fruit, which tastes more like eating the fruit fresh than like eating jam. Experience with canning on wood and coal burning cook stoves — really hot! Not recommended.
Tools: Pressure canner, several waterbathers, all small tools. Hundreds of quarts and pints in good condition. Recipe books. Enthusiasm!!
Child care, education
In June 2002, I completed 15.5 units in Early Childhood Education at Santa Rosa Junior College. All additional requirements have already been met, so I have an Associate Teacher Certification in Early Childhood Education from the State of California. top
Child care, experience
Eldest of eight children, extensive child care and foster care experience. At age 37, fertility surgery allowed the birth of two daughters, presently age 34 and 31. Two years experience in Headstart and state-run daycare as a substitute in numerous facilities in Sonoma County, California. Have worked in daycare facilities, ages 3-5 yrs. Also some experience cooking for children in these same facilities.
Cooking, Commercial
Cooking in commercial quantities was done especially in the large community where only a few people supervised the boiler and steam kettles. My personal work involved production of masa for corn tortillas and tamales, as well as helping with vegetable and fruit canning. Planning and successful feeding of up to 100 people at a time, solo work for early morning work crews, sometimes in extremely primitive settings.
Cooking, Gourmet to Survival
Superior skills in nourishing the sick, young or aged. Vegan cooking available, fifteen years experience and pioneer work in soybean and tofu cookery. Current work in production of ecologically sound protein from animal sources. Interested in fish farming. Have constructed kitchens that resisted animal s and weather and remained serviceable for six months, using a sheet of plastic, string, wire and a hatchet to cut saplings. Currently, I’d prefer an industrial kitchen in community, where I could teach canning and cooking….see canning section.
Consulting is taxable, if you just want to TALK on the sTELLAPHONE, then call me!
If you have a group, a business or non-profit organization that would benefit from any of these lifeskills that are offered here, I can talk with you about how you would like it presented, or teach you how to offer it to others. For example, a solar panel company might like to have fabric building skills, and offer people fabric storage units that use the solar panels for a roof. Someone who does vision quests might like to learn how to make feather fans for blessing with sage, or how to make rattles and drums, and teach that to the vision quest groups. Certainly this is a more complex understanding than just the “how to” of the material explanation, which is all you can do in a one-time drum making class. A person running a daycare might want to learn “foods kids love” and how to let children learn cooking. I offer phone talking for determining the parameters of the job, and there is no charge for the first 30 minutes, during which time we establish what is needed and the length of time for the work, and the terms of payment. So don’t hesitate to call and talk, sometimes making the connection and talking about the need makes the solution become much more obvious.
Dehydrating
Dehydrating and its subsequent storage of dried foods is a complex and subtle study. I have built dehydrators, and visited large drying sheds. My most successful products came from the small commercially made one I still use. Good storage can create great value with food that would otherwise go to waste.
Drum & Rattle Making
Made and sold drums and rattles at powwows and to individuals for over ten years in northern California. Taught many people the “tricks of the trade” which is quite a list of skills and pointers. The following is excerpted from a care paper that I give with each item:
Drums & stitched rattles are made of rawhide, which is usually deer, elk or cattle hide which has not be cured. ….That means it dries hard and will stay hard if no water or high humidity gets on the item. Some drums have a “sweet spot” which sounds better than any other place on the drum surface! …. Rattles are very individual, and may sound loud with one kind of shaking and very soft with others. Some rattles are “trancing” rattles and only sound as soft whispers, while others can accompany drums with a clear hard sound.
© 2001 About Drums & Rattles
Tools: All small tools needed to do hide work. Wooden frames would need to be produced by other community members with woodshop skills, from specifications.
Fencing, Design and Construction
Fencing among the most important skills of the farmer. It creates vertical space, windbreaks, protected growth sectors and more, plus serves as control measures for humans as well as animals. Properly placed fencing can enrich land from animal manure and it can protect settlements from wildlife encroachment, all the while serving the above purposes. Gate design, construction and placement is another important factor.
Freezing
Freezers are very useful if properly used, especially for storing meats, finished pie fillings and freezer jams, which are mainly fresh fruit, uncooked and high in food value. Like dehydrating, the skills involved are subtle and take years to determine without guidance. Small chest freezers are very cost effective.
Gardening /Greenhouse Construction SEE MANY PIX under GREENHOUSE 2020
Thirty years continuous gardening, from private one family to huge fields in the larger community setting, and recently over a dozen years of high production container gardening using rabbit manure. A complex system which combines water collection, solar panels, drip irrigation and more is the subject of an invention disclosure made to my patent attorney and a potential development project for any community once my residence became established.
Homemaking
The layout, sanitation and management of one’s home is often simply considered a person’s private business in today’s dominant culture and supplanted by shopping. This neglected skill can determine much of a person’s ability to participate in their job or community. At a minimum, it can put a severe crimp in the social and emotional health of the individual and the family. My family of origin had eight children and time/skills/sanitation were important aspects of life, taught by a mother with a degree in Home Economics. Our high schools in the US need to be upgraded to teach life management skills, and especially when persons are new to rural living, or “off the grid” living, a short course in skills could ease the adjustment for many people who are living in community for the first time.
Inventions, Patented/Disclosed
As I hold a patent from the United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) I can officially call myself an inventor. However, I usually wish this information to be kept confidential, as it can cause disruption in my personal life. There are many smaller inventions which I am quite interested in getting to the marketplace, and several major and minor ones which pertain to Permaculture, gardening, greenhouses, drip irrigation, and animal management. These last could possibly be contracted for development to another organization or to specific individuals in order to work in unison with myself, and establish lucrative ventures. Anyone wanting to develop a HEMP product, talk to me. Got dozens of ideas ready to go, many with “mini-samples” made to demonstrate.
Leather Work
Although there certainly is value in using plant-based products, there are also good reasons to use various items of quality leather. Most personal items of clothing, including shoes, hats and handbags become landfill after a very short period. The community could develop skills to produce quality items which would be serviceable and reduce costs, as these would last far longer.
Although I do not have a free arm or walking foot machine, a shoemaking setup would be a very economical move, and these same machines would improve on the bags and harness I can make at present.
Tools: Many small tools, including heavy shears, hand-stitching awls and punches.
CONSEW straight-stitch industrial table machine, with continuous bobbin filling and knee-lift.
Medical/Nutritional Intuitive
Until the term “medical intuitive” came into being, I called my particular skill “skin reading” as apparently I see something of what a person’s body could use or needs, and then I prepare that food for the person, teaching them how to and why for their own personal well-being. When living in groups of people, I find my cooking is guided by the specific physical needs of the group, whether or not any formal consultation happens.
General translation of this “social skill” is that everyone loves my cooking.
Mothering, Foster Care, Nutrition and Child Development
Mothering, foster care, daycare, child development and nutrition are aspects of human life whose importance cannot be underestimated in the world or in our small world of community life. When the community fails to value these aspects, it should be aware that the effects are somewhat like those of a credit card. These items will be paid, and the interest rates will add a considerable amount to the debt. That said, most aspects of community life should prepare to have children in or near the workplace. Certainly community centers should include a child care area. Homes built would be wise to consider their future inhabitants instead of only the present ones, especially in terms of safety issues. These safety issues apply both to the children and to the aging members of the community. A simple example would be that of making narrow steep stairs when easy stairs or ramped walkways would make the use of the home more universal.
Office, Organize/Account and WORKLOG pages
Previous to and during living in community, I have held office positions where management, organization and inventory/production accountability were major aspects of my responsibility. Systems design and the development of forms to enhance the efficiency of the flow of information help improve almost any job site. When it is a publishing concern, which is where most of my work was centered, these aspects are truly essential. In the Farm Community Book Publishing Company, the job that I started in when the company was small was being done by 23 people when I left. Balancing the checkbooks and issuing monthly reports such as income/ expense, paying sales tax and doing inventory control were other tasks. I’m willing to do this type of work as a part of a community, not as an employee working for a corporation.
People Skills, Interviewing/ Team Building
The job skills listed under “office” also extended to hiring and training help for all aspects of the work. While in community, often the tasks of organization and inspiration were searching for focus. At worst, I was often appointed for tasks that no one else took on, and at best, I provided a standard for quality and stamina. As nature provided me with abundant physical energy, so time and aging have taught me organization and improved my team building skills. Hopefully, these will all be utilized for the benefit of any future community efforts.
Repairs, Clothing/ Tools/ Equipment
Dry cleaning establishments have sent clothing repairs to me, paid by the specific task. Friends have shipped me their mending from out of town! Free estimates, quick and sturdy work have been the basis for my sewing repair services. Some specialties are replacement of zippers in jackets, blue jeans, and motorcycle leathers and bags. Tools and equipment repairs have mostly been random items such as tractor seats, RV window cover replacements, tool belt repairs, knife sheaths, arrow quivers, belts, harness, saddle and blanket repairs for horses or other stock, etc.
Rug Making
Rug making, done by crocheting with a very large hook, has produced some very practical and beautiful rugs. These rugs are made of heavy polyester fabrics, sometimes used polyester suits, and this gives an excellent product from recycled material. Some rugs made in 1976 – 1979 retain their original color, appearance and use over twenty-five years later. Heavy shears, a large crochet hook and time are all that is needed.
Sewing, Clothing/ Commercial
Using the industrial serger, a tee shirt can be constructed in less than ten minutes. A hemp clothing/ items business could be developed for local or mail order distribution. All clothing with the exception of blue jeans and denim jackets can be made with the machines I have. Quilts, pillows, blankets and upholstery, curtains, potholders and aprons, seat covers, tablecloths, wall hangings… this list could fill up pages with items that are useful in any community. Cleverly done specific items can be made for sale in the area, creating a cottage industry. An additional aspect is the commercial side: making a shop to take in sewing work for cash. Even though there is much export of jobs in this industry, the south is still the center of fabric production in the USA and some clothing manufacturers take pride in manufacturing in this country. Especially with the hemp clothing business, work of this kind could be found by use of the Internet.
Sewing, Tents/ Tarps/ Awnings
An excellent method for getting a roof over the head of each member of a community is using Army tents. Whole ones sized 16×32 and designed to stand with a floor can be opened up to make a 32×24 peak roof over loosely framed walls. Partial tents or any type of siding can be used for the walls, and held in place with slab from a sawmill. This housing can be laid out to have four bedrooms and a large open common space. Army tents come with a stovepipe hole in each end, near the peak. Even small pieces of canvas can be used to add a “mud room” to store damp jackets, boots and keep firewood dry. Tents are not buildings, no permits required. However, one cannot install plumbing and kitchens, but fabric building works great with a community kitchen and bathhouse. White polyester is much more expensive but lasts longer than Army tents.
Tools: The CONSEW Industrial can hem, join or create any type of canvas item, including yurts and tepees. Adding Barge Cement to some seams makes them hold better.
Inserting rope in the edges makes joining much stronger than “grommet” work.
Staging land / building development
Failing to have solid agreements about beginning a building or a community can have some unintended consequences. Example: Someone parks a large vehicle near the site of the “soon to be” community center. Then someone else shows up with a load of large beams….well, got to unload them now, so the beams go in the flat land “over there” which turns out to be the site of the Spring garden. The community center gets moved to second place behind the more needed community bathhouse and laundry center, and it’s years before the best garden spot gets uncovered again. Often times the strong voices prevail, and yes we need those with the drive to do, but an overview from a “non resident” can be helpful in preventing “energy knots”. Once the majority are on the same page, it’s easier. Even if your community is starting with “owners” or “leaders” or a core group” it can benefit from an independent consultation.
Tanning & Hide Uses
A child 1 – 18 yrs. may grow through dozens of lightweight nylon or polyester blend jackets and vests, and often these are stained or ripped and are not reused, so end up as landfill. Rabbit fur jackets will last through several children, and later can be patched onto felt to make bedroom rugs. When finally worn out, either the dogs will eat them or they will biodegrade while serving the purpose of protecting fruit trees. Line the hole with the fur turned out. Moles and gophers do not like to chew through fur of any kind.
There are dozens of uses for large pieces of leather, especially covering couches or any communal furniture. Leather can be wiped clean and does not harbor dirt, parasites or germs, unlike fabric. Simple leather aprons protect the main part of the body when doing woodwork or using any kind of wood treatment chemicals, unlike fabric, leather does not absorb fluids if conditioned properly, and it allows the skin to breathe and cool, which rubber and plastic aprons do not.
Teaching
As eldest of eight children, I got started early in teaching others important life skills and creative crafts. As an adult, I have hired and trained crews for office work, taught sewing, leather work, hide tanning, drum and rattle making, canning and freezing and numerous other homemaking skills, rug making, care and training of a variety of animals, and an established set of seven classes in seed beadwork.
Writing, Professional
When there is a large group beginning together in a community, a personnel department is not a bad idea. Often those who practice a profession know so much about it that they cannot see how to present the information to others. An interviewer with a comprehensive form sheet can get lots of information and a good technical writer can explain the current condition, needs and potential production of each area/workplace or industry of the corporation or community, and compile quarterly or semi-annual reports. This keeps the community connected and its outside supporters in good touch with each other. Writing, which can be done without emotional content, can also assist with internal communication as well, giving a logical progression without the interpersonal challenges that happens from social /emotional feelings.
Writing, Children’s Books PLEASE MOTHERS and ARTISTS submit drawings of food and food PLANTS and recipes that children love!
As of this writing, I have six children’s books to develop and one of this group is the first in a series of books giving a story setting with an explanation of an aspect of nutrition. After the story, recipes and nutritional information are presented to help the parent give the child the food in a more appealing style. I hope to e-publish all of these books in both English and Spanish, with an audio format so that the story can be “read” to the child even if parents don’t have hands free. In California, over 50% in grade school are native Spanish speakers. Digital translations and the MANY Facebook Permaculture sites will help communicate, especially because translations could be made into other languages.
The importance of both nutrition and reading to children cannot be overestimated. Early Childhood Development stresses that the information processing channels of the brain do not develop without repeated stimulation and well-balanced nutrition. The truth is that humans are born with potential, but it must be developed. This needs to be communicated, taught in our communities and accurately portrayed to as wide an audience as possible. This entire website is my current presentation of HOW any group can get together and DO THAT!!
XYZ = Want something made or done? send yr contacts so we can connect
No part of this Life Skills Resume may be reproduced for private or commercial use without specific permission in writing from the author. Any individual may use LIFESKILLS RESUME if the title and copyright info below are kept on the document
© 2002 – 2015 ongoing
Stella Jane