Is there value in learning how to make your own bread, keep backyard chickens, or brew your own beer?
Ami Dehne believes the answer is a resounding yes, and her reasons run deeper than simply learning new skills.
Dehne, a Guelph resident, founded Minga Skill Building Hub in 2011 and has been empowering members of the Guelph community to take the leap and try something new.
Minga Skill Building Hub operates hands-on workshops that cater to a variety of interests — from permaculture to butchery. The purpose of the workshops is to offer new skills and tools to individuals, foster a sense of community and comradery, and empower others to acquire new knowledge and save money.
Dehne first became interested in workshops and re-skilling while living in Calgary during the oil boom.
At the time, she was working for Green Calgary, an urban environmental non-profit, providing in-home consultations to individuals and families. While there, Dehne launched a program that offered workshops on environmental living, where she soon realized the value in imparting knowledge and education on applicable and actionable skills.
Looking for a change, Dehne and her husband, Patrick, decided to leave their jobs and travel through New Zealand for a year. They saw that time as an opportunity to gain hands-on experience to take back with them to Canada. The couple set out to learn as many traditional skills as they could. They spent the year milking goats, making cheese, and installing solar panels. They even built a straw bale house.
Once back in Canada, they decided to locate in Guelph. “We actually decided to move to Guelph when a hitchhiker suggested it,” laughed Dehne. After discussing her plans to start a business that runs re-skilling workshops, the recommendation was that Guelph would be a great progressive city to move to. “I am absolutely so grateful for that conversation,” said Dehne.
When Dehne was discussing possible names for her business with her husband, she settled on “Minga,” a South American term to mean "voluntary communal labour." As Dehne suggests “it’s almost like modern day barn raising.” One of her broad goals in founding the Minga Skill Building Hub was to foster a sense of resiliency within the community.
Resiliency, a common word used in alternative and progressive communities, has a variety of meanings and definitions.
“Resilience, for me, it’s about being able to withstand a disruption in our daily lives, either within myself, or within a community,” said Dehne, explaining that resiliency ties into the concept of learning skills that our grandparents knew, but has fizzled out in modern times. "Two generations ago, we were doing these things . . . I feel empowered that I have the knowledge to do these things,” said Dehne, referring to the many traditional skills she has gained over the years. It is that perseverance and resilience is what keeps her learning and growing.
“I’ve made so many batches of cheese that have turned into mouldy, stinky blue cheese, but I feel confident enough to keep trying,” said Dehne.
She hopes to infuse others with that confidence through her workshops, and provide a network where a helping hand in always available. That sense of community and strong bonds is needed for a strong network to thrive, whether it’s help with learning a new skill, trading backyard chicken eggs for canned pickles, or even support after having a new baby. “The workshop is a catalyst to be supported by the community on a deeper and more emotional level,” she explained.
Dehne believes that the Western world is moving away from these traditional values and close-knit communities and that it requires a paradigm shift to find the true joy and happiness fostered in a thriving community.
As a new mother herself, Dehne has appreciated the community she has formed within the city of Guelph. “Owning a business and having a child has been very challenging, but I’ve come back to knowing that I don’t have to do it by myself,” she said. Rather than struggle in isolation, like many new mothers, Dehne is reaching out to her community for support, and continuing to find connection in the work that she does through her thriving business.
Dehne have also partnered with a variety of groups and organizations in Guelph, knowing that a strong sense of community is valuable to keep a thriving business too. She works closely with Transition Guelph, where she helps to organize the Resilience Festival, along with the Local Food Festival with Taste Real, and the Harvest Home Festival with Guelph Wellington Museum and Archives.
“There needs to be a lot of external support and partnerships,” said Dehne, on having a thriving business that is also able to give back to the community.
If you’d like to learn more about Minga Skill Building Hub, please visit their website.
Upcoming Workshops:
Build a Community Wood Fired Cob Oven: August 28 @ Time TBA
Modern Macramé Wall Hanging: September 10 @ Noon – 3 p.m.
Foraging for Wild Mushrooms: September 17 @ 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
