[UPDATED, 11/27] Black Friday, long considered a bellwether for the state of the consumer economy, is here again. (It was a truly Black — and deadly — last year at a Wal-Mart on Long Island.) In 2007, I wrote about the “Buy Nothing Day” advertising campaign, which may have the most value simply in reminding us how much we’re pummeled by advertising (something like $660 billion a year) and as a suggestion that another approach is warranted.

Worldchanging.com has a post up exploring the merits of buying local instead of buying nothing, something we touched on here in the context of farmers markets. Buying local builds community and has potential environmental benefits. I thank the fates we still have a local hardware store — one left — amid all the big boxes. There’s also the buying (or exchanging) movement for used stuff (remember those Buddhist Dumpster divers?).

I’m proposing another option: What about Making Something Day? When possible, I like to try to make or fix things. Of course, this is only marginally, and sporadically, doable in a world where work, family, bills and daily crises consume most of us. But sometimes this approach can produce a useful object (or food) while also building relationships, saving money and knitting a community. Hey, if the economy truly collapses, knowing how to fix things or make your own could come in very handy, so why not polish that skill set?

The toys I’ve made with my sons by scavenging driftwood on the riverbank and retreating to the wood shop, while not their favorites, have clearly introduced them to the idea that something can come from nothing, that using your own hands has value beyond the end product.

I’m about to start making a dining table from some marvelous old-growth hickory boards my neighbor Sandy Saunders gleaned from a fallen tree many years ago and has stored in a barn. Mind you, I don’t do millwork, so I’m compromising. I bought a set of table legs and apron parts from a place I found online (in Vermont) that just sells table legs. The Web is a marvel. I’ll do a video as that comes together (and this public proclamation will help keep it on a front burner :-). [UPDATE, 11/17/09: Well, this project still does linger in the basement! I’m trying.]



What have you made or fixed that provides at least a hint of self-sufficiency, thrift or environmental integrity?

There are books out there that can help you do it yourself, and a documentary (and book) called “Handmade Nation,” chronicling the world of hand craft. Has anyone seen it?