Learn a new skill every week

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

OK, a little late as a New Year's resolution but...

For anyone wanting to become more self-reliant – notice that I rarely use the word self-sufficient, as true self-sufficiency just is not possible – skills are what count and not a huge amount of supplies, even not in the event of an Apocalypse and such. It is skills that will see you through when everything else fails and has failed. And, for goodness sake, don't believe the idiots trying to sell you silver and gold coins as something that will get you buy in such events. Then again it is not – just – for those events you should learn skills and perfect your skills.

If you would try to learn one new skill per week then that would make fifty-two per year and even if it is not one every week but one every fortnight or even if only one a month, but then thoroughly. Skills – and knowledge – are what is going to get you and yours through a crisis or simply making your life better where you are by being able to do things that otherwise you may have to pay for.

It is true that you can and will unlike become a master every skill that you may need but at least you can become a master in a couple and proficient in a fair number more.

One of the most important skills, and so many no longer seem to be capable of it, is cooking from scratch. I know to many reader that would be obvious but for some people simply boiling an egg seems rocket science nowadays let alone cooking anything else that isn't just ready to go into the microwave. Some cookery programs not so long ago actually stated with teaching people how to – no, not a joke – boil water, followed then by how to boil an egg. When people need to be taught how to boil a saucepan with water then the world definitely has lost the plot and relearning of skill definitely is called for.

Another important skill, if I may call it that way, is, in my opinion, making do and mending, and just simply making do with what one has, and making things one may need from scratch and scrap. Into that category should also fall reusing, repurposing and upcycling of waste materials, such as glass jars, tin cans, plastic bottles, etc. While some of it should come natural, with some imagination, it would appear that many today, however, need instructions for anything in that department, though.

Obviously, there are many skills that you may want to have and learn but starting easy is the best option and the skills themselves are legion so listing all of them would fill a book, without even going into detail.

Woodworking on a number of levels, from making simple items, over carving spoons and other treen, to making furniture if a valuable skill set to have but it is not learned over night.

Textile crafts: Now this encompasses anything really from mending clothes up to and including of making your own clothes and even your own cloth. It also includes crochet and knitting.

Metal working: This could be anything from sheet metal working – a great way of converting tin cans into something new – to full blacksmithing and anything and everything in between.

Leather working: This is another one of those skills that you may, more or less, definitely want to learn as the making of leather items are not only useful for you as useful things but those items can also become an income. In the main it is akin to sewing only with a difference but if you can sew running stitch then you can also work in leather. Theoretically the stitch is a different one but, personally, I just use the running stitch, then reversed, and the process repeated.

This list could go on ad infinitum (almost) as there are so many skills that would and could be worth learning and learning to do them is one thing, mastering them an entirely different story, though. So, let's go and try to learn as many skills as possible and then go onto trying to master them as far as possible.

© 2018

Pioneer skills you may need

Pioneer skills you may need and and why you may want to learn them

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Often referred to “pioneer skills” as, in the US, they are associated with the pioneers that “opened” the West those skills were also common almost everywhere in the Old World in those days, especially in the countryside.

Those skills will not only come in handy when the chips are down and things have failed, they already can make you and yours more independent from the system now. Also, you don't want to be looking for the manuals for those skills after the event and then slowly learn them. Nay, you want to learn them now and become proficient in them.

Here are some of the skills that were very much everyday to the pioneers and to our forefather and -mothers that you may want to learn.

Most of those are skills that will be useful even now, while some may be more necessary in a grid down type situation.

Gardening: Growing your own vegetables and fruits, knowing soil conditions, how to get water to your plants, extending your harvest season, and common garden pests will be vital to having a continuous food supply.

Saving seed: The other end of gardening is being able to plant again next year. Saving seed can be kind of intimidating and mysterious, especially for plants like carrots that don’t go to seed in their first growing season. Start with non-hybrid seeds and a reference book and practice saving some kind of seed from your next garden. This is definitely a learned skill, but could be vital to a continued food supply. The easiest seeds to start with are beans, peas, as it is also the seeds that you eat and store, dried, for use during winter.

Blacksmithing: Being able to make something useful like a horseshoe, tool, a knife or cooking utensil from scrap metal could come in very handy. This is a skill people will happily barter for. Blacksmith work does require a good deal of practice and some “special” equipment, but it’s a skill worth learning.

In all honesty, at least for the learning process, there is not all that much required as far as “special” equipment goes. You can use a short section of railroad line or the head of an old sledgehammer for an anvil and a couple of hammers of different weights. Learn cold forging first before you start with the hot stuff.

Making a fire: Before you can cook on a fire, whether open or in a wood cook stove, you will have to know how to make a fire first and for both open fire and a fire in a wood cook stove the methods of setting up the tinder, kindling, etc., are very much the same. Try some methods without using matches for an extra challenge because matches and/or lighters may be in very short supply.

Cooking over an open fire: You may have other methods to cook your food available, like a solar oven or barbecue grill, but an open fire is the most primitive and one of the most common means of cooking in a grid down emergency.

Knowing and preparing wild edibles: Learn which wild plants in your area are safe to eat and what parts of them are edible. A little foraging can add variety to your diet or even sustain life if there’s nothing else to eat. You can also grow such wild edibles and edible weeds in your garden. Nutritious weeds grow often where nothing else will grow and thus you need less time to look after them.

I purposely grow dandelion, sorrel and lambs quarter (aka fat hen) in my garden and am looking to introduce some more too. And I am also aiming to do the same with healing herbs.

Herbal remedies: If the doctor’s not around, knowing which herbs to use and how to use them to treat common ailments like cough, fever, headache, etc. can be a great blessing to your family or others around that may need the help.

Grow you own drugs, which is also a book by the same title, is better than having to hunt for the appropriate herb when the need arises.

Sewing: Patching, fixing tears, altering hems and waistbands, or creating an entire new piece of clothing or bedding could help you stay warm and keep you from running around half naked or even naked altogether. The kids might enjoy that but...

In addition to that it may be a good idea to learn to shooting your dinner and shooting to protect yourself. Learn how to dress that game that you have shot or trapped. Learn to ride a horse and drive a buggy and wagon. The building a home or shelter, or a fence, or something else is also one of those skills to learn and it will come in handy in so many way.

Besides their obvious uses to yourself and your family, most of these skills can be used to barter with as well. So while you’re acquiring your preparedness gear, remember to add some skills to your inventory also.

To the above list we also must add skills of working in wood and to fashion tools and weapons from green wood and from seasoned wood. Preparing wood for use as building materials and for the making of furniture.

In the aftermath of a breakdown of the way of life as we know it there will be a lot more “raw materials” about than there was in the days of the old pioneers and homesteaders, and the folks in the countryside in Europe.

This “raw material” comes in the form of scrap and waste and we can make use of it now already and we should. Reusing is a must because the Planet cannot be recycled.

Our parents and grandparents and their parents, and not just the pioneers and those in the countryside, were masters in reuse and upcycling but today we have been brainwashed into tossing those things that could be reused into the recycling bin and then going to the stores to buy the very things that we could have reused this or that item of waste for.

We need to change our ways to be able to survive the future...

© 2012