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Hunting? (I could easily go without meat if there were plenty of veggies)
Cooking from scratch? Cooking without being able to buy items like baking soda/powder and other inexpensive everyday items?
Making yeast without starter?
Is your current house adaptable to going without electricity, gas, municipal water, and sewer?
Can you make your own clothing?
Are you good at recycling/reusing?
Alternative medicine when no health care provider is available?
Do you have old fashion tools and kitchen items that don't require an external power source? (Hand egg beater/mixer, wood working tools, etc.)
If there was a serious disruption in our current way of living, would you have the skills to adapt? What other skills do you have that would come in handy if you had no access to our modern conveniences?
Another thread got me thinking. I can't do all the above things (and probably many more that I couldn't think of off the top of my head). I'd like to be able to, though.
Another thread got me thinking. I can't do all the above things (and probably many more that I couldn't think of off the top of my head). I'd like to be able to, though.
What disruptions are you referring to? How can we go back to living in an older way?
-Isolation, stuck in a town, no electricity? (Jericho)
-Zombie apocalypse (Walking Dead)
-The whole world has no electricity (Revolution)
(in reference to TV Shows)
Are people being killed off?
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Growing your own food? I have never lived on a farm or grown my own food. I've tried planting recently, but I don't think I'm good at this.
Preserving your food? I don't know how to currently, without a fridge.
Making lye? Don't know what that is
Making soap? I don't know how to currently.
Hunting? (I could easily go without meat if there were plenty of veggies) I have not hunted before and am contemplating learning gun usage soon. I don't doubt that I can learn how to hunt if I needed to. I too, can go without hunted meat mostly, if there were fruits and vegetables around. Maybe I can raise a chicken and eat the eggs and raise a cow and drink her milk.
Cooking from scratch? Cooking without being able to buy items like baking soda/powder and other inexpensive everyday items? Probably not.
Making yeast without starter? I don't know how to currently
Is your current house adaptable to going without electricity, gas, municipal water, and sewer? No. I do not currently have a house. I do not have gas. I have electricity. I use the city's water and sewer.
Can you make your own clothing? I have some of the same clothes that I had 10 years ago, and have had some new ones purchased recently. I don't really see this as a problem, unless I have a baby and no way to buy clothes.
Are you good at recycling/reusing? I am innovative in my way of reusing certain things, (i.e. using old clothes for cleaning cloths or floor cloths, using old milk/juice containers for storing stuff, making cat toys out of random stuff around the house, old cups/jars for planting. I'm sure I can find use for things that may be now useless if say no electricity happens, such as old stereos/tvs/gaming systems)
Alternative medicine when no health care provider is available? Haven't needed much medicine myself, but my GF might. To answer, no. I have no clue.
Do you have old fashion tools and kitchen items that don't require an external power source? (Hand egg beater/mixer, wood working tools, etc.) Never used an electric egg beater for eggs or pancakes. Always a spoon. The appliances I have now are a stove, obviously, microwave, rice cooker, toaster, and blender. Given I still have pots, I can cook over a fire replacing those things above, and I guess I can blend juices without a blender, if I really needed to blend juices.
If there was a serious disruption in our current way of living, would you have the skills to adapt? What other skills do you have that would come in handy if you had no access to our modern conveniences? I know this may sound cliche, but I have strong will. As long as I bind together with family/friends/neighbors, I'm sure that some of the things I can't do, others will be able to.
Growing your own food? I already do, and gather wild edibles as well.
Preserving your food? Dehydrate, smoke and canning, works well and already do.
Making lye? No problem, plus it has several uses including making fuel.
Making soap? Can and have, although I don't normally do it regularly, Lye soap can be a little rough on my girlish complexion
Hunting? (I could easily go without meat if there were plenty of veggies) Avid hunter and trapper, I also raise my own cattle and rabbits, turkeys, chickens, and others in my family also raise hogs and sheep.
Cooking from scratch? Cooking without being able to buy items like baking soda/powder and other inexpensive everyday items? Not a real problem, and the wife and I normally cook from scratch as we raise/gather most of our own food anyway so it isn't processed.
Making yeast without starter? Sourdough is easy to start and works really well for many applications in place of yeast.
Is your current house adaptable to going without electricity, gas, municipal water, and sewer? Yes, but I already have several options for creating power and gas in place. My primary residence is in a small rural town, but a sand spike in the crawl space with a hand pump means I have access to water away from city services. Composting toilet takes care of other issues.
Can you make your own clothing? Yes, and I can tan leather as well.
Are you good at recycling/reusing? I prefer repurposing. I just took a piece of 6 inch concrete pipe I had and converted it into a gas forge.
Alternative medicine when no health care provider is available? I am well aware of medicinal plants in my area and their uses.
Do you have old fashion tools and kitchen items that don't require an external power source? (Hand egg beater/mixer, wood working tools, etc.) Yes, and as a blacksmith I can make anything I need that I don't already have.
If there was a serious disruption in our current way of living, would you have the skills to adapt? What other skills do you have that would come in handy if you had no access to our modern conveniences?
Carpentry, woodworking, steel working (blacksmithing/tinsmithing), first aid, combat medic courses are good if there are no medical emergency help nearby. Animal husbandry and veterinary skills, processing meat, making leather, the list is endless.
Another thread got me thinking. I can't do all the above things (and probably many more that I couldn't think of off the top of my head). I'd like to be able to, though.
Good time to start learning. I was raised on a remote ranch where we lived much as people had for centuries, pretty primitive, so most of what you noted I have been doing all my life.
It's a lot of work, takes a lot of patience, a lot of study, but if you want to learn it can be very gratifying.
You will have to excuse me, I harvested a deer and I need to skin it and process it. I will probably corn some of it, love the way it preserves the meat without refrigeration.
You will have to excuse me, I harvested a deer and I need to skin it and process it. I will probably corn some of it, love the way it preserves the meat without refrigeration.
What-now in the which-who?
If I hit a deer with my truck, does that make me a hunter ??
Growing your own food? Big Garden, Fruit trees (Chokecherry, Pin Cherry, Saskatoon, Crabapple) at the farm. I have just hay land at the moment, though I've run cattle before and could do so again.
Preserving your food? We smoke meat and can vegetables and fruit.
Making lye? I understand the process in theory, though I've never actually made it.
Making soap? As above.
Hunting? (I could easily go without meat if there were plenty of veggies) Fairly proficient hunter. I'm also learning the ropes of trapping. Got started last winter and still have a long way to go, but I've got the basics, and a couple fine looking beaver skins. Next step, deciding whether to sell them, or make myself a fancy hat.
Cooking from scratch? Cooking without being able to buy items like baking soda/powder and other inexpensive everyday items? Meals would get a lot simpler, I think. There are a lot of spices, etc. that I would not have on hand. However, I would get fed, and fed well.
Making yeast without starter? Sourdough bread is fairly simple. I may have to try making a sour mash beer, too, just because.
Is your current house adaptable to going without electricity, gas, municipal water, and sewer? The house in town is not. The house at the farm is on well water. There's a wood stove out there, too, that's as much decoration as anything, but it still functions.
Can you make your own clothing? The Ms. is very good at this sort of thing. I can mend holes, after a fashion...
Are you good at recycling/reusing? Okay, I guess.
Alternative medicine when no health care provider is available? Standard first aid and Remote first aid and a healthy knowledge of the local flora.
Do you have old fashion tools and kitchen items that don't require an external power source? (Hand egg beater/mixer, wood working tools, etc.)
Enough carpentry tools to get by, I think. Probably tools in the shop that could be effective in the kitchen (how's that for recycling/reusing?)
If there was a serious disruption in our current way of living, would you have the skills to adapt? What other skills do you have that would come in handy if you had no access to our modern conveniences?
I think I'd do okay, for the most part. I'd take to some things like a duck to water. Others would be difficult to get used to.
Another thread got me thinking. I can't do all the above things (and probably many more that I couldn't think of off the top of my head). I'd like to be able to, though.
It's not hard to learn a lot of these skills - in many instances there are classes or local people who are willing to teach.
There's a lot to learn, but don't let it overwhelm you. Just pick one solitary thing out of the list and find a teacher. Once you've got the hang of that one, pick something else out of the list.
Even being able to do one solitary thing is better than nothing at all - and maybe you'll get lucky and it'll be one of those skills that somebody else is missing.
Yeah, I plan to learn how to garden this spring. I'm interested in learn how to grow medicinal herbs. I can sew (with a machine)and am learning crochet. I try to repurpose everything. I hope, in a couple of years, to buy a plot of land that has a well and septic. Ideally, I would like to build my next home and build it so if there were a power outage for any length of time, we could be relatively comfortable.
I can cook from scratch. I'd like to make a solar cooker. They look pretty easy to make. Every year the science department at my school has a project where the kids build a solar oven and then bake cookies. It's pretty cool.
I was watching some videos a while back on how to make lye so I could make my own soap from ingredients that would be difficult to get if supplies were cut off. Evidently, I should have it around for making fuel, too. I was going to try to make my own yeast which looks pretty easy. I have a wheat allergy and would like to learn how to make different types of flours. Non wheat breads are hit and miss. The best ones, I've found, uses a combination of flours
I'd really like to become involved with a group that is like-minded. I am moving soon to Idaho and I would think that that would be a good place to find other people like that.
I am so not interested in killing anything. If it were a life or death situation, I suppose I could get over that.
Mainly, I think the best thing I can do is figure out where Mr. and Mrs MTSilvertip live and become their best friend.
Mainly, I think the best thing I can do is figure out where Mr. and Mrs MTSilvertip live and become their best friend.
LOL!!
MtSilvertip and the She-Bear live in Montana, so if you are in Idaho, you would be a neighbor, but I know a couple salty old greybeards that already live in Idaho that have forgotten more than I will ever know
Most of the rural areas in Idaho and Montana have a lot of self sufficient people, finding others that share those skills and are willing to share that knowledge isn't that hard once they figure out you are serious.
Yes to all, except that some of the things I am not doing, but know how to do and can, if it comes down to it. I don't make lye or home made soap, but I know how to. Yes, I can spin and weave and make my own clothing all the way from delivering the newborn lamb and raising the wool from day one. But I don't.
You aren't really outlining prepping, what you are outlining is just good old standard homesteading.
If society disappears, we will have to do without some of the things we mistakenly believe we must have. As for medication, some people will die. There is a serious limit to what can be done with herbs.
The real question for most people is power and water (and to a lesser extent, transportation).
I've lived without running water for three years. An annoyance to be sure, but really no big deal. We're set up for it, though. Sawdust toilets, buckets for hauling, etc.
Electricity at the moment would be extremely problematic. Our current house has a propane furnace with an electric blower. Once we get into the new house, we'll be fine as it has a wood stove.
The rest of it can be picked up along the way once the real basics are covered...
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