Cornucopia

[wy0mn]

My personal belief in preparedness requires a balanced yet broad ranged knowledge & experiennce foundation.

We stockpile foodstuffs, garden, orchard, hunt/fish/trap among many other acts & skills.

Just curious how many others have skills besides simply hiding things bought from the store...

Any blacksmiths? Tanners? Weavers? Potters? Any skill at all, I'm really curious to know.

[Elgama]

my husband is a hunter and fisher, we have a veg patch and come next summer chickens its the only satisfactory way to store eggs lol

We can both build basic shelter from stuff around, i can also build a pottery kiln and a bread oven, My husband can light fires from very little etc

-Charley

[rameumptom]

We live in a small town, where we've raised chickens and rabbits in the past. Previously, when we lived on the outskirts of a city in Alabama, we got our neighbors' okay and raised La Mancha milk goats in our 1/2 acre backyard.

My wife can also spin and weave.

[wy0mn]

Farming is all I knew as a kid, in Alabama as a matter of fact. As a youth we butchered our own stock & game. Dad cured hams, Mom & Granny canned or dried everything imaginable, and made butter from our own milk.

It was too warm for root cellars, although one Grandpa (from CZ) always tried.

I grew a varied orchard when I lived in TN & am attempting the beginnings of one here (WY).

This week I'm relearning how to make jelly & cider vinegar from the last of the crab apples. Next week I'll try to make some tallow candles from sheep tallow I scrounged.

Took Hussy, my wife, on a roadtrip to see a reed bed near a lake the other day. She said she can weave baskets from them if the sap hasn't fallen too far yet.

My pottery skills are crude but functional, & I'm an average farrier.

[dalepres]

I've raised and butchered animals, we've canned foods. I hunted deer in Wyoming that was really more like harvesting than hunting. In 3 years of heavy fishing, I caught one bass. Now I buy my fish in a 6 1/2 oz can. I was a scouter for many years. I used to be good at starting fires and outdoor skills. I hope it all comes back to me when I need it. Oh, and did I mention, I know a lot about electronics and computers. When it comes to other skills that may add value to a communal system, I may be in trouble - but I learn fast.

[breezygirl]

I make my own bacon and hams. I smoke meats, make jerky and can make my own butter and cheese. I also preserve stuff with canning. I can hunt and fish as well as my husband and I can do some tracking. I know how to butcher too.

[dalepres]

Oh, I forgot. I also know how to eat.

[pam]

I know how to shop at the grocery store. I hope I live close to one of you when the time comes. I feel very inferior having none of these skills. I've always been a big city girl.

[havejoy]

I can set bones, stitch cuts and deliver babies. I can also hunt and trap and preserve meat. I garden and can.

[wy0mn]

This group definately isn't as bad off as some are, still, we can do better.

Maybe a new years challenge. As a resolution for 2009, add a valued skill to your personal accomplishments.

I know I'm disgustingly weak in the medical arts. Basic 1st Aid/CPR is better than nothing. My brain isn't too calcified yet to learn more.

Earlier this year I bought a wood cookstove for the cabin. Then I had to teach myself how to use it properly.

I grew up with those things, but a lot is forgotten over time, and the ladies usually crafted our meals. Just planning things so that they all arrived at the table hot was a challenge!

Campfire cooking is simple, you lower the bar, and set your meal quality down to what you & an open fire are capable of. With a wood cookstove you can prepare anything that a regular stove can. But it requires more diligent observation & temperature control. There is no setting the timer and walking away, anything left on the surface as though it were a slow crock... adios.

I have to learn to use a canner on this beast next.

Perhaps I should learn an oft overlooked type of woodworking. Warping & bending. Useful not only for bent wood rocking chairs but snowshoes, sleds, wagon wheels, barrel staves, etc.

[YoungMormonRoyalist]

I can hunt and kill a deer using only my wits, a string of floss, and my bare hands.

[HiJolly]

I can hunt and kill a deer using only my wits, a string of floss, and my bare hands.

...the floss is to see which way the wind is blowing...

HiJolly

[rameumptom]

But what kind of deer? And how long has it been stuffed?

[amightyfortress]

I can cook, clean, sew, garden, crochet, make lace, needlework, candymaking, soapmaking, make natural cleaners and perfumes/lotions/etc, bellydance (hey if bad times come, people will need a good laugh to take their minds off their troubles), shoot a shotgun, rifle, pistol, bows/arrows, good with a knife... and I'm advanced level at maintaining/rotating/using my food storage.

I do cardmaking, too. Hmmm, and quilting. Trying to think of what else.

Oh, I know how to ride motorcycles and can drive a stick-shift :)

Edited October 22, 2008 by amightyfortress

[amightyfortress]

I do cardmaking, too. Hmmm, and quilting. Trying to think of what else.