The Self-Sufficient Skills thread (new name, old thread!)

[Puck-Puck]

Over the next year, I mean to:

build a permanent, solid greenhouse
raise meat chickens
build a coop for said meat chickens
expand the garden
fence in the rest of the yard
actually install the furnace ducts which are just lying there

I can already:

make jams, pickles, and salsas
make wine
make bread
quilt
make rectangular-construction things from fabric
build furniture
construct frame buildings
make most household repairs
design things for effectiveness and efficiency
raise plants from seed
garden more or less successfully in an awkward climate
identify wild plants and mushrooms for table use

Okay, now I'm feeling better about myself!

I am learning chicken-keeping;
I would like to learn rabbit-keeping, basketry, soap making, spinning (only have dog hair available right now).

All these lists are only partial. But hey! They're works in progress, too!

 

[big brown horse]

Wow!

I really, really want to learn how to raise and butcher meat chickens, but I'm scared!

 

[Ldychef2k]

Well, I live in town, on one of the busiest streets, on a corner with a stop light in my yard. So, I am not much of a farmer and am limited in what I can do with my house because of zoning laws.

I am VERY new to this way of life, but have had it in my heart since my hippie days in the 1970's. I have done a lot of camping over the years, and somehow I feel that the transition from rat race to self sufficiency ought to be easier because of that ! What a laugh that turned out to be.

There are a few things I have learned well enough to teach others.

1. I have made jam off and on over the years, but this year I really learned how to do it right. I have more than 85 half pints to show for it !

2. I learned how to water bath can and how to pressure can, and I want to teach my niece and my daughter how to do it. But they have to buy their own canner. All canned items combined, I have so far 162, including chicken, stew, pickles, soups, salsa, and of course jam.

3. I have been a dehydrating fool ! Never tried it before. Got a table top model AND a HUGE wooden one with eight trays. Nothing is safe ! Unfortunately, I burned out the heater and fan on the big one, so I have to repair it. My daughter ended up getting a table top one and my niece uses her oven, but we are all dehydrating and vacuum sealing foods.

4. Not sure I am a good enough gardener yet to teach anybody else. This is my first try. We had 300 tomatoes, dozens of peppers and herbs. I have started pumpkins and butternut squash which are doing well as I get the land prepped.

5. By far the best thing I have learned, and in fact have already taught classes on, is alternative cooking sources. I built a Rocket Stove and actually use it for cooking. I taught some Boy Scouts how to do it as well! That was payback, because they taught me how to bake in a cardboad box oven.

I also have made and use, and taught others to make and use a solar oven made from a reflective windshield shade.

6. I also have made and actually sold lavendar scented rice therapy bags (microwave or freezer) for relief from aching muscles. My daughter, after she lost 125 pounds, trained with Team in Training to run a marathon, and we had to raise money for her entry fee of $2000 to benefit the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society.

I apologize that I am so wordy. I have always been like this... My ex husband used to tell me that he just asked me what time it was, he didn't want to know how to make a watch.

 

[big brown horse]

Well I want to learn how to make a rocket stove and a solar powered oven! That looks so cool!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[jambunny]

I am always wordy. You find out more that way. I am so hoping my canning goes as good as yours.

 

[Ldychef2k]

It is totally awesome! The rocket stove was invented as a fuel efficient fast way for women in underdeveloped countries to cook. They were using bigger fires, more wood, and when they were scavenging for wood they were being kidnapped, raped and murdered. A rocket stove can boil a gallon of water in 15 minutes and uses just a handfull of tiny sticks to get started, and sticks the size of your thumb for fuel. I used half of two sticks to boil two cups of water and cook noodles for dinner. You have to monitor it the whole time, keep pushing the sticks in as they burn, because it burns hot and fast.

The solar cooker simply rocks. No other way to describe it !

Thanks... !

Well I want to learn how to make a rocket stove and a solar powered oven! That looks so cool!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[valmom]

OK, so tell me more about this rocket stove?? Can I make one to boil maple sap for next spring? (I am finding that even used evaporators are way expensive. I did my first trial batch of syrup on the stove this past year, but no one can argue that that was sustainable. My syrup probably cost a fortune in electric bills for running the stove that long

 

[Ldychef2k]

OK, so tell me more about this rocket stove?? Can I make one to boil maple sap for next spring? (I am finding that even used evaporators are way expensive. I did my first trial batch of syrup on the stove this past year, but no one can argue that that was sustainable. My syrup probably cost a fortune in electric bills for running the stove that long

I am not sure. The only ones I have seen are on a small scale, for one meal at a time. I will check and get back to you.

 

[freemotion]

Hey, please start a new thread on rocket stoves and how to make them....please-please-please??? I want to learn, too, and we want others to be able to find the information later. I have bricks!!!! I have sticks!!! My neighbors already know I'm a wingnut!!!

 

[Farmfresh]

Wow!

I really, really want to learn how to raise and butcher meat chickens, but I'm scared!

Never fear Brown Horse! I will be happy to help you!

All you need is a stock tank, a heat lamp, a thermometer, feeder, waterer, growing pen with shelter, 25 BIG stupid stinky Cornish-Rock chicks with little personality (so you don't mind killing them as much) and 8 - 9 weeks. The rest is easy!


A thread on the Rocket Stove would definitely be cool!