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

[MorelCabin]

Not sure where I fit on the self sufficiency scale really, I just tend to play alot.

I can knit, crochet, and quilt, and I am a decorative painter...one stroke is my favorate, fast easy and beautiful!

I can build small structures, use all power tools, do woodworking and some finishing carpentry. I can lay ceramic tile, hardwood, and carpet. I can do small electrical jobs and plumbing.

I have a chicken coop and a large garden. I can preserve by canning, but have never tried pressure canning. I can cull my birds, and put them in the freezer but I don't like too, not because of the killing, but more because of the work involved afterward:>) I'd rather go out and get the partridges that hit my windows or the dog brings back and just pull on the feet to get the breasts LOL! Much easier meat.

I can drive a tractor but haven't in a long while
I can drive pretty much anything with a motor that stays on the ground or water for that matter:>)

I can bake bread
I can make candles
I can start fires without smoking up the whole house LOL! (can you tell we've been teaching our son how this winter)

There's more, I just can't think of it right now:>)

 

[freemotion]

Sounds pretty ss to me! And Cyber and Henny....now that you've told us, you gotta do it! That's the rule!

 

[Mackay]

I am learning a lot about how to create a little farm out of a dry boned patch of land.

Since we are not living there yet I am mostly learning to be patient!

But I have been getting ready...
and learning about mulch gardening
canning, I've done a few experiments already
how to store food
how to pickle garlic
how to build a pond and irrigate a pasture
how to ride an ATV,
making my own laundry soap,
making earrings and necklaces


I plan of learning
about local plants
herbs and growing them
starting plants from seed
for growing in a zone 5
solar features to a house and green house
doing tile in a bathroom and kitchen
learning how to tape and texture
learning how to honor and celebrate the solstices per DH request
learning to find star constellations
learning about raising ducks
and cattle and maybe a horse or two.

I should be hitting on most of this in the coming 1 to 2 years.

I already have mastered sewing and fair at quilting... my problem is I have no one that wants homemade clothing!...and we already got more quilts than we need....what I really need are grandkids but the first son that steps out of line in that direction gets smacked!
Gotta finish school first..!.... serious girlfriends are only tolerated at this point... they will be welcome after these guys learn how to make a living...so as you can see, I'm still trying to figure out the mothering thing

 

[freemotion]

Got another one! I waterbath canned some jam last night. I am backwards....I pressure canned, but never waterbath canned. I was actually a little intimidated at first! Imagine that, how silly. So I want to encourage all of you out there who haven't canned yet, it is EASY, and you don't need special equipment. I don't even have the right stuff, I just used a stock pot and put a steamer insert in it. I practiced loading jars on it first, to see how to position them so it wouldn't tip over. It worked great. I used six half pint jars, in my practice run, I could fit eight on the steamer without a problem. The steamer fit on the bottom of the pan with the petals fully flat and right up to the sides of the pot.

I made raspberry/pomegranate jam with stevia. All the jars sealed and the jam jelled! Woo-hoo!

1. I learned to milk!!
2. Made yogurt
3. Made ricotta cheese
4. Made mozzarella cheese
5. Made "Fabulous All Natural Face Cream"
6. Made laundry soap
7. Made goat's milk soap
8. Made the best ever deodorant
9. Dried nettles and raspberry shoots for tea
10. Made cheddar, cheddar, and more cheddar and waxed it, and built a mouse-proof crate to age it in, in the cellar
11. Made hydrosol (distilled flower water....lilacs don't work, but I know how to do it now, the process worked great)
12. Made a cheese press
13. Made jam and waterbath canned it

 

[MorelCabin]

Oh Free, I'd love to know more about the all natural face cream!

 

[freemotion]

Here is the link for the recipe: http://www.womens-menopause-health.com/ d_body.htm This is also where I got the wonderful deodorant recipe, it uses the face cream as a base. It is a hit, both with me and those that I've given it too......a word of warning, though, remember how deodorant would sting freshly shaved pits??? Yowsa! So I use a thin layer of the face cream, then apply the deodorant if I just shaved.

 

[Beekissed]

Washed my first cow today....is that a skill?

Also am now full into rotational grazing and am finding this relatively easy on a small scale. It remains to be seen how well it all goes when grass slows down or in the winter months.

Its pretty amazing to see the grass so well mowed without any effort from me besides moving a few push in stakes and a water tub. It amuses me to think of the grass now being turned into milk and a baby beef.

The chickens are simply loving the piles of manure to sift through and pick out of.....YUM! More nutrition supplied by the grass...in a roundabout way.

 

[freemotion]

Washed my first cow today....is that a skill?

Yes, it is definitely a ss skill! If you do it yourself, you don't have to hire the cow groomer to come in and do it for you, as some elite cow owners are known to do.....

 

[Beekissed]

You slay me, free!!!

 

[valmom]

What a good thread- I can't believe I have missed it! I have such a wish list of things to do, but almost no time to do them.:/

I already knit, crochet, spin, weave and quilt. Don't like making clothes, though.

I learned to make jams and pickles last year- and it worked! I want to learn to pressure can veggies and sauces and things this year- but I'm also afraid of the pressure cooker. I did make yogurt this morning for taking to work for breakfast. I want to try making cheese. I'd really love to have a cow or a goat for milk, but that one just is too time consuming, I think. I want to find a local raw milk farm and get on their list when I learn to make cheese.

I started making my own laundry soap this spring- we love the smell of it. I wish I had the nerve to try to make my own real soap, though. It sounds intimidating.

I added onions, garlic and eggplant to my garden this year that I've never tried before. I am going to learn to "put food by" more by drying and canning, and possibly freezing this year. I am going to keep all my kale this year- I really wanted kale soup this winter, but I hadn't saved any

I make my own firestarters from lint and ends of candle wax. I did teach my BIL this one- he was all impressed.

So many things to learn, so little time.