useful skills

[Nuggetsowner:)]

What a great thread.

I think I have pretty good skills to survive.
I can hunt most animal and fish.
I can skin/clean what I have caught as well as cook it. I can garden and grow many foods as well as herbs and that kind of thing. I am a Master Gardener and DH and I own a landscaping company so I can identify many wild plants as well, so I know what is usefull and what to stay away from. At least enough to do basic medicinal stuff.
My DH and I built our own house and are working on a cabin so building/carpentry skill are pretty good. I know how to sew and I love to knit, so I think I could make and fix about all we would need.

I wish I knew more about machines and how they work so I could repair or convert some things if power were to ever be an issue.
I need to learn more about dairy goats or maybe even cows. I would need a way to get milk of some sort.
I am sure there are many more things I need to learn but can't think its getting too late!

 

[makerofstuff]

I think it depends on the emergency. If it is something short term (storm, power outage, perhaps public trauma, tornado) I have great organizational skills for smaller areas. I can make a triage area, and screen. In really bad blizzard I am set up to do some close in intervention, there are enough of us here to dig in shifts to check neighbors and get them here if it is warm here. If I don't have it I know that there is enough of those skills here I am going to be able to claim it as mine LOL.
I have sign ups in progress with the local emergency preparedness group. I will probably take my first courses in March. That really helped me feel less anxious about my skill level.
In a long term emergency I have skills to make everything from clothing to cookware. I lived without ammenities for many years, by choice in Ren Fairs, and learned many many skills that I hope to never need. Slaughter is something I can not make myself do. I would have to bartered with someone that needs something I can do. I can shoot, but anything more than a 22 causes me pain. I can garden and dye fiber or fabric from it. I even know how to make some salves potions and teas that I am happy with.
In a very long term collapse kind of road warrior sort of thing... I think I would be very useful. I have midwifed and think that I would be ok. Even though I feel it would be a very traumatic kind of situation.

 

[me&thegals]

Glad this one is revived

1. Gardening
2. Food preservation
3. Cooking

Less useful but still existent: Basket weaving, rudimentary sewing, and first-class ability to find information online!

How about an ability to care for my health in order to have nearly endless energy and health? That counts, right? (running to go knock on wood)

 

[keljonma]

I'm with Pat on this one ...

COULD USE: knowledge (I have none) of how to repair/alter small electric motors; knowledge of how to make/modify small electric generating systems (again, I lack Clue One)

My dad tried to teach me this about 100 years ago, but I wasn't interested, so didn't catch on at all... :/ I'd love to be able to do this kind of stuff, especially converting to wind or solar power. It is next on my life list of To Do and Learn..

We are trying to live a more vegetarian lifestyle, so pretty good at gardening. We have been studying wild plants and their usage for years, and are pretty good at foraging.

I wouldn't necessarily want to have to kill and butcher an animal, but I can fish, clean and cook fish. Been cooking from scratch forever, and I can make a simple meal out of most anything. Can cook over fire.

We are healthy, and with the exception of a broken arm and a case of the flu, we haven't had issues in 9 years. I thank God for our genetics, but our lifestyle helps.

We aren't afraid to work or get dirty. We've lived small in the past and could do it again if necessary.

 

[Wifezilla]

Skills I have...
Fishing
Hunting (gun or bow)
Cooking
Gardening
Basic construction skills
Raising ducks (got my first egg yesterday. Woohoo!)
Sewing
Loom Knitting

Skills I want...
Windmill Construction (the electrical part)
Snaring and trapping

 

[freemotion]

Oooh, these lists could be so much longer than 5 items, but here goes:

Current skills: I think I could sew just about anything needed, maybe not the most fashionable, but in an emergency, it would work! I can cook just about anything. I am good with the critters. I can cook on a fire. I remain calm and cool in an emergency, even if I am shaking on the inside.

Skills to develop: To be able to kill and clean a live critter. To be able to identify and use more wild foods from my area. To have better building skills. To be able to build a fire without matches or a stash of nice, seasoned wood. To be able to collect clean water in an emergency.

OK, I am thinking major disaster with this list, not just economic crisis. That would be a different list, especially the second list. So here is that one:

To be more proficient and skilled at gardening. Learn to dry more foods and cook with dried foods. Learn to support my animals' food needs without any purchased foods. And the kill and clean skill. And the wild foods skill.

 

[Beekissed]

To be better prepared?

I think my list would have to be:

1. Carding, spinning, weaving, knitting with wool.

2. Wildcrafting~I need to know more about edible herbs, berries and roots and which to use for medicinal purposes.

3. How to propagate(sp) vines and graft trees.

4. How to weave canes/twigs/straw for baskets, chairs, hats, fences.

5. How to tan and dress hides, as well as working them into useful items.

 

[curly_kate]

Interesting topic & something I've been thinking about a lot lately!

What I have:
-gardening
-raising chickens
-canning food
-cooking from scratch
-sewing (at least at a rudimentary level)
-basic fix-it skills (Thank you, Dad!)

What I need:
-using herbs for medicine
-improving my canning skills
-processing chickens
-hunting

 

[FarmerChick]

learn to vet your animals

I am not sure if this one is mentioned. So much can be done by your own hand to save your animals. In hard times we can't let them get sick cause we sure will depend on owning them.

Learn about the animals you are raising. Learn to vet, properly care for and make them thrive.

just throwing that one out.

 

[Beekissed]

learn to vet your animals

I am not sure if this one is mentioned. So much can be done by your own hand to save your animals. In hard times we can't let them get sick cause we sure will depend on owning them.

Learn about the animals you are raising. Learn to vet, properly care for and make them thrive.

just throwing that one out.

What a coinwinkydink, FC! I just posted a thread about this and was asking for your help! And I hadn't even read this post, so it was fate! Great minds think alike.....