Old skills/new skills skill re learnt

[PreppingPingu]

Wasn't sure which heading to post this under as it overlaps food, healthcare, bushcraft etc. so posted it here!

How am I prepping? I joined the forum to get ideas and information so I feel better prepared for what ever the future throws at me. Another thing that I am prepping for is to learn new skills or re learn old skills lost in the modern way of life that in a SHtF senario will be useful once more.

What skills are you learning/re learning in order to improve yourself from a prepping angle or improve your general life and well being? Or what skill would you like to learn?

Have learnt/learning: I am teaching myself to knit! Dropping alot of stitches but having a go non the less. I did set a goal of learning archery this year but haven't got round to that one ... I have also been learning to grow veg. This year I completed a paediatric first aid course - ok it was for work, but it is still vital knowledge.

I would like to learn: basic wood work skills and improve my bread making abilities. Basic electonics would be useful so I can rig up solar power but I know nought about that!

[preppingsu]

Have learnt/learning: basic animal husbandry (pig and chicken keeping) - including the pleasures and downfalls (escaping pigs). Continually learning the veg growing, this year more about pest control (blooming slugs )

Would like to learn: basic butchery (to kill my own pigs and chickens), medicinal planting/harvesting/preparing, beekeeping (next year hopefully!)

I'm sure I could add more but then I would just get depressed!!

[TwoDo]

I am learning seed saving - the skill of harvesting seeds from vegetable plants so that they can be planted again the following year. Why?, well did you know that most vegetable seeds sold in the UK are imported? Post economic meltdown, I believe there will be massive demand - everybody will want to plant a garden - and it is possible that the pound will be in such a dire state that we will not be able to afford to import any. In addition, many of the exporting countries may well forbid seed exports in order to ensure that their own internal markets are satisfied. Its not as though shortages haven't happened before. Here is a quote from Back Garden Seed Saving by Sue Stickland

Nevertheless, it became increasingly more economic for seed merchants to buy seeds from abroad. As one contemporary gardening writer put it '... No-one cared where they [the seeds] came from, or how and when they were grown.... Britain paid her way, sailed her ships, and imported her seeds'. Wartime blockades prevented all that, however, and by 1942 seeds were becoming scarce. Increased production at home was imperative.

BTW: Seed saving is not as easy as it seems. Some types of plants (i.e. beans) are pretty straight forward but others are tricky.

[junmist]

Animal husbandry is on going always learning on that one. Need to improve my wood working skills, keep trying to improve my aim so that I can hit what I am aimming for.
Next Year I think Im going to take my farrier up on his offer and learn how to trim and file my ponys feet.Go on a forageing course if money allowes otherwise just keep going out with a good book And have a go at a square foot garden manly so that I can put copper tape round the veg to beat those pesky slugs and snails

[Ferricks]

I really want to learn more about making/mending clothing - a useful skill I think in all situations, even if it's only a spike in inflation! Reinforcing what Twodo was saying about seeds & imports is also really important in this context - imports of textiles are the backbone of what we all wear, so problems with oil supply / the pound / inflation / the cotton crop ALL affect our clothing supply and that's particularly difficult for those with a growing family. Currently I'm stocking up on basics (vests / school shirts / winter clothes /undies )etc in larger sizes and putting them away as a normal prep, but being able to make SOME clothing I think is important for us all.

[Technik]

Have learnt:
archery, growing veg (still learning as this is my first year), basic food processing and storing

Would like to learn:
carpentry and herbal medicine

[Arzosah]

Existing skills: knitting; basic mending (not darning!); community building (not missionary type stuff, but mediating, interpreting, that sort of thing); basic cookery, including jam-making, and I've just learned how easy sprouting is, from dried beans; some foraging, including skip diving ; map-reading (which I've been using to do all these routes home in case TSHTF whie I'm away), basic gardening and DIY ...

To come: food storage - I'd like to improve my jam making, and I'd like to make fruit leathers, or dehydrate foods. I'd like to re-learn how to use a compass properly. I'd like to be better at growing things; learning to forage, and growing more crops, like mushrooms; I'd like to be fitter; at the next level, I'd think about keeping chickens, soldering and electrical work, so I could work on solar power. I'd like to be better at making compost. I want to be able to use a catapult, and learn how to shoot.

[Vespa]

I suppose it depends on the type of SHTF event.

I'd like to be able to produce something people can and will always want and will want to trade for.

I sort of like the idea of being able to distill liquor.

[Maddie_cat]

Existing: baking, breadmaking, jam & chutney making, bottling, drying foods (dehydrator), wine making, soap making, carpentry, poultry keeping, bee keeping (currently have three hives), knitting, crocheting, sewing (incl dressmaking), growing veg, cheese making, yoghurt making, basic herbal medicine, aromatherapy

Would like to learn: foraging esp mushrooms (am too scared I will poison myself!!! ), electrical work so I can repair stuff if it goes wrong, car repair (ditto), do an advanced diploma in herbal medicine then start growing and using the herbs (if I can keep my ruddy chickens out of the herb bed ) Sure there will be more things for me to add to the list