Using Traditional Skills

How do you share the need for prepping with your friends and local community without revealing too much? A community well organized is prepared for a disaster. They can bond together to pool resources, to provide security, to carry on as best they can in the aftermath of a TEOTWAWKI style event.

But there’s a risk involved in sharing the steps you’ve taken with others. What if they know that you have a year’s worth of food and supplies? What if they haven’t heeded your warnings to prepare? What if the extent of their prepping is a case of Ramen Noodles and a gallon of water?

When a disaster strikes, they will come knocking on your door. At best it will be an ugly confrontation. At worst it will turn violent or even deadly. No one wants that.

So can you help others prepare without endangering your own plans? Two words: Traditional Skills

A Different Era

Years ago, young men worked along side their fathers on family farms. They helped to raise crops and livestock. They learned to work with their hand and tools, to make household repairs, and to creatively solve problems that arose.

Young girls had a similar experience with their mothers. Girls traditionally learned to put away food for the winter, to darn socks, and to take care of the homestead. They learned by working along side their mother or older sisters.

Important skills were passed down from generation to generation.

Most people these days are far removed from the traditional lifestyle. Families haven’t lived on homesteads for several generations. Many of those historically important traditional skills have been nearly lost in today’s world of constant entertainment and disposable everything.

Many parents didn’t learn these skills growing up and are unable to pass them down to the next generation, even if the next generation was interested.

Traditional Skills

Earlier this year, Laura recognized this problem in our local community. Even though we live in a rural part of the country where many people still work with their hands, modern conveniences permeate our lives. The skills of our grandparents have been replaced by store bought items and technology.

So, Laura has taken it upon herself to organize a Traditional Skills gathering twice a month. During the meeting, anyone interested has a chance to get hands-on experience with a skill that has all but faded away from modern society. They come and learn from someone who knows how to do it and is willing to share that knowledge with others.

It started small with only a few women and their children coming to the meetings. Since then, it’s grown to upwards of 20 families.

Laura doesn’t teach everything. She can’t. Although she is more prepared than most, there are skills that she has enjoyed learning as well.

Some recent meetings have included skills such as:

• Making homemade yeast bread
• Beginning sewing (aprons)
• Pie making
• Organic gardening/permaculture
• Goat’s milk products (soap, yogurt, cheese, buttermilk)
• Creating your own green cleaners

My oldest son has also taken part in the meetings. He will typically take the young men of the group to a different area and show them another skills such as knife sharpening or fire making.

Sharing Knowledge Helps to Prepare

Through the Traditional Skills meetings, Laura has helped many other families learn new and important skills. These skills are good to know now, but will be invaluable if a TEOTWAWKI style event happens.

As a side benefit, some have also begun to recognize the need for becoming better prepared in terms of buying supplies and/or equipment.

In this way, Laura has helped our local community to become better prepared without taking any unnecessary risks by sharing too much information with others.

You don’t have to know it all. You just have to be willing to help get people together.

How have you shared the need with others? 

Related Posts

• What is Prepping?
• How Do I Know What I Need?
• There’s More to Prepping Than Buying
• Five of Our Favorites from the First 200