Community Chat

[Noel7]

As a kid, I used to worry about the bomb.  All that ducking under desks, I assume.  I worried that I wouldn't know how to survive, it upset me that I didn't know how to create electricity.  Yes, really.  So I kept adding to things I thought I should know.

Sewing, by hand and on an old fashioned foot pump sewing machine that had belonged to my grandmother.

Spinning.  I bought a spinning wheel and learned to spin.  Also to crochet.

Darn a sock.

Canning, which I found tiresome, especially since I didn't live on a farm.

Fish well and clean a fish to cook.

Ride a horse.

Cooking, which I do pretty well.  I can also cook in a fireplace as the Welsh did more than a hundred years ago.

I know how to build an outdoor fire, chop wood with an axe, set up a tent and windbreaker.

Shoot a rifle well.

First aid and a variety of medical skills.

Etc.

I cannot sing well, I wish I could.  I also don't draw well, DH is an artist so he makes up for that.

Today I am doing one of my favorite things, putting on a party.  Decorating, decorating!  And... tablescapes

Anyone want to share their traditional skills?

[millieshops]

@Noel7  I'm impressed!  Not sure it's a traditional skill but when I need to or just want to, I know how to make good use of my money.  My friends used to tease me that if I had a carton of cottage cheese and a chicken, I could probably eat okay for a week.  Credit my mother.  Nothing went to waste in my mother's kitchen.

I don't have your survival skills -  but I'm quite certain I could sew my QVC gold into my hems, and that might help me survive a governmental collapse.  Once upon a time I could have done that on the old Singer treadle machine that had been in my grandfather's tailor shop. 

By the by -  I could probably get someone to pay me NOT to sing -  I just listen well.

[Noel7]

@millieshops

I love your skills!   And ITA, in my opinion, skills with money are very important.  I started saving with a B of A account in 5th grade, a school program.

And I really love the living off a chicken bit, lol.  A Costco chicken CAN feed us for a week!

This came up because someone implied most people nowadays don't know traditional skills, so I started thinking about things I'd learned from parents and grandparents. 

[Moonchilde]

So many things, @Noel7, that I would like to know how to do, but growing up I had no one to teach me. Grandmothers were not around from early on. My mother was a very un-domestic person. I'd love to sew, knit, crochet, craft, etc (love to watch people spin wool at the Ren Faires) but I'm the sort of person who needs hands on help of that "what am I doing wrong right now?" variety. If I take a class, but get stuck at home with no help, I get frustrated and give up. I have tried - many times with many things. And I don't have a lot of patience ;-)

I can ride a horse, though these days I'd break its back. Rifle no, bow & arrow pretty decent. I can, alas, neither sing nor draw, trust me. And I sing better than I draw, which is pitiful.

I also never went camping, to do all the haulin' and choppin', but I'm sure I could learn, as well as canning. Some things, though, go better with a companion to share the labor.

I have no doubt that my niece in Alaska can do everything on your list. If you live thisclose to wilderness and being cut off from civilization and electricity is one bad snowstorm away, you have to learn it.

She and her hubby caught 30-some salmon in the past 2-3 days, to preserve, freeze and store. We get some - and scallops (see Scallops thread, lol)!

[Noel7]

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@Moonchilde wrote:

So many things, @Noel7, that I would like to know how to do, but growing up I had no one to teach me. Grandmothers were not around from early on. My mother was a very un-domestic person. I'd love to sew, knit, crochet, craft, etc (love to watch people spin wool at the Ren Faires) but I'm the sort of person who needs hands on help of that "what am I doing wrong right now?" variety. If I take a class, but get stuck at home with no help, I get frustrated and give up. I have tried - many times with many things. And I don't have a lot of patience ;-)

I can ride a horse, though these days I'd break its back. Rifle no, bow & arrow pretty decent. I can, alas, neither sing nor draw, trust me. And I sing better than I draw, which is pitiful.

I also never went camping, to do all the haulin' and choppin', but I'm sure I could learn, as well as canning. Some things, though, go better with a companion to share the labor.

I have no doubt that my niece in Alaska can do everything on your list. If you live thisclose to wilderness and being cut off from civilization and electricity is one bad snowstorm away, you have to learn it.

She and her hubby caught 30-some salmon in the past 2-3 days, to preserve, freeze and store. We get some - and scallops (see Scallops thread, lol)!

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I think you nailed it, @Moonchilde  We can learn so much if we need to or want to, especially with the internet. Or, if there comes a time when we don't have internet use anymore, we have books.

Years ago, DH bought survival books, including what you can eat in a forest and what to stay away from.  It was during his Air Force days.

I never did learn how to create electricity.

When I was a little kid, my grandmother was an Indian rights activist and I spent a lot of time with her on a reservation in Northern CA.  They fished and smoked salmon and would give us little kids chunks to gnaw on for breakfast.  I'd like to think I could learn to do that if I wanted to.

[Moonchilde]

Really, when I think about it, my skills are those of the City Mouse. My country-dwelling relatives are non-functional in just about every way in the Big City from driving to parking to walking down the street. I'm totally at ease. They're totally at ease in the country; I'm not yet. My skills are also electronics-based, because I generally embrace that, unlike those who yearn for the perfect good old days.

But in reference to...um...generations passing knowledge on - I'm only one example of someone who, by my chronological age, "should" be Betty Crocker and Suzy Homemaker, BUT - I did not learn any traditional skills from my family elders. I can't be the only one - not a freak, a fluke, "bitter", lol. Not all parents of Boomers were prairie housewives, nor were all of their parents. There just isn't one homogenous "we", or one "preferred upbringing", except to the short-sighted and judgmental.

[Trinity11]

@Noel7...great thread. My Irish grandmother taught me how to knit, sew, crochet and bake from scratch. In high school I designed my own patterns and sewed a lot of my own clothing. I also can sing.....enjoyed being in school plays and sang in musicals in our high school productions. I was Maizy in "The Boyfriend." I played Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz." Those were the days. LOL

I worked in the Nurse's office at lunchtime during 6th, 7th and 8th grade while the nurse was at lunch. She taught me to take care of cuts and bruises and I remember I wanted to be a doctor. Unfortunately, that never happened but I think my taking insulin at such a young age ...I was better adapted to learning how and acceptance of it because of my interest in medicine.

[Moonchilde]

@Noel7, have you ever heard of the Foxfire books? They started in 1972 and there are now many. It started with a teacher in the Appalachians and an oral history project he gave his students. They went out and interviewed all the elders of their community. This became the basis for all the books. Folklore, crops, folk medicine, old time crafts, just how people did just about everything in the isolated mountain communities. 

You can buy the books on Amazon. 

[Noel7]

@Moonchilde

To be fair to myself, I taught myself many of those skills.  Back in the day, hippie types were spinning and creating fabric and I wanted to know how, so I taught myself from a book.  Bonus: my spinning wheel is made from beautiful wood and looks great tucked in a corner of the house.

I also taught myself canning and cooking, my father taught me outdoor skills and how to change a tire.

[JustJazzmom]

Wow Noel! Great skills!