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[Neko-chan]

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[Wifezilla]

I think your prepper friend have a good starter list. On top of those, sewing, how to fix things (small electronics, etc...), basic carpentry would also be good skills.

There are some skills I will never have. Like needle knitting. I suck. I rock at loom knitting thought.

I think knowing how to trade and barter would be good. Many people don't think of negotiating as a SHTF skill, but you can't do or make everything.

 

[Emerald]

Humm that is a question and a half there!
I can --
mix fat and lye to make soap
sew and make a garment
I can make moccasins
I can capture wild yeasts from the air for sourdough bread
I can bake
I can make soft cheeses
I can cook over an open fire(well not really fire, more like the coals from the fire)
I can hunt and gut a deer(much easier than gutting and dressing a chicken I gotta say)
I can fish and clean said fishy and cook him up!
I can knit only on a knitting jenny but can crochet
I can garden and know how to save seeds from my heirloom veggies
I can preserve most of the veggies and fruits that I grow-from canning to dehydrating to freezing
I used to repair electronic stuff before they starting making them disposable.
I can make wine and beer(and while it is not that legal I do know the hows of making distilled alcohol)
I know a tiny bit on how to use a hammer and can be called upon to hold the wood in place while someone else hits it with a hammer and not flinching!
I know several types of wild mushrooms and also know which ones not to eat.
I also can gather many wild edibles.
I can start a fire by rubbing two sticks together but prefer using a match or a lighter!
I know how to strip a bit of willow to get the good bark for making tea to stop a headache!
Probably know more than I should about more than I thought!
You know the old saying "Jill of all trades but master of none" I'm sure that there are more things to add to the list but I am running out of brain power to remember them all!

 

[Dirk Chesterfield]

I had some prepper friends say that firecraft and water purification, followed by self defense and [securing] food for oneself were good skills to start with.

The basic survival skills everyone should learn are:
Building a shelter from natural or scavenged materials
Starting fire with and without matches, lighter, magnifier or fire steel
Finding water
Purifying water by straining + boiling or using a commercial filter
Securing food by gathering, trapping, snaring or hunting
Simple camp cooking
First Aid

If everything you have is wiped out by weather, earthquake, fire, etc then you will desperately need these skills.
Under adverse conditions you can only survive for:
3 hours without shelter
3 days without water
3 weeks without food
Set your survival priorities accordingly.

Most self sufficiency skills assume that you have solved all of the above situations. SS skills also require tools or supplies well beyond what a simple survival situation provides. One of the exceptions being food preservation by drying / dehydrating / smoking.

As Emerald said "Humm that is a question and a half there!" Got a feeling this is going to be a huge thread.

 

[Kala]

Humm that is a question and a half there!
I can --
mix fat and lye to make soap
sew and make a garment
I can make moccasins
I can capture wild yeasts from the air for sourdough breadI can bake
I can make soft cheeses
I can cook over an open fire(well not really fire, more like the coals from the fire)
I can hunt and gut a deer(much easier than gutting and dressing a chicken I gotta say)
I can fish and clean said fishy and cook him up!
I can knit only on a knitting jenny but can crochet
I can garden and know how to save seeds from my heirloom veggies
I can preserve most of the veggies and fruits that I grow-from canning to dehydrating to freezing
I used to repair electronic stuff before they starting making them disposable.
I can make wine and beer(and while it is not that legal I do know the hows of making distilled alcohol)
I know a tiny bit on how to use a hammer and can be called upon to hold the wood in place while someone else hits it with a hammer and not flinching!
I know several types of wild mushrooms and also know which ones not to eat.
I also can gather many wild edibles.
I can start a fire by rubbing two sticks together but prefer using a match or a lighter!
I know how to strip a bit of willow to get the good bark for making tea to stop a headache!
Probably know more than I should about more than I thought!
You know the old saying "Jill of all trades but master of none" I'm sure that there are more things to add to the list but I am running out of brain power to remember them all!

Not to go too off topic but is there a thread started on that somewhere? Sounds interesting.

And to add to what others have posted already (I can do some of those things but certaintly not all of them!) I'm also working on identifying and treating animal illnesses as much on our own as safely possible. And just being able to look around at what you've already got in your surroundings and seeing what it can be reused for. Never know when you might not be able to go out and get exactly what it is you need (either $ or TSHTF scenario). You may have to repurpose something and make due.

 

[Neko-chan]

...

 

[patandchickens]

In a more-likely it-actually-happens-sometimes SHTF scenario, as opposed to reduced to stone age living kind of thing, I would suggest that the most valuable skills that many of us are weak in would include things like:

- Major carpentry, with emphasis on adequate seat-of-pants engineering decisions

- plumbing skills

- small engine repair/maintenance

- automotive repair

- electrical, with emphasis on not getting yourself killed or burning things down

- making anything from anything else (scavenging, repurposing and construction type skills)

- knowing what you can eat (and how to make it palatable) and what it would be wiser not to eat

- some reasonable knowledge of first aid


For more serious doesn't-really-happen-now-but-concievably-might type scenarios, I would add also

- Skill with hand tools, including good joinery both big and small without use of metal fasteners

- sewing and basic garment-construction skills

- knowledge of childbirth-related topics

- firearms skills (not just target shooting, but good maintenance/repair skills and *judgement* about when to shoot vs save the round for another time)

- reasonable hunting/fishing/trapping skills as appropriate for your area

- some knowledge of processing hides into something you'd be willing to sleep under or wear without having to have full removal of the olfactory part of your brain cells

- metalworking, probably not so much welding as forging and otherwise reworking metals

- skill -- not book learning, but many years of actual real-world mileage -- at growing and harvesting food plants and food animals, and storing the food appropriately (canning, drying, root cellaring, etc)

I'm sure there are others, that's just what comes to mind offhand.

Pat

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I have EMT experience, paramedic skills, nursing aid skills, have assisted at births, and cared for broken limbs (and poultry). I am a great baker, an adequate cooker and canner, and sort of okay at sewing... i can sew just about anything... badly. I am not afraid of snakes, or of killing if I have to (animals or 2 legged preds), and know my way around a gun.

I would like to know how to split wood, make shelters without my BOB tent, poncho, duct tape etc., and all that other important stuff.

 

[Wifezilla]

I know a tiny bit on how to use a hammer and can be called upon to hold the wood in place while someone else hits it with a hammer and not flinching!

Not flinching. Good skill! *nod nod*

 

[Marianne]

Ditto on what everyone else has posted! Not that I can do it all, but having a basic understanding of things can make a huge difference.
The only thing I'd add is maybe taking an online herbalism course (free), printing stuff off and put in a binder. I made notes of what to take/use in case we couldn't get medications that we take daily.
I also got information with pictures of wild edibles that grow in my area, and printed off plans for DIY wind turbines, VAWTS and solar. I have books on building w/ strawbale, papercrete, rocket mass heaters, cordwood, on and on. We have been building this huge house by ourselves, so I'm pretty handy with about any tool. The only thing I haven't tried is to butcher some critter. Hope we like eggs for a long, long time...

Learning to do things without electricity has been the main drive for me for several years....not that I do them all, I just want to make sure I can if I have to.