Keep Our Service Free-Donate

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

10 Survival Skills Your Grandparents Knew

 

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…

www.poormansurvivor.net

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

 

 


10 Survival Skills Your Grandparents Knew

Our modern society is highly dependent upon we’ll call the “system.” Not only do we rely upon utility services to bring us electricity, water and natural gas, but also on an incredibly complex supply chain which provides us with everything from food to computers. Without that supply chain, most of us wouldn’t know what to do.

This situation is actually becoming worse, rather than better. When I compare my generation (I’m in my 50s) to that of my children, I see some striking differences. In my generation it was normal for a boy to grow up learning how to do a wide variety of trade skills from his father, and seemingly everyone knew how to do basic carpentry and mechanic work. But that’s no longer normal.

If we extrapolate it back, we can see that my father’s generation knew even more – and my grandparent’s generation even more. Those older generations were much more closely tied to the roots of an agricultural society, where people were self-reliant. There are multiple skills they had which modern society no longer considers necessary.

But if we were to have a breakdown in society, those skills which we never bothered to learn would become essential. Those who don’t know these skills would either have to learn or die trying.

1. Gardening for Food

During World War II, there was a campaign for people to plant “Victory Gardens” at their homes. These vegetable gardens were needed to alleviate food shortages, because so much of the nation’s produce was being sent overseas to keep our troops and those of our allies fighting. With fewer men available to work the farms, there was less produce available.

This custom of having a vegetable garden in one’s backyard survived for many years after the war was over, but it gradually died out. Today, when many people think of gardening, they are thinking of a flower garden. While those are nice to look at, they don’t give you much to eat.

Starting and growing a vegetable garden can be harder than most people think. When I started gardening, it took me three years to get more than just herbs and a smattering of produce out of it. I’m glad I didn’t wait until I needed that garden for survival.

2. Animal Husbandry

Although the industrial revolution took place more than 100 years ago, many people continued to raise at least a small amount of their own livestock at home. This led to cities enacting ordinances limiting what animals people could keep within city limits.

Raising dogs and cats is much different than raising chickens, rabbits and goats for the table. A large part of being able to raise these animals is recognizing their needs and being able to diagnose their sicknesses. Farmers don’t depend upon the vet for most illnesses; they take care of it themselves.

3. Food Preservation

It’s rare to find people who preserve their own foods, but in our grandparent’s generation, it was common. Canning food, smoking meats and even making one’s own sausage were all common home tasks, which ensured that people had enough food to get through the winter. Today, it’s rare to find people who know these methods of food preservation, let alone having the equipment needed.

If we go back very far in American live, pretty much every middle class home had a smokehouse for preserving meats. I’ve seen some homes where the smokehouse was actually in the kitchen chimney. Instead of building a normal chimney, they had a very wide one, with enough room to hang sides of beef in it for smoking.

4. Blacksmithing

You might think that blacksmithing goes all the way back to the Old West, but in actuality it is a skill that stayed around much longer than that. My dad was a blacksmith in his later years, although most of the work he did was ornamental.

I remember traveling in Mexico about 20 years ago and having a spring on my car’s suspension break. A local blacksmith fashioned me a new spring, tempered and shaped exactly right for my vehicle. Blacksmiths can make or repair just about anything out of metal. Yet few today know this valuable skill.

Maybe we don’t need blacksmiths today, but if an EMP hit the country and we were without electrical power, the skills of a blacksmith would allow people to have their tools repaired — and new ones fashioned. Since the manufacturing plants presumably would be shut down, that ability would be essential for rebuilding America.

5. Basic Carpentry

Everyone should know how to make basic repairs to their home. Without the ability to repair damage from a natural disaster, it might not be possible to use the home as a survival shelter. Woodworking skills also allow one to make furniture and other items to help survive.

6. Basic Mechanical Repair

Depending upon the type of disaster that hits, the family car may just end up being a large paperweight. But there are many survival scenarios where it would be useful to be able to fix your car, keeping it running for general use. As long as there is gasoline, that car would be useful.

The ability to diagnose and repair an engine is useful not only for keeping a car on the road, but also for fixing lawn mowers, chain saws and other power tools.

7. Herbal Medicine

The roots of medicine were herbal medicine. While doctors have existed for millennia, it hasn’t been until recent times that those doctors had such a wide range of pharmaceuticals to work with. Before that, doctors made their own medicines.

Many women also learned to use what nature provided for medicine. It was not uncommon a few generations back for mom to take care of her family’s medical needs, using recipes that she had learned from her mother. Today, that sort of medicine is called “old wives’ tales” but it works just as well as it always did.

8. Horseback Riding

This may not seem like much of a survival skill, but in the Old West, stealing a man’s horse was a hanging offense. That’s because being stranded without a horse was generally a death sentence. While horseback riding today is only done for sport, if the automobile becomes no longer usable, people will be looking for horses once again.

Riding a horse is actually more complicated than the movies make it appear. Breaking a horse is a skill that few know. Likewise, there are few today, outside of the drivers for the Budweiser Clydesdales, who know how to hitch and drive a team of horses. But in America’s past, our ancestors drove teams with as many as 40 horse or mules in them.

9. Hunting

Now, I know there are a lot of hunters out there, maybe even some who are reading this. But I have to say that a lot of what we call hunting today and what I learned as a kid are nothing alike. I have a hard time calling it hunting when corn is put out as bait and the hunter hides in a blind, waiting for their choice deer to come to eat.

Real hunting, at least what they did in the past, involved knowing the animal’s habits and staking out a place where the animals were likely to come. It required patience, understanding of the animals being hunted — and a pretty good shot with the rifle.

10. Butchering an Animal

Raising an animal is one thing, butchering it is another. Few hunters even know how to properly butcher an animal, as most take them to a butcher for cutting up and packaging. Yet, an animal which is not properly cleaned and butchered can cause disease. You can also waste a lot of good meat by not doing it correctly.

 

 

RELATED

Week of May 11th-Start of National Police Week

Help us to protect and preserve our freedom, self reliance-your support is appreciated!

St. Michael the Archangel: Patron Saint of Police Officers

As the patron saint of police officers, St. Michael knows what it means to face the threat of evil and imminent danger. Saint Michael had a  history of battling evil; of which there is plenty in our society!

We’re donating St. Michael pendants to area police & sheriff departments…your donations help.  Use the PayPal ‘donate’ button at the top-any amount is appreciated.

 


How To Build An Urban Survival Kit

Survival kits are often talked about in the context of being lost in the wilderness and for obvious reasons you should have one when going to remote or even semi-remote areas.

To this day, some people find it absurd to carry a survival kit in an urban environment. The mentality is that these areas are “safer” and “help is just a call away.” Both of those excuses are untrue and when something bad happens, you will always be the first responder, which means you better be prepared.

Before getting into the actual survival kit, there are a few things we need to cover so that you have a clear understanding of this topic and how to tailor the kit to your needs...

How To Build An Urban Survival Kit

 


How to Improvise a Fallout Shelter

Picture this, the bombs are falling...

 

And now a deadly wave of radiation is heading your way. So, what should you do?

 

Because if you don’t have a fallout shelter with enough supplies, you’re dead.

 

Luckily, it’s easier than you think to protect yourself. Using only sandbags and a few basic items.

 

Click Here to Discover ‘How to Improvise a Fallout Shelter’ <<

 

How to Grow Anything: Your Best Garden & Landscape DVD-Great Courses+Bonus

Declare your food independence!

Our food supply chain has repeatedly proven how fragile it is. Find freedom from the unstable food supply!

 https://www.ebay.com/itm/255995911268

 

HOT PRODUCT



VESTA Self-Powered Indoor Space Heater & Stove 

Power Grid Down and So Is Your Heat? No More! 

VESTA! The FIRST Self-Powered Indoor Space Heater & Stove combo.

 

·         HEAT AND COOK indoors!

·         Use up to three canned heat units at the same time. 

·         SAFE to use INDOORS when used with InstaFire 6-Hour Canned Heat Plus!*

·         Weighs only 7.6 pounds! Easy to transport.

·         Measures 11" L x 7.5" W x 5.25" H when used as a stove.

·         Measures 11" L x 7.5" W x 10.75" H when used as a heater.

·         Won’t reveal your LOCATION!

·         Space heater indoors warms up 200 square feet!

 

https://www.bonanza.com/listings/VESTA-Self-Powered-Indoor-Space-Heater-Stove/1425199245

 

Natural disasters don't wait for a convenient time

And you shouldn't wait to prepare either. In some cases there is little to no warning.

Prepare now to lessen the impact of disasters and emergencies

 

Remember:  You can’t buy life insurance after you’re dead!

 


 

Free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom!

 

Contributors and subscribers enable the Poor Man Survivor to post 150+ free essays annually. It is for this reason they are Heroes and Heroines of New Media. Without your financial support, the free content would disappear for the simple reason that I cannot keep body and soul together on my meager book sales & ecommerce alone.

You Can’t Buy Life Insurance After You’re Dead

Not Prepared? 

That's Bad News...


You Can’t Buy Life Insurance After You’re Dead-Prepare NOW for Emergencies…

 

Support our efforts by shopping my storefront…

http://RetroGuy.net

 

 


 

A Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production

 

 

 

4 comments:

Wendy said...

Love that horse!

Henry said...

Good stuff-FREE. Gotta love this site!

Linda said...

Want to see chaos - shut off everyone's IPhone...it would be a riot to see so many phone addicted loons go crazy!

Marco said...

Young people today seem clueless about everything-history, heritage, morals, self sufficiency skills, etc.