For
your smoke, use hickory, sassafras or corn cobs.
Smoke about four days. Some people smoke them for
up to two weeks.
You
can tell how brown the hams are getting.
The
fire is for smoke only, a very small fire. You
might use an old iron pot placed inside another
heavy metal surface so it doesn’t burn the floor.
All
you want is a trail of smoke coming up toward the
hams which will be hung by placing a heavy wire
through the shank and securing the hams to a rafter
or ceiling of your smoke house.
After
you have finished smoking the hams, run them
liberally with black pepper. Use plenty. Then wrap
the hams in an old sheet or something and put each
ham in something like a muslin bag or cotton feed
sack.
Canning
was also a very familiar preservation method. If
you are familiar with canning fruits and vegetables
then you’ll know how to can meat too. All you
have to do is make sure that you take the meat’s
temperature high enough to kill all bacteria before
sealing the jars
Dutch
ovens were traditionally specially designed for
camping, and such pots (often with legs and a
handle, both for suspending the pot over a fire)
are still widely available, though sometimes at a
premium over flat-bottomed stove-top models.
The
oven is placed in a bed of hot coals, often from a
keyhole fire with additional coals placed on top of
the lid, which in camp ovens usually has a raised
rim to keep the coals from falling off. Dutch ovens
are convenient for cooking dishes that take a long
time such as stews, joints of meat and baked goods.
They are not the only option
for baking on a campout as devices for baking on
portable stoves exist and clay ovens can be
constructed at longer encampments.
A
pot hanging over the fire, although picturesque,
may spill, and the rigging may be difficult to
construct from found wood. Generally this is done
with metal rigging, much of it identical to that
historically used in home fireplaces before the
invention of stoves.
Two
vertical iron bars with an iron cross-piece allow
pots to be hung at various heights or over
different temperatures of fire. Griddles, grills
and skewers can also be hung over the fire. When
working with wood, one may use two tripods, lashed
with tripod lashings, but the rope will be liable
to melt or burn. Dovetail joints are more secure,
but difficult to carve.
Tracking
Our
ancestors used many skills to survive. They used
their tracking skills to find and hunt the animals
used for food, clothing, and tools. They had to
make the bows and arrows, traps and snares, clubs
and tomahawks used in hunting. While hunting, they
had to know what plants, or parts of plants, were
edible and how to prepare them. They also knew what
plants were used for medicinal purposes, and how to
prepare the medicines. They knew how to find their
way through forests, mountains, and unfamiliar
terrain without the aid of compasses and maps.
Our
ancestors had many skills essential to survival. We
should never forget these skills or how to use
them.
Tracking
is identifying an animal by the footprints the
animal left on the ground, by its scat, and by the
environment surrounding those footprints. By
identifying the animal in question, a person can
know whether to pursue the animal or evade it. Such
things as gait, along with the distance between
prints, can tell you if the animal is running or
walking. Becoming familiar with the footprints of
an animal is just the beginning of understanding
tracking. The size and depth of the print can help
tell you the size of the animal.
Butchering
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. The pioneers knew how to butcher an
animal the right way and never wasted anything.
Every part of the animal had a use.
Tanning
This
is the first step in tanning hides and making
leather the old fashioned way. Sometimes called
brain tan, smoke tan, Indian tan or home tan. Watch
this demonstrator scrap the hair and grain from the
hide.
Sewing
Sewing
can seem like such and olden thing, but it’s
really not! Being able to patch up holes in
clothing and tarpaulin among many other things can
useful in survival. It’s not a skill that should
be left to the Grandmothers of the world it’s one
that should be passed on down the generations.
We’ve
just mentioned some of the obvious uses for sewing
so far, being clothing and tarpaulin, but what if
you need to sew up a wound? This may seem simple,
but if you’ve never sewn before you having
nothing to base this assumption on.
Weaving
In
a post crisis world, not only will it be impossible
to buy clothes, you may also find it just as hard
to buy material, patterns, and tools for making
your own clothes and shoes. As someone that learned
how to knit, crochet, weave, and hand sew by the
age of nine, I can safely say there is far more to
good quality, long lasting clothes than what you
see in the stores. Our ancestors readily turned
cotton, wool, hemp, and other plant based goods
into textiles by using spinning wheels and looms.
By the same token, stretching and tanning animal
hides (including brain tanning) also offers a
source of fabric from just about any animal you
take for food. When it comes to bugging out or
preparing for a crisis, you will eventually realize
that it does not make much sense to stockpile
clothes. Even though modern fabrics are convenient,
they can easily be replaced later on using
materials that you grow or hunt.
Well
Drilling
Having
your own well on your property is a good idea even
if you just want fresh, clean water that isn’t
full of fluoride and chlorine like city water is.
If SHTF, you’ll have one major problem already
solved. Even if it doesn’t come to a survival
scenario, having your own water supply means that
you’re basically off the grid. You’re not
dependent upon third parties and that’s awesome
in my book. All these things considered, learning
how to dig a well is a good lesson that every
prepper should master.
Gardening
I’ve
found that I increasingly prefer old fashioned
gardening techniques (or at least those that I
think of as “old fashioned”). I’m not saying
they’re the best. I think my preference has
something to do with my personality–but also that
I’m gardening in a harsh subtropical environment
where these techniques really work for me.
Some
of these techniques are:
Set
thin plants to the maximum recommended distances
(or more) for good air circulation, increased
drought tolerance.
Cultivate
(with a good sharp hoe)to keep down weeds and
improve water penetration
Rotate
crops and leave a bed fallow every few seasons
Amend
soils with finished compost
Level
the planting area (a gardening book tip that I’ve
learned the hard way and extremely important in
sandy soil)
Basic
Carpentry and Shelter Building
The
pioneers were very good carpenters. On every new
frontier the pioneers made homes for themselves,
using what the wild land provided. In the great
forests of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys the
land provided timber. Here the pioneers’
essential tool was the ax. The ax would clear the
forest for the plow. But its first task was to
shape a pioneer shelter.
When
a family of settlers arrived at the spot where they
planned to make their home, they began chopping
saplings and trimming poles to build a lean-to.
Between two forked trees they laid a crosspole.
With the help of oxen or horses they rolled up a
log, which was banked with dirt to form a low back
wall. Then they laid poles, slanted upward, from
the back log to the crosspole. The sloping roof was
covered with bark and branches. The ends of the
lean-to were walled with shorter poles and pickets.
This was the pioneers’ “half-faced camp.” It
always faced south, away from wind and rain. In
front of the open side they dug a fire pit. Logs
smoldered there day and night, giving warmth and
protection.
Trading
The
concept of private barter and alternative economies
has been so far removed from our daily existence
here in America that the very idea of participating
in commerce without the use of dollars seems almost
outlandish to many people.
One
thing is certain, though: in the aftermath of a
widespread disaster or the collapse of civil
society as we know it, you’ll want to have useful
skills and items that you can barter or trade with.
Once society collapses, bartering will become a
business. Individuals will have items they can
barter with, but in most cases, a person would not
be able to afford to part with the items they do
have.
Anyone
not prepared will have nothing to barter with, so
looters will be active as well as desperate. Real
trading will be based On ‘long term’ items.
Seeds, not food. Arrows, not ammo. Tools, not
filters. See, once the ‘short duration
expendables’ are consumed, you won’t be
re-supplying, you’ll be making your own or doing
without. From turning your own arrow shafts, to
cutting arrowheads from old license plates; from
building filtration weirs to filter water, to
needing copper tubing to make
‘wood-fired-water-heaters’.
Knowledge
and durable supplies (axes, hammers, spoke shaves,
saw blades, etc.) will be the real money. He who
has stocked dozens of saw blades will be king. He
who sits on a case of toilet paper will be sad he
didn’t learn how to replace it with what they
used 200 years ago, instead (FYI, toilet paper is
only about a 100-year old concept -- ask yourself,
what did they use before then, and get a real clue
-- because THAT is VERY valuable in the long term!)
So,
forget stocking for that 2-week event, it’s not
that difficult. The hard part is stocking for the
total paradigm shift, that few remember how to do
much of.
You
won’t be making your own saw blades anytime soon.
Now, ask yourself, what else will you NOT be
making, that you need to learn how to make, or
replace with older technology, before you need it
(or need to trade it)?
Navigation
Being
able to read a compass and a map is maybe one of
the most important skills that will make the
difference between life and death. Imagine the
pioneers that had to make huge journeys to the old
west from Independence Missouri to Oregon City.
They
were able to orientate by the stars and by the sun.
Nowadays is easier to use a GPS but if SHTF and the
GPS won’t work no more the old ways will come
handy.
Trapping
Having
the skill of trapping small game for food will be a
great advantage. Knowing how to set multiple types
of traps for different animals will ensure your
survival and the survival of your loved ones.
Here’s a great article on trapping:
Saving
Seeds
Saving
seeds is maybe a known skill but it is vitally
important to the survival of your garden. By saving
seeds you ensure the continuity of your food supply
over the years. Start by saving your seeds and
planting them in spring to practice this skill.
Start
A Fire Without Matches
There’s
a primal link between man and fire. Every prepper
should know how to start a fire with the resources
around them, even if that means creating fire
without a match or lighter.
This
is an essential survival skill as you never know
when you’ll find yourself in a situation where
you’ll need a fire, but you don’t have matches.
Maybe your single engine plane goes down while
you’re flying over the Alaskan wilderness, like
the kid in Hatchet.
Or
perhaps you’re out camping and you lose your
pack. It need not be something as dramatic at these
situations-even extremely windy or wet conditions
can render matches virtually useless. And whether
or not you ever need to call upon these skills,
it’s nice to know you can start a fire, whenever
and wherever you are.
Maintaining
Proper Hygiene
Maintaining
a proper hygiene one of your top priorities because
sickness can and will cause you problems. After
SHTF water will be scarce and showers may not work
so people must take in consideration this aspect
when prepping. Bathing on a regular basis is
necessary to avoid illness due to bacteria building
up on your skin and causing health problems. You
should take in consideration sponge baths as an
option.
Knowing
Herbal Remedies
For
medicines the pioneers had to provide for
themselves. Women soon learned the use of herbs for
healing. They used boneset for fever, pennyroyal to
purify the blood, horehound for coughs, and ginseng
for tonic. Syrups and salves were made from cherry
root, horseradish, and witch hazel. Wild mustard,
poplar root, and red sumac root went into teas,
poultices, and powders. The standard cure for a
chest cold was to rub the chest with goose grease
and apply a mustard plaster.
Some
frontier remedies were based more on superstition
than science. Among these were potions of walnut
bark “peeled upward,” boiled nettles, and
“nanny tea,” made from sheep dung.
Foraging
From
all the skills mentioned here, this is probably the
most well known. However, we’ve seen that many
people either focus on the ability to hunt, or the
ability to forge. In order to give you the best
chances of survival, knowledge of both skills is
extremely necessary.
Developing
on from that you’ll also want to think about
clothing, because those really nice winter jackets
you’ve brought probably won’t last forever.
Skills like skinning will come into their own here.
Making
Alcohol From Fruits And Grains
Back
in the old days making alcohol was a common thing
amongst the pioneers. Alcohol is a great
disinfectant, great for entertaining and a very
valuable trade item. Knowing how to make alcohol
will give the ability to trade both alcohol and the
skill itself which will be in great demand. Here’s
a great article on how to make alcohol at home:
Basic
Firearm Repair
Back
in the old west guns were something vital.
Everybody had one. So the demand for this skill was
very big and everyone knew the basics to repair
their gun and had some basic spare parts around. I
bet you think you got everything you’ll need,
right? Covered all the basics didn’t you?
Bet
you forgot one critical thing that will keep you
alive more than a weapon or cleaning kit…
What
is it? FIRST AID KIT for your primary weapons.
Yea
I thought so. Firing pins, extractors, detents
springs. Places won’t be around to get parts.
They are small and don’t weigh much. Pass this
on…
Raising
Livestock
The
ranchers went west to raise cattle. The open plains
were ideal for grazing huge herds, and the
completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869
made it possible to ship the cattle to market in
large and profitable numbers. Cattle ranching was a
tough business that gave the West its cowboys.
Cowboys tended the herds while they were grazing,
branded them when they were of age, fought off
cattle thieves, and managed the long drives of
thousands of cattle over hundreds of miles of open
prairie to the railroads. They followed well-known
trails, like the Chisholm Trail, that have become a
part of the landscape of U.S. folklore.
Hunting
Hunting
requires spending a lot of energy, and there’s a
reason that settled humans moved from hunting to
cultivation in the form of growing food and rearing
livestock. The ability to grow fruits and
vegetables not only saves you from having to hunt
as much, but it also provides nutrients for your
diet that you might not otherwise obtain,
especially when attempting to survive in the longer
term. There are illnesses that can be brought on
simply by not getting enough nutrition like Scurvy.
This is something avoidable. The rearing of
livestock would be a harder task but not
unimaginably so. This will not only yield food, but
it’s also a good way of keeping busy especially
if you’re trying to survive in an environment far
from the general population
Blacksmithing
The
mighty smith of folklore was the blacksmith, who
worked with iron and steel and whose hammer wielded
more force than his fellow craftsmen, the tinsmith
and the whitesmith, who worked in lighter metals.
The word “smith” derives its meaning from the
word “smite,” transformed over time to mean “a
man who strikes.”
Blacksmiths
were valuable in every frontier community because
they could make tools: crowbars, axles, axes,
plows, and other implements. They also produced
fine metal parts like hinges, hoops for wooden
barrels, nails, and pots.
The
blacksmith ranked with the cobbler as a rural
philosopher, and his shop, with doors open during
the summer and comfortably warm in the winter,
offered men a receptive place for gathering and
gossip. The craft was passed on from master
blacksmiths to young apprentices, who were usually
just boys when they began learning.
Today
many people associate blacksmithing with one who
makes horseshoes, but those specialists are more
properly known as farriers.
