Apr12010
26 Comments
Do you have the skills to survive a depression?
By Lisa Todd
Answer yes or no to the following questions:
Easy skills level:
- Do you know how to sew on a button?
- Do you know how to use an oil lamp?
- Do you know how to boil an egg?
- Do you know how to ride a bike?
- Do you know how to keep houseplants alive?
If you answered yes to all 5 move on to the next level.
Medium skills level:
- Do you know how to cut up a whole chicken?
- Do you know how to hem or fix a rip in clothing?
- Do you have a stocked first aid kit in your home?
- Do you know how to build and maintain a fire?
- Do you know how to cook and season dried beans?
If you answered yes to any of the 5, move on to the next level.
Hard skills level:
- Do you know how to grown your own vegetables?
- Do you know how to use a pattern and sew your own clothes?
- Do you know how to can fruits and vegetables?
- Do you know how to start a fire without matches?
- Do you know how to raise chickens?
- Do you have a fully prepared emergency kit in your home?
- Do you own and know how to use a gun?
- Do you or does someone in the home know how to fish and hunt?
- Do you have a well-stocked pantry?
- Do you know how to make a quilt?
- Do you know how to bake bread from scratch?
- Do you know CPR and basic first aid skills?
- Do you have the physical ability to ride a bike?
- Do you know how to purify water for drinking?
- Do you know how to cook in a dutch oven with charcoal?
If you answered yes to all in this level, congratulations! You will survive. If you passed the easy and medium levels but failed the hard level not to worry. You are teachable. A Boy Scout learns 99% of these skills!
© 2010, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.
(26) Readers Comments
Leave a Reply
How To Dry Shampoo Your Hair to Save Water
My girls and I have long curly hair that has to be washed everyday. B
Win a Copy of Survival Mom AND a FlashLantern!
Bookperks is running this giveaway on their own. I will ask them for
Win a Copy of Survival Mom AND a FlashLantern!
when is the give away closed? how will we know who won?
The Importance of Patient Advocacy
When we went through my mom's final illness, I so wished I could be wi
Anatomy of The Survival Mom's Pantry
Oh my goodness Soren you are hilarious! I guess we had better stock up
Ravenwolf31
Eh, ok… I got work to do!
KarenLynn
The only one I would not pass is no. 2 on sewing clothes! Ha ha I could do it but I would look really awful
Great post! Very informative!
TheSurvivalMom
I actually know how to sew and am pretty good with it! I didn't realize how few people had sewing skills. I must have been a really good student in my 8th grade Home Ec class!
Lisa S. Todd
Those of us who know how to sew and cook really need to pass on those skills to others! I am also trying each month to learn a new skill. Last month I really worked on baking bread…put on extra pounds while learning! This month I am working to get more physically fit. If I had to run for my life right now, would not get far!
TheSurvivalMom
Yeah, learning how to bake bread has some unintended consequences, that's for sure!
ToughTimes
Hey Lisa….I guess even guys could make a quilt so how about doing a list of what skills would be important for men around the house of a lady with all the skills you mentioned. What would women want these men to be good at?
Le Loup
Not a problem.
Le Loup.
rightwingmom
Need to take a CPR and First Aid class and get into better shape…otherwise I'm surprised how well I did!
BTW ~ I haven't cut a pattern and sewn an outfit since home educ. class, my sophomore year in h.s. I'm sure it would come back to me.
I do enjoy quilting. It's wonderful for keeping your hands busy in the evenings.
(My precious husband insisted I stockpile a king size pattern. He even chose the fabric for me!)
Everyone should stockpile their hobby: quilting, painting, reading, etc. May help keep your sense of identity!
LizLong
I haven't built a fire in over 20 years, but was VERY active in GSUSA. DH started one in a new fire pit we bought for the patio. After a few minutes I took over when it went out and restarted it. I was actually really annoyed when I tried to use the plastic lighter and went back in for REAL (fireplace) matches. As I was coaxing it to life, I found myself really wishing I had some fir sticks, but it wasn't worth the effort at that point. And the lint filled egg cartons were a definite help! At any rate, my point is that some of this stuff sticks better than you realize.
At our house, we can check off a lot of those and are working on a lot of the rest. We'll probably try to get a chicken coop over the summer so we can start keeping chickens. We just planted more berry bushes in front yard and within a few years should (fingers crossed) be getting lots of several different kinds of berries. Veggie and herb gardens to be planted soon.
Linda
This makes me soooo thankful I was reared in the country by a mom who could sew and garden and raise chickens and do all sorts of things I took for granted at the time. She tried (unsuccessfully, she thought) to pass her skills on to me. Now she's amazed that a lot of it "stuck". I quilt and sew passably well. There are some great patterns now that don't require doing hard things like zippers. I garden and put up my own produce. I hunt and fish and know how to shoot. I have a flock of chickens and am soon buying rabbits. Also milk goats, for cheese and butter. I make sourdough bread weekly. I have a year's stockpile of food, along with six months of toiletries and cleaning supplies and medicines and stationary items. I have sewing supplies. All this, and I still don't feel ready. It's like a rabbit hole. Once you go in, you find more and more to do, but I'll keep at it because every bit adds more security to my family.
Linda
LizLong
I'm impressed by how much you can do and how much closer you are to prepared than most of us! We're still working on most of this, but at least we've made progress. Unlike too many people out there. You go girl!
Deb
I know what you mean about the rabbit hole. The more I know, the more I feel like I need to learn. I feel fortunate too, for having a mother who raised me right.
Lisa S. Todd
I have some ideas running thru my head for the guys in the family….Do you know how to dig a well and hook up a hand pump for water? Do you know how to patch a roof? Do you know how to skin a rabbit? Hmmmm….will have to work on this list.
TheSurvivalMom
Lisa, how about if I post the question to all the gals reading this blog and see what they have to say. Go ahead and work on your list, we'll post it, and everyone can compare notes!
Lisa S. Todd
Sounds good!
Pingback: Survival Skills, EDC, and Homemade MRE’s
Karen604
I don't know much about raising chickens but I think the rest is good. As a kid I learned to sew and crochet as well as most cooking skills. Boy Scouts taught me the rest. I learned as an adult leader. Go volunteer with them, you will not just get to learn the skills but use them too. I won high praises as my patrol cook at Wood Badge. …I used to be and Antelope….
julie
yep – i can do all … had a bit more of a gap on the one you posted for guys (how i came across this blog).
Great blog, looking forward to browsing through it.
Cindy
raising chickens: obtain chickens, contain them if needed, provide safe nighttime shelter, feed them and never let them run out of water. I feed my girls scratch and laying pellets. they come running when they hear my voice and give me 3-4 eggs a day ( I have 4 chickens). they perch on top of the 6 foot tall coup I have so I have to clean poop off of it rather than out of it but I can't get them to sleep inside unless I trim their wings. the cat loves to hang out in the back yard and watch 'chicken TV' but the chickens have made it clear who's boss so she doesn't EVEN think of hunting them. lol
TheSurvivalMom
It's amazing that raising chickens has become something of a fad. Here in the Phoenix area there are classes offered by the Phoenix Permaculture Guild on raising urban chickens!
Survival Girl
We had to learn to sew in 2nd grade, so I have that down. Thank God for rural schooling. My only 'no' was a dutch oven. My great grandmother can cook on one, though.
randy
SurvivalMom, I pasted your quiz 100% .just an old farm boy
randy
survival girl get 1 learn how to use it and you never need a kitchen agin i have 12 of them, love to cook in them.find a boy scout to teach you. its not hard. if you can cook in a kitchen you can cook in a dutch.
Karla Moore
Hmmmm looks like I will survive! Maybe "being born 100 years too late" as my husband says, isn't such a bad thing! 100% also….Farmer's daughter!~
Prepared
My 71 year old wife shoots the 5-10 rattlesnakes yearly around the house. It's my job to feed them to the crawdads. You get used to it. We leave the rest of the snakes alone to eat gophers and rats.
Randy
Heh looks like we’ll survive too
my girlfriend has definitely told me I was born in the wrong century before! Only thing on that list I don’t know how to do is raise chickens (though I really want to, I love chickens! Petting them, eating them :9 ) I’m hoping I could muddle through, tho I feel knowing how to build a fortified chicken coop would be a worthy skill to have first!