I blog a lot about stocking up on food and necessaries (now!) while prices are low, but admittedly, stocking up isn't the only plan of action one might take when preparing for the unknown. When winter rolls around and there's free time on hand, my thoughts automatically turn to developing skills. For the most part, we homesteaders/preppers have an unbroken 3 months of free time that we can devote to brushing up on old skills and learning new ones. From January 2 until sometime in late March or early April, there are no holidays to plan. Nothing needs winterized or de-winterized. No grass to cut. No flowerbeds to weed. Just solitude. And there's no better time to learn something new than when you can apply your undivided attention.
Each year, I try to learn something new. This year, I've devoted a lot of time to learning knitting, baking sourdough bread and correct methods of pruning trees and berries. I took my concealed carry training and practiced target shooting. I've also spent a lot of time reading and re-reading the Bible in an effort to extract new bits of wisdom.
My plans for this winter include researching medicinal herbs and root cellaring, attempting to make homemade sausage blends and finding a good recipe for sprouted wheat bread. I'd also like to learn the trick to growing leeks so I don't have to pay $3/bunch for them at the grocery store. And of course, more knitting. Knit one. Perl one. Knit two. Perl two. It gets a bit tedious, but I WILL learn to knit successfully.
What do you want to learn this winter?
8 comments:
Good point, well put! We already have a wish list of tangible prep items. A written wish list of 'new or enhanced skills' might help us to use our winter months more productively!
Great post, preps without skills will only get you so far. I plan to learn new nursing skills this winter. I plan to take every class I can at work and even one or two at a local college. Plus a plan to take a handgun shooting class with an NRA teacher. We all need skills the more we know the better our chance to survive.
Out here in Ca, we don't get the winter down-time, which has its pluses and minuses.
On my to-learn list, I've got:
Making vinegar from my own malt and starter, making cheese, upgrading my knife-making skills and learning at least the basics of loading my own ammo.
I knit and crochet, if I can be of any help. As far as I'm concerned, I prefer crocheting, and reading the directions is the hard part.
I don't know what you intend to make, but if you're not familiar with the Afghan stitch, it's a great one for _warm_ stuff - mostly blankets or ... ta-dum... Afghans! You use a crochet hook that's about 12-14 inches long with a stop on the end - sort of like a knitting needle with a crochet hook tip. Very good for routine-don't-want-to-look-at what-I'm-doing stuff - not for articles of clothing. Also very nice to finish with cross stitching if you're trying to be fancy.
Have you tried to make socks yet? Now _they're_ a challenge! four needles plus turning the heel...and usually little tiny needles. I've done it. Don't really want to do it out of need.
Chief...planning on your own cheese is a good skill, but I can't really see the practicality of it unless you have your own goats or cows, or some source of relatively free milk. Look online for "Vinegar cheese" - otherwise you need rennet and presses...
Have any idea how much milk a milk cow gives per day??? It's a lot. Especially if you get one of those big black and white ones - Holsteins. Try approximately 10 gallons...!
Per day!!!
Goats are easier - only about 1 gallon per day, if you have a really good one.
For me, this winter. Starting plants from seeds. At the right time to plant them at the right time. I've started some tomatoes from cuttings off my summer tomatoes. I did the same last year, but they got really leggy and didn't do anything. We can keep tomatoes over the winter outdoors, but when we tried it one year, the second year was a waste. They simply didn't produce. I'd like to take cuttings, plant them at the appropriate time, and compare them to the same variety bought at a nursery. It would be great to be able to do new starts from cuttings instead of from seeds.
I wouldn't mind doing leeks also - are you going to try to do them from seeds, or bulbs?
Woman-I love having a list of things to learn! Keeps me on track and helps to fill in those lulls in the year.
Pete-My husband is doing the same thing. Taking any and every class he can persuade his employer to pay for. It's all going to pay off in the end!
Chief-You still have post-Christmas down time...you just don't have 3 feet of snow to ensure you enjoy it, right? I love cheesemaking...a great place to find the basics is www.leeners.com
Hi Sue- I took up seed-starting about 2 years ago and I love it. Especially starting tomatoes! You can enjoy such unique varieties that way.
And no-I've never tried to knit socks. I'm still using my Knitting For Dummies book...right now, I'm practicing the basics, just trying to get the stitches smooth and even. I've knitted a few simple things like dish clothes, but I'm not ready to move on to socks yet. I do want to knit Christmas stocking for my kids one day though.
Vinegar Cheese
1. With frequent stirring, heat one gallon of milk to 185 degrees (Fahrenheit).
2. Add ¼ C vinegar, stir briefly.
3. After 10 minutes, strain through a cheesecloth lined colander.
4. Gather top of cheese cloth to form a bag, and hang to drain..
Yield: about 1 ½ lbs of cheese in about two hours.
For cream cheese, process with a bit of milk or cream until smooth.
Recipe recommends ½ C lemon juice (juice of two lemons) substitution for cottage cheese, allow the mix to cool completely before handling, rinse and salt to taste, plus add back some milk or cream to desired texture, if you want.
I made cottage cheese once. It wasn't exactly commercial quality! ("once" is probably the key word here!) I was amazed at how much salt it took to make it taste "normal".
This is an old recipe from my goat girls days. It has other changes for various cheesey taste options, but I never got into it that much. My boys were drinking about a gallon of milk a day then, and there wasn't a whole lot left over for cheese making. But I'll definitely check out the site ...
Andrea...
There are three basic techniques for knitting:
1)yarn in right hand holding the receiver needle(for lack of a better term) at about the mid point of the needle, needle into stitch on carrying needle, drop needle from hand, carry yarn over point of needle, pull through and slip off.
2) yarn in right hand holding the receiver needle very close to point so that needle is never dropped, but the yarn over is all done with finger extension.
3) method I saw in Germany - and never mastered all that well. Much faster. Yarn held in the same hand as the stitch carrying needle (usually the left hand), receiver needle inserted through stitch, picks up yarn very like a crochet hook would, pull through and repeat. Only drawback on this method is the perl stitch. It might be easy to do it without shifting the feeder yarn over, but I just never developed the skill. If I were learning again, this is the method I'd use, simply because it's so much faster, but when I try it, my mind/hand coordination does flip-flops.
You're using big (meaning fat) needles, right?
Also...casting on. I learned to start with a loop, insert needle as if doing a regular stitch, but then put the carrying needle into the stitch and slip it back onto the carrying needle. Another method I've learned is to start with the loop, then with my finger, do what are basically half hitches for as many stitches as you want. The first method gives a fairly tight starting row with very little "give", the second method is very quick and gives a "stretchy" bottom row.
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