PRACTICE

[Pearl]

I practice my prepping skills a lot! I make knives from stones. I make fire from bird nests and shaving wood with the "knives" I make! I can cut grapevines with those knives, to make snares! I can fish with Mesquite tree branches (sharp thorne's) with bait I know how to find! Yes I would have a hard time in a brutally cold environment surviving, but I make sure I know how to do what I can do!!

 

[Tirediron]

Pearl, as far as I am concerned, what you just posted is being prepared, knowing the theory on how to make a knife from a rock is one thing, actually having the skill to do it is much more important, and which rock to make said knife out of. Fire making is huge, lots of people think that they know how, practice makes perfect.

 

[bkt]

Great thread, Pearl! Knowledge is your best friend! Practicing and perfecting are absolutely necessary.

For example: Build a get-home bag from scratch. Then use it. Spend a day or two outside with only the pack and make notes about what you don't really need and stuff you should add. It would suck to discover you aren't quite as well off as you thought at a time when you can't do anything about it.

 

[Tirediron]

This thread always reminds me of the people who say, "If the world crashes, I'll just farm with horses, OK have you got horse experience, well no, agricultural experience, well no, blacksmithing ,and harness making or at least repair, well no.
I ve never made a knife from a stone, I know that it is doable, but to get to where I could select the right stone, and both for the tool,and to make the tool.
I would go to what I know.
Scavenge and salvage is the direction that I would point in, because that is my "wheel house". But when I am out in the bush Or near a rock pile , I will take a closer look now.

 

[Pearl]

What I'm starting now! The rock the others are on and the round one are my "tools". The light colored half rock I cheated and used a hammer to split it, it's too hard to use! The softer rocks make better blades! Wish I knew more about what kind of rocks these are. Anytime I run across a rock that looks "soft" I grab it! After the initial break, smaller hits can be used. Sometimes I use long handled pliers to hold them, just to practice! Wouldn't have pliers in the wild!

 

[hashbrown]

It's a little difficult to pull off a daytime practice raid on Reverend Jim Bakers survival compound down the road, I'll just wing it I guess.

 

[Peanut]

@Pearl good for you! I practiced with all my gear for a decade. The last few years, no time. Once practiced a bugout on foot with friends during a snow storm, gear and kids pilled on carts... Its almost guaranteed when you need to use a skill it's not going to be a pleasant spring day.

(Urban Escape and Evasion)

A thought about flint... I just did some checking, east Tx doesn't have an abundance of quality flint. Most flints there need to be heat treated to become workable. You can get buckets of practice flint for not a lot of cash online.

A friend in PA took up knapping. One of the things he used for practice was glass. Don't remember which glass or the source but he made some beautiful glass arrow heads. I'll ask if you want to know.

Locally, I find flint arrowheads, parts of arrowheads, knives and other stones every time I plow the garden or fields. Been finding them since I was a kid. It's good to see the real McCoy made by people who used them. Here is a local friends collection... she sold part of it to my friend in PA.

 

[elkhound]

This thread always reminds me of the people who say, "If the world crashes, I'll just farm with horses, OK have you got horse experience, well no, agricultural experience, well no, blacksmithing ,and harness making or at least repair, well no.
I ve never made a knife from a stone, I know that it is doable, but to get to where I could select the right stone, and both for the tool,and to make the tool.
I would go to what I know.
Scavenge and salvage is the direction that I would point in, because that is my "wheel house". But when I am out in the bush Or near a rock pile , I will take a closer look now.

i am with you on primitive skills..i dont have it in me to knock out knives and arrowheads..one day i might wish i could but for now i gotta go with the things most important...dont get me wrong @Pearl i love primitive skills.its a time thing.but i have a pocket knife in each front pocket...lol...and back when moras were still cheap...well..i have knives covered i think.

do yall call tending garden with a hoe,shovel,fork etc a skill or a primitive skill since its not powered by gasoline?

 

[elkhound]

I practice my prepping skills a lot! I make knives from stones. I make fire from bird nests and shaving wood with the "knives" I make! I can cut grapevines with those knives, to make snares! I can fish with Mesquite tree branches (sharp thorne's) with bait I know how to find! Yes I would have a hard time in a brutally cold environment surviving, but I make sure I know how to do what I can do!!

theres a guy does history stuff on youtube and he was talking about the archeologist guys down in south or central america finding something very unique. this village i am sorry i forget name and which america. but it was on west side was more advanced and there was more trade with these coastal peoples. well after years of digging.they came up with a reason.fish nets and trade.these people had advanced past cordage from grasses and such and had started cultivating cotton and making fish gill nets from cotton they harvested. i guess it being softer and more flexible and pliable/workable it caught more fish plus they theorized it was lighter and they could put out larger nets thereby creating better and more catches.

i would miss fishing line and various types of nets.

 

[Pearl]

i am with you on primitive skills..i dont have it in me to knock out knives and arrowheads..one day i might wish i could but for now i gotta go with the things most important...dont get me wrong @Pearl i love primitive skills.its a time thing.but i have a pocket knife in each front pocket...lol...and back when moras were still cheap...well..i have knives covered i think.

do yall call tending garden with a hoe,shovel,fork etc a skill or a primitive skill since its not powered by gasoline?

I would call that a primative skill.

 

[elkhound]

seed to table full process by sweat of my brow.
i will say this..its work...wont be nothing wasted...wont be much going to chickens either. its going straight into my belly in a shtf deal.

no agriculture=no life

 

[elkhound]

walking onions i dried in spring and then turned into homemade 'spices'.onion powder for cornbread and more.

 

[elkhound]

shelling beans by hand. it takes a bunch of beans in basket to get a gallon jar of dried beans for storage and winter time use so as to not starve.these are largest bean i ever seen bought or grown. came from an elderly neighbor women who grew them her entire life and shes been dead 20years. she called them a october bean. i dont know..its a pole bean and tastes vastly different from any bean i ate. i call them granny grub beans.

my notes from last year on dry beans

final bean data...beans dried and in jars. used my little digital scales..not certified..best i have to get data with...beans filled 4 half gallon jars and a bit of a 5th jar plus a baggie full of seed i saved from the one plant that produced so much in hopes it might be better genetics to plant back next season. bottom line total of all of it minus tare weight...110 feet of row..100 feet in dry farmed garden and 10 feet in garden with access to a bit of water...total 14 pounds 10 ounces.

random thoughts..i went a long time without rain..i think a month..if long row had gotten any rain at all during critical time i am pretty sure harvest from it would been 20#. but who knows for sure. if i am alive come spring i will be doing it again YHWH willing !

 

[elkhound]

truth in advertising..i did hit this with tiller once but was tended by hand and hoe weeding. it would been no trouble doing this with just a hoe..in my established garden, in fact i have already started some gardening this year and part of it has been all by hand.anyway last year i had to be sure to get seed for this bean since theres no getting it again. use this data to figure what it might take to grow 50# of dry beans for storage to use throughout year when lean times are on you.

my notes from last year below

elks hands on real world 'doing the things' garden data. take it for what it is and is not...rough bodine cyfering..lol

i planted a 10 ft row of pole dry beans.they been grown in this area for over 100 years. the old woman had them grew them her entire life and she died in her 90's. she gave a start of them right before her death 20 years ago to my cousin. i got my start from him. i wanted to be sure i have a decent amount of seed produced this year. so i put these in small garden where i could watch over them closer and water if need be. i also planted a 100 foot row in my big garden that has no irrigation. its at mercy of rain.
this is results of 10 ft under decent care.

10 ft row had 19 plants best i could count.all of them finished on aug 19th except one plant. i picked all but that plant.the 18 plants produced 1/4 bushel picked..half bushel basket was half full. i dried pods inside so they shell easier.after shelling i brought inside home to dry more sitting out in open.they shelled out to 6 cups. so each of those plants produced 1/3 cup. notice in picture of row heres one plant still green on end. i left it and it was just hanging full of beans. so after plant died back i pulled them and kept separate. that one plant produced a full cup of beans. i am keeping them separate to plant back to see if i can get better plants through this type selection.so 10 ft produced 7 cups of dry beans. 1 cup shy of filling the half gallon jar full.