TEOTWAWKI marketable skills

Was talking to someone earlier and the topic came up of what skills we had that would be marketable in a post SHTF world. I got to thinking that there are so many skills that are easy to learn and most here would likely have at least some. So I was wondering what all skills anyone has or is working on gaining/learning that would be marketable in a post SHTF world, not just huge fancy stuff but smaller stuff as well.

To get things rolling here are my partial lists off the top of my head.
present;
butchering
minor gunsmithing
construction includeing rouph primitive
hunting
security
soap makeing
tanning leather
laundry without a machine
sewing/mending/tailoring
cooking without boxes or nuker even
gardening
raising meat animals
knife makeing/blacksmithing
market fishing
basic net makeing
basic trap makeing
rope handleing/rigging
basic ammo reloading (only with provided components)
highly ingenuitive for makeing available materials acomplish needs
(McGuiverisms/hillbilly ingenuity)
candle makeing (wax or tallow)
grunt labor/strong back
BASIC knowledge on steam power

skills Im working on gaining;

full gun smithing
learn chemistry to create reloading components
improve soap makeing
more herbal medicine knowledge with NATIVE plants
improve knowledge/ability at cureing meats for long storage w/o
refridgeration
improve ability to blacksmith (gather tools)


So what are some of the things you know how to do that not every sheeple dose that might benifit you or others if we all of a suden took a 100 year jump back in time?

 

One thing that comes to mind is being able to produce dairy products. Remmeber they were produced for thousands of years without refidgeration and all the other things that people say you have to have. Ice cream was made in the winter because ice was avalable, unless you had a ice house and had ice in the summer. Cheese that is properly made can be stored for a looooonnnnnnngggggggggg time. I read once that they found a 3,000 y/o block of chees that was still eatible.

All types wood working skills will likely be in demand. From cutting down trees, producing boards/lumber, to finnished products.

Herbal knowledge will be worth it's weight in gold IMHO.

OGM

 

Really good subject. After looking over the list you came up with, there are lots of things there that can easily be worked on. Since I'm on the coast, net making would be extremely useful around here.

Only thing I can add is I make some really good beer and wine. I really need to look into what kind of hops grow in my area. I should play around with what times are needed to kiln dry germinated barley.

I know that grains have a much better use as food, but I would think that in the worse case, some beer or other alcohol might make a good trade item. Who knows, after things settled down, pubs may open up for meeting and trading news.

 

One thing which POPS to mind is :

"Folk really need to master COMMON SENSE!"

Some people really AMAZE me!?!??!?! If something "ISN'T WORKING" TRY SOMETHING ELSE, change it up, find WHAT DOES WORK! Ya know many people are soooooooo DOOMED!????? For example, we met these folk who have 11 kids. They've always carried on about "doing for yourself" and one day they invited us over to their house... Well the real shocker was teeny-tiny garden which only had lettuce!?!?!?! I guess they have issues with butchering/are vegetarian. I'm reallly not sure WHAT THEY ARE EATING as that garden wasn't big enough to feed that big family???? They also refuse to eat wild edibles. I found out after asking 'cause I THOUGHT that is what they were doing. I guess I was wrong. But anyway, then they only have 20 acres and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many livestock!!! The grass was so ate down that there was nothing for them to eat and the goats would constantly leave... They were complaining about that and a week later they got COWS OF ALL THINGS to add to their COMPLETE DISASTER!??? Of all things, that's REALLY what they needed!??? I could've died! As we walked around and they gave us "THE OFFICIAL TOUR" the wife whispers in my ear that they are SURVIVALISTS & have been doing all of this for years now! Wow, I said I know what you're saying.... so are we. (<--Just not WHATEVER they are?) Ya know, when she said that I almost choked to death ya know, or laughed to death... one or the other, maybe both, it's been a while & I don't recall exactly .... but it was pretty darn bad. So then on top of that her new husband says he's "all into gardening/fruits" and etc. I was like coooooool so am I , what are ya into exactly? He took me over to these really sickly stunted diseased trees and told me how he was going to graft some new healthy branches onto them???? I had told him that I was big on plant propagation and asked him if he was sure that he really wanted to do that????? He asked me "Why?" Well for one, if ya have something so sickly/diseased and dying WHAT'S THE POINT??!!! CULL that CR*P OUT and get something GOOD/HARDY! He looked at me shocked, but oh well.... The fun part was how they were complaining about the drought we've been having here. How they've been having so much trouble with their well that they are on city water... Then the Mrs. about 30 mins later said that she is annoyed with the old cistern they have out back and wanted to dig it up/get rid of it!?!?!?!?! OK, DUH!!! What's wrong with people???? Are they just STUPID, BRAINDEAD, IGNORANT, OVERLY MEDICATED, A FINE EXAMPLE OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM (<--Ok I went there but I am not at all like that.... lol) Nope I know what it is ~ this is a COMMON SENSE issue! Those types (which I see all around me) are surely gonna die when T.S.H.T.F. 'cause they just can't think logically at all, sadly. This world is sooooooooooooooo in trouble.!!! Especially some of THE SURVIVALISTS which I have personally bumped into ~ Eek!?!?!??! Good luck to them as they are gonna seriously need it!!! Ok, I won't go any further, 'cause it didn't get any better. Just thought at first how neat it would be to get together with other like minds. Uh huh!?!?!?! Have noticed that many are out there playin' along wanting to take advantage of others and are LAZY/have no intention of doing their part. BEWARE people, as that is a SERIOUS ISSUE! Let's describe them as LEACHES to put it nicely.

Ok, as for myself, the one thing I want is to master raw milk hard cheeses, made without buying all of the stuff they say you have to have to do it. You don't , it's just that we are in a commercial world where HOMESTEADING/SURVIVAL stuff is big business and they are gonna tell ya that YOU NEED IT ALL to rake in THE BIG $$$BUCKS$$$! Primative man didn't have all of those things, and he did quite well.... if he didn't WE JUST WOULDN'T BE HERE. PRIMITIVE SKILLS are very very important!!! Take the time to MASTER THEM well. Another thing which I want to "master" (and haven't as of yet) is SOAPMAKING from scratch without buying a thing. What most call soapmaking & etc, I don't.... I'm talking about doing it all for yourself from RAW MATERIALS without having to buy everything at the store. My current issues right now is that I don't have enough NATURAL FAT.... of course, we are workin' on that & hopefully that'll get us a bit closer to our goals! I'd also like to plant a few more hardy trees around our place, as more healthful nuts & fruits would be a big plus. We already have some but MORE wouldn't hurt, 'cause you could always use your surplus for livestock food, or even trading.

~Wildernessgal~

P.S.- Overall I am so glad for having "FAILURES" as they have helped me to master my skills. Never let a FAILURE DISCOURAGE YOU.... use it as INSPIRATION! Another thing to think about is: "THOSE WHO EASILY GIVE UP, WILL NOT SURVIVE/ARE NOT SURVIVORS!" Just me 2 cents...

 

I totally AGREE... just don't think many think very seriously about this subject!

~W~

 

Add "medical care" to your list. Every MD, PA, and RN will be at FEMA's beck and call, which simply means that any competent retired paramedic in a small town will have a ready-made medical practice. Stock up on instruments, dressings, bandages, and OTC drugs folks, and hit the books again too...

 

Tracy

All that I can say is becareful what you wish for. shoked

OGM
P.S. This comes from a man that knows.

 

Oh Tracy... I can do no different, I am who I am. Never do I try to be MEAN... just TRUTHFUL. If only folk could hear how I am sayin' what I say.... Like I said, it's not mean spirited just plain old TRUTHFUL through my eyes and life experiences! A lot of folk have these "HAPPY THOUGHTS" about folk helping each other out (post S.H.T.F.) and after going through Hurricane Andrew I learned different. I've also tried to do things with locals, and you see that there are always those folk out there trying to "take advantage". Just trying to tell people to not be so NAIVE, OPEN YOUR EYES, DON'T TRUST EVERYONE & BEWARE! (<-- 'cause to put it nicely, many people are full of POO , OPPORTUNISTIC/MANIPULATIVE & ONLY OUT FOR THEMSELVES & DON'T GIVE A HOOT ABOUT YA! Never let everyone locally "know what ya do/have" or you could be victimized more easily) That's coming from a "POSITIVE PERSON"!!!ha,ha,ha


...............................................................................................

Back on subject though, I do believe that being a CRAFTY/VERSATILE PERSON will get you ahead. I've always enjoyed looking through "JUNK" and makin' something useful outta it. The more WELL-ROUNDED a person is, the BETTER off he/ or she will be. So READ, READ, READ and expand your mind BEFORE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!

~W~

 

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of skills that would be valuable post shtf.

Hunting, fishing, gardening, and my wife can butcher about anything... and can stuff.

My post shtf resume' would probably read:
Have Rifle/ Skilled with it and Willing to use it.

Maybe somebody would hire me for "advanced" security.

 

Well shouldnt be hard to beef up that resumee some in the mean time. The 3-4 easiest (and complementary) skills to learn that would all likely be in high demand IMO would be butchering, taning hides, and soap makeing. Im pretty sure I copied the article into the reading room that explains how to make lye soap all from scratch (basicly wood ash and animal fat) and theres info on here on butchering and tanning can be learned fairly easy. Then if you can sew/work the hides/leather your then have the aability to make clothes/coats/mocasins for yourself and trade, same for soap and leather and can get the ranchers and such who have forgotten how to slaughter/butcher to give you the skins and a portion of the meat in return for butchering THEIR animals for them. We do the last part even now when they could take them to the locker plants or go to the store.

 

Remember Y2K? One of my friends was really scared that "something" would happen, so he wanted to form a group of people that could live in sort of a "communal"-type of setting. His group bloated out to 16 people, most of whom I already knew, so I told him that I'd join as well.

The only thing was that everyone was going in their own separate directions! That's when I jumped in and started getting things coordinated. In essence, there were 16 "followers", and only one "leader". Had I not jumped in, that group would have had plenty of water and SOME food, but that would have been about it! When the Y2K "scare" ended, I had to jump in again when the stockpiled provisions were to be equally divided. Fortunately, everyone ended up spending about the same amount of money on goods, but it would have been quite lop-sided if I hadn't intervened!

A good LEADER is a necessary commodity! I've been told that I'm a "natural-born" leader, but I've also gone through more than my fair share of leadership training courses.

 

yes, gardening

 

Several leaders can even bea really good thing for a group. I dont say this EXACTLY as a leadership by comittee thing as devision of labor. One person may be the best leader for emergency situations and another may be the best leader to direct trade and still another for day to day operations of coordenating work on cutting wood, hunting, gardening, etc.

 

Division of labor and specialties is what makes a larger group so strong

 

How about brewing,
I can make glue, shoes etc...