1. Beer Brewing / Wine Making / Liquor Distilling. I’m talking about making beer, wine, and liquor from scratch. Sure, I’ve brewed a few batches of homemade beer… but I use pre-packaged, premeasured ingredient kits so that doesn’t count. I’m talking about brewing and distilling from nothing but the rawest of materials… wild wheat, barley, corn, and other grains. Moonshiners will have an advantage here…
2. Farming and Gardening. How many of us know anything about farming any more? The family farms are disappearing rapidly, replaced by mega-farms owned by corporate conglomerates. How many people under 40 know how to prepare, plant, maintain, and harvest a garden? And then “can” the produce in mason jars to eat during the winter months? My guess is less than 5 percent. Why bother when you can buy three cans of green beans for a dollar at Food Lion all year long?
3. Metalworking and Fabrication. Remember when they used to teach “metalworking” in high school? Not anymore… now we just shove the little shits behind computer keyboards. But even with guys who are reasonably handy around the house, how many of them can actually fabricate a needed part from raw metal stock? Even technical tradesmen have evolved into a “remove and replace” mindset… they run tests to find the bad component and swap out whatever failed with a new one. But what if new parts become unobtainable?
4. Gunsmithing. It should be fairly easy to find a good gunsmith in a city the size of Raleigh, right? No? What if you expand your search into to surrounding communities of Garner, Cary, Apex, etc? Maybe you know something I don’t, but the closest gunsmith I’ve found that will repair a non-functioning firearm is in Fayetteville – 90 minutes away. I’m assuming the police and other agencies that use firearms must have their own in-house gunsmith… but I submit that this skill is becoming a lost art. I guess I should also include the ability to reload spent shell casings into this category.
5. Alternative Medicine / Herbal Pharmacology. Americans are demanding free, high-quality healthcare for all, right? Well… good luck finding a skilled urologist after the apocalypse. People have become used to running to medical specialists for their every ailment… and the old-fashioned home remedies have been abandoned (even the ones that worked). How many of us know how to gather medicinal herbs in the wild, and/or administer them appropriately? Or how to set broken limbs? You get the idea.
6. Sewing. How many women under 40 know anything at all about sewing? How many college-age girls can sew a dress? My mother and grandmother used to store hundreds of patterns and sew all different kinds of clothes from whatever materials were available. The younger generation, conversely, cannot stitch torn pants, replace a zipper, or even sew on a button.
7. Butchering and Buccaneering. I think buccaneering is the right word. The original buccaneers were the dudes who smoked and dried meat to sell to sailing ships, right? But how many modern citizens know how to butcher and clean an animal? A few hunters who actually eat their prey, I suppose… not the ones who shoot deer just to cut off their antlers. But even fewer people can turn meat into jerky for long-term storage.
8. Orienteering. This was actually a PE class at my university, and I’ve always wished that I had taken it when I had the chance. How many of us can navigate across vast tracts of wilderness? If you think you can because you have a road map and a GPS, you’d better think again. The roads will be impassible with abandoned cars…bridges and tunnels blown… gasoline and GPS batteries unattainable… so your AAA map isn’t going to be much help. I’m talking old-school navigation here. Look at the sun, the stars, the planet Venus (which is visible even in daylight)… maybe even learn how to use that old thingy… what’s it called? Oh – a compass!
9. Barter and Trade. This is a closely guarded secret, but I might as well let the cat out of the bag since the end is near: the money in your wallet hasn’t really been worth anything since 1933 when the United States government abandoned the gold standard. Our modern currency only buys us things because, in our minds only, it is somehow worth more than the paper it’s printed on. But after the apocalypse people will see “floated” money for what it really is… so barter and trade will form the basis of post-apocalyptic commerce. But this too is a lost art… I’ve practiced it at the car dealership a few times, but nowhere else.
10. Archery / Snaring / Trapping / Fishing. In this broad category I’m going to place every way that man ventures into the wild and secures protein without modern luxuries, like firearms and ammunition. Sure, you can shoot a rabbit… but can you set a snare line and trap them? Can you dig a bear pit that works? Can you fashion a fishing pole from an old tree branch and dig grubs as bait?
Again, these skills were once commonly known among the American people… the same Americans who baked pies from scratch, repaired their own cars, and even made their own lye soap. The end of the world is approaching once again (in 2012 this time). Better learn these skills now while you still can.
2. Farming and Gardening. How many of us know anything about farming any more? The family farms are disappearing rapidly, replaced by mega-farms owned by corporate conglomerates. How many people under 40 know how to prepare, plant, maintain, and harvest a garden? And then “can” the produce in mason jars to eat during the winter months? My guess is less than 5 percent. Why bother when you can buy three cans of green beans for a dollar at Food Lion all year long?
3. Metalworking and Fabrication. Remember when they used to teach “metalworking” in high school? Not anymore… now we just shove the little shits behind computer keyboards. But even with guys who are reasonably handy around the house, how many of them can actually fabricate a needed part from raw metal stock? Even technical tradesmen have evolved into a “remove and replace” mindset… they run tests to find the bad component and swap out whatever failed with a new one. But what if new parts become unobtainable?
4. Gunsmithing. It should be fairly easy to find a good gunsmith in a city the size of Raleigh, right? No? What if you expand your search into to surrounding communities of Garner, Cary, Apex, etc? Maybe you know something I don’t, but the closest gunsmith I’ve found that will repair a non-functioning firearm is in Fayetteville – 90 minutes away. I’m assuming the police and other agencies that use firearms must have their own in-house gunsmith… but I submit that this skill is becoming a lost art. I guess I should also include the ability to reload spent shell casings into this category.
5. Alternative Medicine / Herbal Pharmacology. Americans are demanding free, high-quality healthcare for all, right? Well… good luck finding a skilled urologist after the apocalypse. People have become used to running to medical specialists for their every ailment… and the old-fashioned home remedies have been abandoned (even the ones that worked). How many of us know how to gather medicinal herbs in the wild, and/or administer them appropriately? Or how to set broken limbs? You get the idea.
6. Sewing. How many women under 40 know anything at all about sewing? How many college-age girls can sew a dress? My mother and grandmother used to store hundreds of patterns and sew all different kinds of clothes from whatever materials were available. The younger generation, conversely, cannot stitch torn pants, replace a zipper, or even sew on a button.
7. Butchering and Buccaneering. I think buccaneering is the right word. The original buccaneers were the dudes who smoked and dried meat to sell to sailing ships, right? But how many modern citizens know how to butcher and clean an animal? A few hunters who actually eat their prey, I suppose… not the ones who shoot deer just to cut off their antlers. But even fewer people can turn meat into jerky for long-term storage.
8. Orienteering. This was actually a PE class at my university, and I’ve always wished that I had taken it when I had the chance. How many of us can navigate across vast tracts of wilderness? If you think you can because you have a road map and a GPS, you’d better think again. The roads will be impassible with abandoned cars…bridges and tunnels blown… gasoline and GPS batteries unattainable… so your AAA map isn’t going to be much help. I’m talking old-school navigation here. Look at the sun, the stars, the planet Venus (which is visible even in daylight)… maybe even learn how to use that old thingy… what’s it called? Oh – a compass!
9. Barter and Trade. This is a closely guarded secret, but I might as well let the cat out of the bag since the end is near: the money in your wallet hasn’t really been worth anything since 1933 when the United States government abandoned the gold standard. Our modern currency only buys us things because, in our minds only, it is somehow worth more than the paper it’s printed on. But after the apocalypse people will see “floated” money for what it really is… so barter and trade will form the basis of post-apocalyptic commerce. But this too is a lost art… I’ve practiced it at the car dealership a few times, but nowhere else.
10. Archery / Snaring / Trapping / Fishing. In this broad category I’m going to place every way that man ventures into the wild and secures protein without modern luxuries, like firearms and ammunition. Sure, you can shoot a rabbit… but can you set a snare line and trap them? Can you dig a bear pit that works? Can you fashion a fishing pole from an old tree branch and dig grubs as bait?
Again, these skills were once commonly known among the American people… the same Americans who baked pies from scratch, repaired their own cars, and even made their own lye soap. The end of the world is approaching once again (in 2012 this time). Better learn these skills now while you still can.
