150 Homesteading Skills for the Modern Homesteader

Industrialization and living in the modern world have changed a lot of aspects of life for many of us. Skills that used to be common knowledge passed down from generation to generation have been all but lost. Yet, having these common homesteading skills is essential, not just for running a homestead, but simply for making sure those skills aren't lost completely.

When we began our homesteading journey over a decade ago, I started to realize how essential history was. That there was real and true knowledge, skills, and ways of life hidden in the dusty pages of old gardening books and book series such as The Foxfire Series, which is modern in some ways but talks about old ways of Appalachian living that are all but lost.

I've come to realize in my near 40 years that I was born in the wrong era. While I know things were by far my difficult in a lot of ways back in the 18th and 19th centuries, I feel far more connected to that way of life than I do to most aspects of modern living. I'm not akin to living a plastic, synthetic, superficial life. Give me nature, true, hard work, production, and simplicity over worrying about keeping up with the Joneses or the newest piece of technology to disconnect us even further as a species.

All that said, let's discuss some new skills we can build to improve our connection, our production, and our lives living off the land.

Homemaking Skills

1. Hand Washing Laundry

Washing clothes is a fact of life and automatic washing machines have made that life pretty easy. But, hand washing clothes can preserve your fabrics, cut down on energy usage, and be a great way to learn a skill that used to be common and now is anything but.

2. Line Drying Clothes

You've learned to clean your clothes without an automatic machine, how do you get them dry? Line drying is a common practice here on our homestead, even in the winter. It saves so much energy and is better for your fabrics, as it improves longevity. Just grab some clotheslines and clothespins and hang up.

3. Make Your Own Laundry Detergents and Softeners

You need to have soaps to wash those clothing. Homemade laundry soap is fairly easy to make and softener can be made with vinegar.

4. Homemade Household Cleaners

The cleaning aisle at the stores always amazes me. Full of synthetic fragrances and chemicals when, honestly, vinegar, baking soda, and other natural items do just as good of a job. In fact, you can even scent your vinegar with citrus if the smell bothers you. From everything from making your own floor cleaners to dish soaps, furniture polish, and even disinfectants. There are plenty of natural alternatives that are cheaper, better for your respiratory health, and better for the environment.

5. Homemade Soap

You have clean clothes, now you need a clean body. Making cold process soap is a great skill to learn. It's one of the first things I learned to do when we had just begun our journey. Making your own soap will supply you with simple, but so nourishing soaps that aren't full of things we don't necessarily want on our skin.

6. Homemade Lotions & Balms

Making your own skin moisturizers and lip balms is also a lot of fun. Whether you're making goats' milk lotions or tallow balms, or lip balms or anything in between it's better for your skin and helps you become less dependent on synthetic chemical-laden moisturizers.

7. Learn How to Hand Sew

When I attended public school, hand sewing was on the curriculum of skills to learn when I was in the 6th grade. It's not really taught anymore, but it's so important to know how to do. You can learn how to sew basic stitches so you can mend clothes and learn how to sew on missing buttons. Heck, you can even learn how to sew an entire pattern, but I'll leave that to the machine, which brings me to.

8. Learn to Use a Sewing Machine

Sometimes modern innovation is helpful. I believe a sewing machine is one of those innovations. It makes things a lot quicker and easier. While I'm not a fan of the new, plastic sewing machines, I'm sure there are a few that do their job quite well. Me? I have an old Singer and I love it. It's easy to work on if it messes up and it does the basics I need without going overboard. Learning to use a sewing machine can help you out to do anything from mending or sewing a quilt to making your own clothes.

9. Crochet & Knit

Another skill that used to be passed down from generation to generation. For us, I taught myself how to crochet and am now teaching my two oldest daughters, I'll likely teach our four-year-old in the next year or so. I'm not great at knitting, but I'm constantly working on it so I can get better. These skills can help you make nice, warm winter clothing for doing outside chores, as well as simple washcloths and blankets.

10. Making Homemade Candles

Candles have been used for centuries to provide light in the darkness. While modern electric light is great, it's not necessarily always available and it can mess with your circadian rhythms, something candlelight won't do. Modern candles are often full of chemicals that off-gas into your home. Learn how to make your own beeswax candles or tallow candles to help live without electric light.

11. Make Pottery

This is something I've always wanted to learn how to do, but never have. You can make your own bowls, plates, mugs and more if you learn how to make pottery. In fact, you could even take it a step further and learn how to make clay out of soil.

Kitchen and Food Preservation Skills

12. Water Bath Canning

The first step to preserving food is often canning, water bath canning to be precise. This simple method uses jars, lids with seals, rings, and a pot of boiling water with a rack to keep the jars off the bottom and a lid. Water bath canning is relatively easy to learn and can be utilized for all high-acid foods.

13. Pressure Canning

The next step on the home preservation journey is often pressure canning. Learning how to use a pressure canner can be intimidating, but they really aren't as scary as it sounds. While you still use jars, lids, and rings, you also use a heavy-duty pressure canner that processes the contents under pressure in order to get the temperature of the food up high enough to kill any bacteria. You'll have to learn this method for all low acid foods in order to safely preserve them.

14. Curing & Smoking

Curing meats with salt and smoke used to be the most common way to preserve meats prior to refrigeration. These methods can still be utilized today. We make our own summer sausage, bacon, hams, snack sticks, jerky and more with these methods.

15. Dehydrating

Modern dehydrators make it easy to make your own jerky, fruit leathers, and even to dry basil and other herbs. You can also dehydrate using an oven, or dehydrate using the sun. It just takes a little more patience to get things where you need them to be.

16. Freezing Foods

Modern refrigeration has made keeping foods good for long periods of time easy to accomplish. While power outages can make this method a bit less sustainable, it's still easy to do and can be beneficial. Learn how to freeze carrots, peppers, and more to keep your produce and meats long term.

17. How to Ferment Foods

Fermentation is an old practice that has lost a lot of popularity. Whether you're making sauerkraut, kimchi, or fermenting ketchup, fermentation is a great way to preserve foods and boost your probiotic health.

18. How to Butcher

This is a valuable skill. Knowing how to butcher and separate all of the meat you harvest is essential, especially if you don't have anyone knowledgeable nearby to help you out. We've butchered our own pigs, deer, chickens, and other poultry. It's not easy, but it is valuable knowledge to have on hand so you can scratch one more skill off of your list.

19. How to Store Foods Without Refrigeration

Root cellaring and storing crops over the winter without climate and humidity controlled refrigerators used to be fairly common knowledge. Learn how to store potatoes and other root crops long term with, or without, a root cellar so you can have fresh food without a refrigerator.

20. How to Grind Wheat and Use It

Wheat berries keep much longer than flours do making them a more sustainable option. Plus, it's something that most of us can find locally if we hunt for it long enough. Learning how to grind wheat using a grinder or even a blender can create flour on-demand. The caveat is you need to learn how to use freshly ground flour, as it does not behave the same as store-bought flours.

21. Finding Local Food Sources

Speaking of, we can't do it all alone, right? A big part of the homesteading lifestyle is community. Finding local sources for the things you cannot, or will not, grow yourself is essential. Supply chains are vulnerable and not at all dependable. Keeping those chains local, especially for things like food is essential. Learn how to locally source most, if not all, of your food that you can't produce yourself to keep yourself from dealing with the vulnerabilities of our modern food chain.

22. Bake Your Own Bread

Freshly baked loaves of bread from your own oven are far superior to the loaves at the store for various reasons. One is that they make your house smell amazing. Whether you're making a wheat sandwich loaf or a nice, rustic dutch oven bread or even a quick bread like pumpkin, learn how to make your own at home. You'll be so glad you did.

23. Milking and Handling Raw Milk

Learning how to milk dairy goats or a cow is almost like a right of passage for homesteaders. Having a source of raw milk is important, and being able to have it right in your own backyard is amazing. But, there are some steps, not only to milking but to properly handling raw milk. Learning how to milk and then handle raw milk is important.

24. Making Butter

Butter making used to be hard work, but today with our electronic gadgets, it's a lot easier and more hands-off. However, it's still something you should learn. A lot of people don't realize butter is simply cream. You can churn butter manually or use a KitchenAid mixer, learning how to make your own butter is fun.

25. How to Make Yogurt

Yogurt is an excellent, healthy food full of all kinds of good probiotics for improved gut health. Making yogurt at home is fairly straightforward and you don't need a lot of things to accomplish the task.

26. How to Make Cheese

You have all that fresh milk that was safely handled, you've made butter, you've made yogurt, now try your hand at making cheese. Farmer's cheese and mozzarella are typically some of the easiest to begin your journey into cheesemaking.

27. How to Cook With Cast Iron

We use cast iron and stainless steel exclusively in our kitchen. No pot or baking dishes made out of Teflon coated stuff in our kitchen. Cast iron will last for generations (most of our pans are over 100 years old), it's better for you (and the environment because it results in less waste), and it's fairly easy. But, there is a bit of a learning curve to get the pans cooking and caring for them (don't use soap).

28. How to Cook on a Wood Stove

While we do heat with wood, we do not have a wood cookstove. Though, I'd love to learn how to use one. This will require quite the learning curve, but you'll be able to cook all manner of things sans electricity or liquid fuel in no time.

29. How to Cook Over an Open Fire

Another common skill that isn't so common anymore is cooking over an open fire. Whether you're using a dutch oven while camping or a skillet, learning how to cook over an open fire is a great skill to possess.

30. Making Jams and Jellies

And other preserves. Preserving fruit via jams, jellies, chutneys and the like is a great way to add some sweetness to dishes without a lot of refined sugar. In fact, any jam recipe can be cut down to zero sugar (or honey can be used in its place). I love making strawberry jam, raspberry jam, and plum jams. We are working on zero sugar recipes simply because nature made fruit plenty sweet.

31. Make Vinegars

Making your own vinegar at home is easy. You can use all manners of edible things to flavor your vinegar. Of course, there is the almighty apple cider vinegar, but there's a whole world of other flavors available to you. Simply find something you like the flavor of, stuff the edible things in a large glass until it is around ½ way full, put some honey in it (about ⅓ cup), and fill it up with un-chlorinated water. Cover with cheesecloth or another breathable material and let it sit, stirring every day for a couple of weeks. Strain out the edibles a couple of weeks in and leave the jar alone in the cupboard for a few months. Viola, vinegar. Next time, you can pop some of that "mother" into a new jar of the same vinegar and speed up the process.

32. Make Wine

Today's wines are full of chemicals that don't have to be listed to make the flavors uniform from batch to batch, year to year. This is why you'll hear old vintners say a specific year is a good year because wines aren't meant to taste uniform from year to year, batch to batch. There are tons of wines and other liquors you can make at home. I recommend the book "Wildcrafting Brewer" to get you started.

33. Make Bone Broth

Making bone broth at home is so rewarding. You can make sipping broths full of all kinds of herbs to boost your immune system naturally during the cooler seasons and you can make full-fledged gelatinous goodness to make soups and other goodies. We love using all of an animal to make goodies, bones from our venison, chickens, turkeys, and more are all used to make healthy nutrient-dense broths.

34. Cook From Scratch

Cooking from scratch is one of the most basic homestead skills. Food from scratch, whether it's beef stew, homemade spaghetti, and meatballs, or macaroni and cheese tastes so much better than something out of a can or box. It's also better for you. Learning how to make things using simple ingredients is one of my favorite things to do.

35. How to Cut up a Whole Chicken

We've become so accustomed to meats already being cut into the cuts we want them in at the store, that a lot of people don't know how to properly cut up a chicken. It's fairly easy and a great skill to have.

36. Eating Seasonally

We've sacrificed flavor in order to have certain foods, like tomatoes, available to us year-round. Learning to eat when food is in season can help you on your homesteading journey to eat healthy food with the highest nutrient levels when they're in season, and it can also save you money when you're purchasing foods as they're much less expensive when in season.

37. Make Sourdough Bread

Sourdough bread is easier to digest for a lot of people and has a lower glycemic index than plain, white bread. Learning how to make your own sourdough starter is really simple.

38. Tapping Maple Trees

Tapping maple trees, or various other trees that can be tapped for syrup, is fairly easy and can provide you with a decent amount of natural sweetener, depending on how many trees you have available to tap.

39. Cooking Organ Meats

Using offal like heart, liver, and even making things like blood pudding isn't very commonplace anymore. Our tastes have changed and with it, the gut pile when butchering an animal has grown exponentially. Organ meats are full of nutrition. Learning how to prepare them so the flavors aren't so pungent and off-putting is something worth learning.

40. Learn to Render Fat

Rendering deer or beef fat into tallow, rendering pig fat into lard, making schmaltz out of poultry fat. And using these fats to make anything from soaps and candles to rillets and confit, there's no reason to let that fat go to waste. These fats are natural and much better for us than industrialized seed oils. Another fat, that you won't render down but is highly useful, is the caul fat which is the thin web of fat round around the stomach of ruminants. Use it to make delicious meatloaves and meatballs or as casing for sausages.

41. Using an Animal Nose to Tail

Eating nose to tail is important to us and it doesn't stop with organ meats and fat. Things like chicken feet, using the heads to make broth, pig ears, and even the tails are all edible bits of animals that we don't often think of preparing anymore, but getting the most out of an animal is so important to us to ensure nothing goes to waste.

Gardening Skills

42. Grow Your Own Food

Growing your own food is one of the most important homesteading skills to gain. Start with basic vegetables that are easy for beginners to grow, and branch out from there once you've got a boost in your confidence level.

43. Vermicomposting

Vermicomposting is something anyone can do, regardless of their space because it can actually be done indoors. Instead of throwing those kitchen scraps away, let worms do their job and break it down for you!

44. Composting

Regular composting takes up a bit of space, but the nutrient-dense garden gold you'll create is worth the space and time it takes to make your own compost pile.

45. Make and Use Leaf Mold

Maybe composting isn't your forte, but you want to do something with all the leaves falling in your yard. Learning how to make and use leaf mold can help you make use of those colorful finds to create amazing amendments for your garden soil.

46. Improve Soil

Few of us are blessed with great soil when we move onto a new piece of property. Thankfully, improving soil isn't terribly complicated and can greatly increase yields and plant health in your vegetable garden over the years when done properly.

47. How to Grow Plants From Seed

Starting your own seeds to grow your garden opens up opportunities for various varieties not available at your typical store and makes you less reliant on others for food.

48. Propagate Plant Cuttings

Learning how to grow plants from seeds and bulbs is a great start, but learning how to propagate plants from cuttings opens up a whole realm of gardening possibilities.

49. How to Plant Trees

Trees provide a lot of resources for modern homesteaders from firewood to fruit trees, shade, sap for syrup, and a multitude of other uses. Learning how to plant trees the proper way will ensure success.

50. How to Control Weeds

Weeds are a gardener's worst nightmare and they can be a huge battle to keep under control. Learning how to naturally control weeds can keep you ahead of the game, at least a little bit so your food can flourish.

51. Natural Garden Pest Control

There are lots of synthetic chemicals available to help keep garden pests under control, but learning how to do it with more natural products can help preserve pollinator populations.

52. How to Attract Pollinators

Pollinators are essential for food production since many, many plants require pollination. While you can do it yourself, making an environment that can attract pollinators can help save those essential populations, beautify your garden a little, and give your plants a chance to thrive by pollinating with nature's little wonders.

53. How to Build a Greenhouse

A greenhouse can help you extend your gardening season to year-round given the correct design. Greenhouses can be expensive, but they can be cheaper and of better quality if you learn how to build your own greenhouse.

54. Back to Eden Gardening

This gardening method is no-till, regenerative, and weed-free gardening at its easiest. Learn how to correctly employ back to Eden practices and make your gardening endeavors a lot more simplified.

55. How to Grow Herbs Indoors

There are quite a few culinary and medicinal herbs that can be grown indoors. Learn how to create the perfect environment to grow your favorites so you can have fresh herbs for dishes as well as for remedies year-round.

56. Growing Microgreens

Another indoor gardening method that can help you keep a few fresh greens in your diet during the colder months is to grow microgreens. These nutrient-dense sprouts are super easy to grow indoors.

57. Learn Biodynamic Gardening Practices

A lot of people talk about permaculture, which is fantastic. But biodynamic farming practices take it a little bit further than just permaculture. This method is organic and takes a holistic approach to grow your own food, right down to using the natural cycles of the earth to help guide you.

58. How to Save Seeds

Saving seeds from your open-pollinated seeds will increase your self-sufficiency as well as provide you with inexpensive seeds to put away from your top-producing favorite plants for the next season.

59. How to Test Seeds for Germination

Testing seeds for germination can help you determine the rates of germination for the seeds you saved. This can help you plan planting and seed starting more efficiently.

Livestock & Animal Husbandry Skills

60. Keeping Chickens

Chickens are said to be the gateway animal for homesteaders and that's probably true. I think most of us begin by keeping our own chickens. Learning how to properly care for chicks and raise laying hens and meat birds is part of the lifestyle that is homesteading.

61. Keeping Waterfowl

Keeping ducks and geese on a homestead can give you both meat and eggs from hardier animals that are a bit more disease-resistant. Learning how to care for ducklings properly and finding duck breeds that are excellent for homesteaders is a great place to start.

62. Training Livestock Guardians

Livestock guardian animals, whether dogs or something else, can be the difference between predators taking your animals or not. But, properly training them is essential. Learning how to properly train these animals so they're helpful and not a hindrance is essential.

63. Building a Barn

Building a barn is a huge undertaking, but you can definitely save yourself a lot of cash if you're able to do it yourself. Learn the basics of building a barn that is both safe for animals and effective at keeping everything dry.

64. Building a Chicken Coop

A chicken coop, on the other hand, isn't near as large of an undertaking. But, there are definitely things to consider when building a coop for your flock. Find some chicken coop plans and build your own to make a longer-lasting more efficient coop instead of buying prefab coops from the store.

65. Growing Fodder

Growing fodder is a great way to supplement rabbits and chickens with fresh greens in the winter. It's fairly easy to do and doesn't take up a ton of space and will make you less dependent on commercial feed.

66. Raising Meat Rabbits

Raising meat rabbits has a lot of benefits, especially for small-scale homesteaders. They don't eat a lot, they're quiet, they don't take up a ton of space, and they're prolific producers.

67. Breeding Practices

Knowing basic breeding practices for the animals on your homestead will save you money and enable you to produce healthy animals from your own homestead.

68. Birthing Practices

This is an essential skill for anyone who has livestock that gives live birth. You never know for sure when your animal is going to give birth, vets aren't always available, and sometimes the animal needs assistance. Learn the basic practices so you can be confident when your animal goes into labor.

69. Give an Injection to an Animal

Knowing how to give a subcutaneous, intramuscular, intraperitoneal, intravenous, and intradermal injection to animals is beneficial to avoid vet bills when you need to give your animal an injection.

70. Raising Heritage Breeds

Learning the ins and outs of heritage breed livestock can help you raise sustainable breeds that are better suited to a modern homestead. They aren't quite the same as some of the commercial breeds available today, but they're hardier, easier to acclimate, and many are endangered.

71. DIY Chicken Feed

Pelletized feed is expensive and not sustainable if there are supply chain issues. Learning how to make your own chicken feed and feed chickens if the commercial feed isn't available can help bridge the gap.

72. Feeding Dogs a Raw Diet

Dogs thrive off of a raw diet and kibble really isn't that great for them. In fact, dry dog food was invented as part of the war effort during the second world war, so it hasn't been around all that long.

73. Basic Wound Care for Animals

Knowing how to stop bleeding a dressing a wound for an animal can be the difference between life and death or at the very least a nasty infection.

74. How to Cut, Bale & Stack Hay

Learning how to cut, bale, and stack hay is an important skill, especially for anyone raising livestock that consumes hay during the winter months (or year-round).

75. Horseback Riding

If you needed to get somewhere and there were no cars, or no fuel to operate them, how would you get there? Learning how to properly handle and ride a horse could help you in a situation where you needed to travel more quickly than you can on foot and couldn't utilize a modern auto to do it.

76. Incubating & Hatching Eggs

Learning how to incubate and hatch your own eggs can help you be less dependent on hatcheries and outside sources for new chickens for meat and eggs, assuming you're not growing out hybrid, production breeds that can't easily naturally reproduce.

77. Tanning Hides

This is on our list this year for things to learn. Learning how to tan hides can help you make things to keep you warm as well as be an income-producing endeavor for your homestead.

78. Controlling Pests Naturally

Things like chicken fleas, lice, and mites can be a real problem on a homestead. As well as intestinal worms and the like in goats, cows, etc. Learning how to naturally keep those pests at bay can really help out.

79. Keeping Bees & Harvesting Honey

Beekeeping has really taken off amongst small homesteaders in the past few years. If you have the means, starting your own hive can be rewarding. Learn how to keep these essential pollinators and how to safely and properly harvest honey to naturally sweeten some goods or make that vinegar I was talking about earlier.

Foraging & Survival Skills

80. How to Use a Compass

Knowing how to use a compass can help you when you're lost, but it can also help you in other avenues.

81. How to Hunt & Fish

Learning the regulations and how to properly hunt both large and small game as well as fish can keep food on the table year-round without you having to feed it.

82. How to Clean & Sharpen a Blade

Properly cleaning and sharpening a knife or ax can help keep tools sharp and useful.

83. How to Read a Map

In our modern world, so many folks don't know how to properly read a map because smartphones do it all for them. Knowing how to properly read a map can not only get you where you're going if you're lost, but it can also help you figure out property lines, building placement, and more.

84. Basic Self Defense

We should all have a little basic self-defense knowledge under our belts. If you're in a situation where you need it, you need to know it then. Brush up on your skills or take a course so you can protect yourself if you ever need to.

85. How to Signal

If you're lost, knowing how to signal can be the difference between being found and staying lost. Learn how to properly signal in case you're ever lost or unable to get out of an area you're in.

86. How to Make Shelter

The shelter is a basic human need. If you find yourself out in the wilderness, you need to be able to find or properly build a shelter.

87. How to Make Fire Starters

Firestarters are easy to make and can help you easily start a fire to stay warm almost instantly on super cold days.

88. How to Make a Fire

Knowing how to build a proper fire and how to start one without matches can help keep you warm if you find yourself outside in the elements unable to get back home.

89. Basic First Aid

Knowing basic first aid can help you out in so many ways on and off the homestead. I'll delve a little deeper into this on down the list.

90. How to Find Water and Make it Safe for Drinking

We can't live very long without fresh water, it's essential for our survival. Learn how to find water and make it safe for drinking so you can survive if you find yourself out in the wilderness without water.

91. How to Use a Firearm

Knowing how to take apart, clean, reassemble and safely use a firearm is an excellent skill to possess so you can protect your homestead against predators, hunt, etc.

92. How to Tie Various Knots

Tying knots can help you in more than just camping. Knowing various knots can help you with various things all around the homestead.

93. How to Clean & Cook Fish

If you catch some fish, you need to know how to properly clean and cook the fish so it's edible and safe to consume.

94. How to Handle Wildlife Encounters

If you're in the wilderness or even just on a homestead that has a lot of wildlife and predators, you need to know how to handle it. Freaking out is going to end badly. Know how to handle it calmly and protect yourself.

95. How to Open a Can

Modern electric can openers aren't going to be very helpful if you're without electricity. Knowing how to open a can without a can opener can help provide you with food should you have cans and no way to open them.

96. How to Identify Edible Mushrooms

Mushrooms can provide you with nourishment, but you need to know how to identify what mushrooms are edible more than once. Of course, all mushrooms are edible, right? Just some are only edible the one time. Knowing how to properly identify edible mushrooms and separate them from the poisonous fungi can help improve your self-sufficiency skills.

97. How to Identify & Use Locally Edible and Medicinal Plants

Foraging can provide you with food and medicine, but you need to know how to do it. Grab a book for your area to help you accurately identify wild edibles in your area. Also, if you know a seasoned forager in your area, see if you can go with them so you can learn first-hand.

98. How to Identify Poisonous Plants

Some poisonous plants look similar to edible ones. Know how to properly identify poisonous plants.

99. How to Identify Spoiled Food

Something our ancestors knew how to do because they didn't have modern refrigeration to keep food good indefinitely. Knowing how to identify spoiled food in the event of a power outage can keep you from getting a foodborne illness.

100. How to Make Booby Traps

Knowing how to make and set booby traps isn't just for practical jokes, it's one of those homesteading skills that many homesteaders, especially those on large tracts of land, can utilize.

101. How to Stay Warm in a Sleeping Bag

Sleeping bags can help keep you warm if you find yourself stuck in freezing temps outdoors, but you need to know how to properly use one to stay warm.

First Aid & Natural Remedy Skills

102. Cleaning & Dressing Wounds

Knowing how to properly irrigate a cut, use a butterfly, and dress a wound can be the difference between a quickly healing wound and a potentially deadly infection.

103. Stopping Bleeding

Knowing how to make a tourniquet and stop heavy bleeding can be the difference between life and death, especially on a homestead where emergency help could be farther away than you have time for.

104. CPR

An essential skill everyone should have. Learn yourself, teach your children, everyone in your home should know proper CPR.

105. Setting a Splint

Just like stopping bleeding, if you're far from help and someone has a broken bone, knowing how to set a splint can be invaluable and keep an injury from getting worse.

106. Heimlich Manuever

Just as important as CPR is the Heimlich manuever, know how to perform this on yourself, your child, and someone else and teach all members capable in your household, it could save a life.

107. Stitches

Knowing basic stitches in an event that you cannot get to professional help can be an invaluable tool. Knowing how to close up a wound using stitches should be on your list.

108. Support a Sprain

While sprains aren't as bad as broken bones, they still need a little help. Know how to properly wrap, ice and elevate a sprain to keep further damage from occurring.

109. Spot a Concussion

Concussions can be dangerous and cause long-term damage. If someone receives a blow to the head, check them for dizziness, pupil dilation, coherence, vomiting, and extreme sleepiness and get them medical help if a concussion is suspected.

110. Treat Shock

If you treat an injury but don't treat shock the person will likely still die. Knowing how to recognize the symptoms of shock and how to properly treat it can mean the difference between life and death. Make sure you keep the person calm, warm and keep their feet elevated to help regulate their blood pressure.

111. Treat Hypothermia

Hypothermia is dangerous and if you or someone you're with is trapped outdoors in freezing temperatures and inadequate clothing, it can occur. Knowing how to notice its symptoms and how to treat it could save your life.

112. Treat Hyperthermia

Extreme heat can be just as deadly as extreme cold. Recognizing when someone has heat exhaustion and getting them in a cool place, with cool cloths on their neck and pushing fluids can help prevent heatstroke, which can be deadly.

113. How to Deliver a Baby

Find yourself or your loved one pregnant and without medical care? Knowing how to deliver a baby could be essential in a situation where medical help can't be reached in a timely fashion, or at all.

114. How to Make Essential Oils

Knowing how to extract oils from plants and make your own essential oils can help you make soaps, lotions, and remedies.

115. How to Make a Poultice

Another common skill our ancestors had that many of us don't know much about anymore is how to make a poultice to dress a wound, burn, etc.

116. How to Make Salve

Making salves for healing, making your own vapor rub, and more can help.

117. Basic Medicinal Properties for Local Herbs and Wild Plants

Plants possess a lot of healing power. Think about what herbs you are growing, what herbs and plants you are foraging, and what are some of their medicinal properties? Grab a book on herbal remedies to help you learn how to properly make and use some herbal remedies.

118. How to Make a Tincture

Tinctures are concentrated extracts made from leaves, barks, flowers, etc that are soaked in alcohol or vinegar. These tinctures can be powerful medicines. Learn how to make and use a few of your own.

119. How to Remove a Tick

Ticks are awful little creatures. If you find yourself or someone else with a tick latched on, knowing how to remove them is essential. Removing deer ticks is different than removing wood ticks. Know how to check for, identify, and properly remove ticks to help avoid illness.

120. Make Natural Mosquito Repellent

Commercially available mosquito repellents are harmful. Learn how to make your own using essential oils and herbs to keep mosquitoes and the diseases they carry at bay.

121. How to Stay Calm

Calmness during emergency situations traumatic events is essential. Knowing how to keep calm and work through can be the difference between life and death.

Preparedness Skills

122. Forecast Weather

Knowing how to properly forecast your weather is possible. Mother nature gives us lots of clues about storms, how strong they will be, etc.

123. Prepare for Wildfires

Wildfires can be devastating, know how to properly prepare your homestead in the event of one to help protect your property, your livestock, and above all, yourself.

124. Prepare for Blizzards

Blizzards can also be devastating and cut the power off for days or more. Knowing how to be prepared for weather like blizzards can help keep you and your livestock safe and warm.

125. Prepare for Hurricanes

If you live in a hurricane-prone area knowing how to prepare for hurricanes and keep your livestock safe, how to safely evacuate yourself and your animals if you need to can be essential to survival.

126. Tornado Preparedness

Preparing a storm shelter for tornadoes if you live in a tornado-prone area is essential and having a few tornado survival skills can help you out immensely.

127. Staying Warm in the Winter

Whether you're in the blizzard or it's just downright cold, knowing how to stay warm in the winter is essential. Wearing the proper clothing can help you avoid frostbite and hypothermia.

128. Keeping Cool in the Summer

On the opposite end of the spectrum is, of course, staying cool in the summer. Using cool, damp cloths, staying in the shade, hydrating, wearing lightweight, breathable clothing, and the like can help you keep cool and avoid heat exhaustion whether you have air conditioning or not.

129. What to Pack in a Bug Out Bag

In the event of an emergency, having the proper items packed in a bug-out bag can be essential. Food, water, first aid kit, light, and many other items should go in the bag.

Miscellaneous Skills

130. How to Card Wool and Other Fibers

Having access to fiber can be important. Knowing how to card wool, cotton, and other fibers can help you gain essential fibers to make clothing, blankets, and more.

131. How to Spin and Weave Wool and other Fibers

Once you've carded the fiber, you need to spin it into thread. Then, take that thread and weave it to make fabrics for blankets, towels, clothing, and more.

132. Water Dowsing

Water dowsing is the act of locating water underground without any special tools. This can help you find water on your property.

133. How to Use Wood Ash

If you're utilizing wood for heating or cooking on your homestead, you'll wind up with a lot of wood ash. This isn't a waste product. Learn how to use wood ash for various things from using it as a leavening agent in baked goods to using it to make soap or amend the soil.

134. Blacksmithing Skills

Something my husband is very interested in is gaining blacksmithing skills. Learning how to create a blade out of raw materials can be essential if supply chains are broken down since knives, axes, mauls, and more are essential on a homestead, and really just for life in general.

135. Ways to Make Money

The world, in its current state, requires money. Whether it's to purchase goods or just to pay property taxes, we have to have money for things at some point. Learn ways to make money from your homestead instead of having to work in an industrial setting to help pay those expenses or get out of debt.

136. Basic Plumbing

Pipe burst? Plumbers can be quite expensive, especially after hours. Homesteaders are typically the do-it-yourselfer type of crowd. Learn basic plumbing repairs and how to unclog a drain so you don't have to pick up the phone for a simple fix.

137. Basic Carpentry Skills

It always fascinates me how when the Ingalls left the little house in the big woods, they didn't take their furniture with them. Most of us wouldn't think of not taking our furnishings with us when we moved today. But, knowing how to build anything from the barns and coops I mentioned before to tables, chairs and other things can help you, especially in supply chain shortage situations or if you do find yourself needing to move without taking much with you.

138. Basic Mechanic Skills

Knowing how to change a tire, change oil, fix an engine, jumpstart a battery, etc can all be beneficial skills on a homestead.

139. How to Fell a Tree

Knowing how to safely and accurately fall a tree is essential. It can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing.

140. How to Split and Stack Firewood

Knowing how to cut, split, and stack firewood and which wood can be used for burning in indoor fireplaces and wood stoves is a great skill.

141. Using Wood for Heat

We switched to wood heat last year after living several years without it. It saves electricity and fuel, it's comfortable, it's sustainable, and it keeps our house warm regardless of whether we have power or not.

142. Using Gray Water

Gray water from your kitchen sink, your bathtub, and your washing machine can all be stored and reused for various things. Learn how to store and use gray water instead of just letting it all swirl down the drain.

143. Collecting Rainwater

Rainwater is another water source that is free and can be used for various things. Learn how to properly collect and store rainwater so you can use it to water your garden and more without having to turn on the faucet.

144. Make Your Own Solar Panels

Learning how to make your own DIY solar panels can help you save on electricity and be environmentally conscious while still utilizing power.

145. How to Drive a Manual Transmission

Manual transmissions aren't very common anymore, but you never know when you'll need this essential skill. Our car is a manual, on purpose. It's a skill I believe everyone should have.

146. How to Operate Heavy Machinery/Drive a Tractor

Tractors and other heavy machinery are some modern innovations that we should all be thankful for. They make our jobs easier and quicker. Knowing how to properly operate them is essential to get the job done without trying to do it all your own.

147. How to Hook Up and Back a Trailer

Lots of homesteaders use various trailers from flatbeds to haul tractors, etc to dump beds to livestock trailers. Know how to properly hook up a ball hitch, a gooseneck, and a fifth wheel and how to properly and safely back a trailer up.

148. Live Within Your Means

Being frugal and living within your means is an important aspect of homesteading. Know what you can do without and how to budget to get yourself out of debt, if you're in it, and live without struggling paycheck to paycheck by living frugally.

149. Barter & Trade

While we all need money, that doesn't mean that we have to use the money to get all of the things we need. Finding a local that will barter and even trade goods or services with you can be a money-saving way to get necessities without having to fork over a lot of cash.

150. Creating Community & Asking for Help

Community is essential in homesteading. No man is an island and none of us can do all of the things ourselves or possess all of the skills and goods we need to make this life work. Meeting like-minded folks and local farmers and knowing when to ask for help can go a long way to achieving your homesteading dream.

While even though there are a lot of items on this list, it is far from exhaustive. But, hopefully some of these skills can help you get a little more familiarized with this way of life and get working on your homesteading journey.

If you're looking for ideas on how to reconnect with your food, nature, and the heritage way of life, you've come to the right place.

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