This article was reposted with permission from Granny Miller.

What follows below is a partial list of homesteading skills that my husband and I share between us. I offer this list as a starting point to hopefully inspire young couples or new homesteaders to learn at least one or two new skills in the coming New Year. Why not finally get rid of the TV and ditch Facebook in 2013? Dare to find a new way of life. Every skill that you learn will be one step closer to a life of greater self-reliance and independence.

-Advertisement-

101 Basic Homesteading Skills



1. Learn how to safely use a chainsaw

2. Learn how to grow a vegetable plant

3. Learn how to sharpen any edge tool — knife, axe, hoe, chisel etc.

4. Learn basic firearm safety and gun proof your children and grandchildren

5. Learn how to dub a chicken

6. Learn how to read the weather

7. Learn how to spin wool, cotton or flax into thread or yarn on a spinning wheel or with a drop spindle

8. Learn how to use a garden shovel, spade or hoe without hurting your back

9. Learn how to light a fire indoors or outdoors

10. Learn how to go to a country auction and not get skinned

11. Learn how to crochet

12. Learn how to butcher small livestock like rabbits or chickens

13. Learn how to hang clothes on a clothesline

14. Learn basic tractor maintenance

15. Learn the differences between trees and the unique properties of various types of wood

16. Learn how to cook 10 basic meals from scratch

17. Learn how to pasteurize milk

18. Learn how to witch for water with a forked branch or a bent metal hanger

19. Learn how to distinguish healthy plants and animals from unhealthy plants or animals

20. Learn basic sewing skills

21. Learn how to set an ear tag or tattoo for animal identification

22. Learn how determine an animal’s age by its teeth

23. Learn how to cut and glaze glass

24. Learn how to drive a standard transmission vehicle

25. Learn how to thaw out frozen pipes without busting them

26. Learn how and when to use hybrid seeds

27. Learn how to hand thresh and winnow wheat or oats and other small grains

28. Learn how to train a working cattle or sheep dog

29. Learn how to read the moon and stars

30. Learn how to make soft or hard cheeses

31. Learn how to live within your financial means

32. Learn how to fillet and clean a fish

33. Learn how to use a wash tub, hand-wringer and washboard

34. Learn how to make soap from wood ashes and animal fat

35. Learn how to lay basic brick or build a stone wall

36. Learn basic home canning and food preservation

37. Learn how to save open pollinated seeds

38. Learn how to de-horn livestock

39. Learn how to use an awl and basic leather repair

40. Learn how to make long-term plans for the future – plan an orchard or a livestock breeding program

41. Learn the mental skills necessary to jury rig anything with duct tape, baling twine and whatever is on hand

42. Learn how to read an almanac

43. Learn how to euthanize large livestock

44. Learn how to cook on a cook stove

45. Learn how to entertain yourself and live without electronic media

46. Learn how to shear a sheep

47. Learn how to manage human urine and feces without plumbing

48. Learn how to swap, barter and network with like-minded people

49. Learn how to make a candle

50. Learn how to dig and properly use a shallow well

51. Learn how to refinish furniture

52. Learn how to drive a draft animal

53. Learn the mental and spiritual skills to realistically deal with life, death and failure

54. Learn how to use non-electric lighting

55. Learn how to caponize a chicken

56. Learn how to restrain large livestock

57. Learn how to use a treadle sewing machine

58. Learn how to give an injection

59. Learn how to properly use a handsaw, hammer & nails, screw driver, wire cutters, and measuring tape

60. Learn how to recognize your own physical and mental skill limits

61. Learn how and when to prune grapes and fruit trees

62. Learn how to hatch out chicken, duck or other poultry eggs

63. Learn how to use a scythe

64. Learn how to skin a furbearer and stretch the skin

65. Learn how to tell the time of day by the sun

66. Learn how to milk a goat, sheep or cow

67. Learn how to stomach tube a newborn animal

68. Learn how to break ground and plow

69. Learn how to use a wood stove and how to bank a fire

70. Learn how to make butter

71. Learn how to knit

72. Learn how to make and use a hot bed or cold frame

73. Learn how to deliver a foal, calf, lamb or kid

74. Learn how to know when winter is over

75. Learn how to plant a tree

76. Learn how to brood day-old chicks

77. Learn how to dye yarn or cloth from plants

78. Learn how to haggle like a horse trader

79. Learn how to bake bread

80. Learn how to use a pressure tank garden sprayer

81. Learn how to halter break a horse or cow

82. Learn how to graft baby animals onto a foster-mother

83. Learn how to weave cloth

84. Learn how to grow everyday kitchen herbs

85. Learn how to make sausage

86. Learn how to set and bait traps for unwanted vermin and predators

87. Learn how to grind wheat into flour

88. Learn how to make paper and ink

89. Learn when it is more economical to buy something ready-made or when to make it yourself

90. Learn how to castrate livestock

91. Learn how choose a location for a vegetable garden or orchard

92. Learn how to weave a basket

93. Learn how to use electric netting or fencing

94. Learn how to make fire starters from corn cobs or pinecones

95. Learn how to use a pressure cooker

96. Learn how to correctly attach 3 point hitch implements to a tractor

97. Learn how to trim the hooves of goats or sheep

98. Learn how to sew your own underwear

99. Learn how to make your own wine.

100. Learn basic plumbing and how to sweat copper pipes and joints

101. Learn how to reload ammunition