We did it once; we can do it again. What's the difference?

You know that basement full of older items that your grandmother had you clean out when she downsized? Hand crank food mixers, old cast irons, old school cook books...

If the lights go out for an extended period of time, that could set us back many many decades the difference, though is that our current infrastructure, the way we run our households, and the skill sets that we have, don’t align with the set up and skills that we had Back in the day. That’s where prepping comes into. I think that I have the skills to tell if my eggs are cooked whether it is on a campfire or my electric range? Of course. But do I have everything I need to be able to make that happen? Well, I do now… Back in the day we had our mothers and grandmothers, as well as our fathers and grandfathers that had likely lived on our land or in our homes for quite some time before us. They had passed on their sewing skills and equipment, carpentry skills and equipment, and their gardens along with their garden routines. Somewhere along the lines of our generations, we lost many of these skills which in turn means we do not have the equipment either. We "upgraded" from knitting needles and cast iron cookware to porcelain and stainless and storebought clothes. While there are still certain communities that live in more rural lifestyle and take care of their own animals and harvest their own food, that is certainly not the norm. My parents have a decent vegetable garden, but, we have never owned animals other than our family dog and cat throughout my life. They used to drive my sister out into the “country“ to take horseback riding lessons. We never learned to take care of pets on our own, nevermind livestock. It was never the lifestyle they were looking for.

If you told most people to get on a horse right now, I’m not sure they could make it go anywhere. If you told many of your neighbors that they had to grow some thing other than the grass in their yard, they would tell you they don’t have a green thumb.

Bringing back the skills of the old days is crucial now more than ever. The more generations that passed by, without revitalizing these skills, is just more and more space in between our ability to get through if a disaster strikes. Along with these skills is the need for the tools and equipment to put them to use. Now is the time to obtain this equipment while you can. Before it is too late.