Your Master List of Practical Skills
Camping Skills
- Cook over an open fire
- Know multiple ways to start a fire
- Store food safely outdoors
- Cook on a camp stove
- Learn how to tie a reef knot, bowline, sheet bend, clove-hitch knot and when to use them
- Correctly sharpen a knife
- Identify edible wild plants and use them in recipes
- Take a wilderness survival course
- Learn to hunt both small and large game
- Choose the best spot for a campsite
- Pitch a tent correctly
- Learn how to navigate using a compass
- Know how to stay cool and warm when there’s no power available
- Recognize tracks of various animals in your area
- Know how to find water in the wilderness
- Know how to navigate using the sun and stars
- Know how to survive outdoors in the winter
Cultivation/Husbandry Skills
- Know how to raise, butcher, and cook rabbits and chickens
- Grow a vineyard
- Grow and harvest wild yeast
- Organic gardening and farming
- Grow and process medicinal herbs
- Begin and maintain a compost pile
- Begin or enlarge a home garden
- Grow and maintain an orchard
- Bee-keeping
- Learn basic care of farm animals
- Learn how to ride and care for a horse
- Prone rose bushes
- Plan and care for a flower garden
- Learn how to correctly save seeds
Domestic Skills
- Make butter, yogurt, ice cream and cheese
- Make homemade vinegars
- Make homemade jams and jellies
- Pickle veggies
- Make a pie from scratch
- Carve a turkey
- Cook with a Dutch oven
- Make homemade jerky
- Cook using a solar oven
- Cook using a pressure cooker
- Make homemade soup without a recipe
- Make a good homemade pizza
- Make homemade baby foods
- Make sourdough starter and bread
- Can sauces, meat, produce and main dishes
- Grind wheat and make homemade bread
- Cut up and de-bone chicken
- Dehydrate produce and other foods
- Sprout seeds
- Make homemade corn and flour tortillas
- Butcher a chicken or other small animal
- Make homemade wine or beer
- Make homemade candles
- Know effective home remedies for common ailments
- Grow and use herbs for cooking and medicinal purposes
- Know how to wash and dry laundry using alternative methods
- Teach a child how to read
Textile Skills
- Hem a pair of pants
- Sew by hand and machine
- Use a treadle sewing machine
- Make a quilt using different methods
- Spin your own yarn
- Knit and crochet
- Embroider
- Patch a pair of jeans and elbows of a jacket
- Darn socks
- Make a homemade rug
- Learn basic upholstery skills
- Learn basic weaving
- Learn leather work and tanning
First Aid/Safety
- Purify water
- Take a CPR, First Aid or Wilderness First Aid class
- Learn the correct way to do the Heimlich maneuver
- Learn how to load and shoot a firearm
- Learn archery
- Take a CERT training class
- Volunteer with law enforcement or fire department
- Take a lifeguard class
- Learn to swim the four major strokes: freestyle, back, breast, and butterfly
- Know how to care for an invalid
- Learn a martial art
- Create a family evacuation plan
- Learn a second or third language
- Learn American Sign Language
Personal Care
- Make homemade lotions and soaps
- Make homemade laundry soap and cleaning fluids
- Make homemade toothpaste
- Learn calligraphy
- Learn photography, flower arranging
- Learn to play an instrument
- Take drawing or painting lessons
- Make toys or dolls by hand
- Learn massage skills
- Learn how to cut and style hair
- Become a master storyteller
Trade Skills and Household Maintenance
- Make homemade solar cooker
- Make an effective gray water filter
- How to set up a make-shift toilet and/or latrine
- Car engine repair and maintenance
- Appliance repair
- Make simple plumbing repairs, such as dealing with a clogged sink
- Learn how to lay tile
- Learn power tool basics
- Correctly use hand tools
- Learn how to jump start a car
- Change a tire
- Drive multiple types of vehicles, e.g. motorcycle, RV
- Know how to use a chainsaw
- Know how to repair drywall
Click HERE for a printable of this list.
