Skills Every Homesteader Should Know (Printable List)
Whenever I meet someone early on in their homesteading journey that's feeling overwhelmed by all the different new skills there is to learn, I'm quick to remind them where I started. Both my husband and I were born and raised in the city. We had little to no exposure to agriculture. Our families didn't hunt. Neither my mom nor my grandparents ever showed me any type of food preservation or how to keep a vegetable garden. In fact, I had never even heard of raw milk or cooked meat with bones in it until my 20s! (Now I've raised, butchered and cooked a whole chicken hundreds of times!)
I truly believe if I can learn homestead skills, anyone can. It doesn't happen overnight though. And it does take hard work!
The first several years of our homesteading journey, we were still living in the city on a small lot. We didn't have the money or much space to grow a lot of our own food, but I was eager to stop relying on the grocery store. So I started buying in bulk from local farmers and learned water bath canning and how to cook through a whole animal. I also started baking from scratch with simple ingredients for the first time and made our own bread, tortillas, and other staples. I also got serious about food waste and used our kitchen scraps to start a compost pile. I experimented with water management by installing a rain barrel. We learned to do basic woodworking projects by building a few raised beds. I switched to buying raw milk and learned to make our own cheese, butter, and yogurt from it.
There are SO many things you can do to prepare you for your future homestead plans even if you are without acres of land or even in a small apartment. Commit to being intentional about learning a new practical homesteading skill (or two!) wherever you are... It will definitely lessen the learning curve long term!
I have a list of every basic homestead skill I could think of - some of them you may have already mastered! Some your spouse may know. They are broken up into three different categories (for a free printable version of this list, CLICK HERE!)
Kitchen Skills
Sharpening a Knife
Baking from Scratch
Sourdough Bread
Cooking a Whole Chicken
Breaking Down a Whole Chicken into Parts
Making Broth/Stock
Dehydrating Medicinal Herbs for Herbal Remedies
Dehydrating Culinary Herbs
Waterbath Canning
Pressure Canning
Small Animal Butchering
Large Animals Butchering
Making your Own Soap
Soft Cheese Making
Hard Cheese Making
Fermentation
Freeze Drying
Rendering Fats
Cooking Dried Beans
Homemade Noodles
Waterglassing Eggs
Making Yogurt
Making Butter
Making Ghee
Meal Planning
Curing Meat
Grinding Wheat Berries
Cooking in Cast Iron
Homemade Vinegars
Utilizing Organ Meats
Sterilizing Water
Make Your Own Laundry Detergent and Cleaners
Around the House Skills
Sewing by Hand
Sewing with a Sewing Machine
Mending Clothes
Leatherwork
Candlemaking
Spinning Wool
Crocheting
Knitting
Weaving
Tanning Hides
Ceramics
Budgeting
Basic First Aid
Basic Plumbing Skills
Basic Electrical Skills
Outdoor Skills
Basic Carpentry
Welding
Small Engine Repair
Basic Engine Maintenance
Milling Lumber
Splitting Wood
Falling a Tree
Hooking Up a Trailer
Pruning Fruit Trees
Propagating Plants
Bee Keeping
Making Compost
Making Bio char
Line Drying Clothes
Installing Rain Catchment
Hand Milking
Machine Milking
Horseback Riding
Carrying 50#
Hunting
Fishing
Trapping
Seed Saving
Foraging
Winter Sowing
Gardening
Observing Wind Patterns
Starting a Fire
Using Solar Panels
Navigating Rural Areas
One last thing, remember that learning old-fashioned skills take time. You can't flip a switch from modern day way of life to the homesteading lifestyle in an instant! The best way to learn a basic skill is to do it over and over again. You'll fail at it many times before you succeed, but keep going! These are some of the most important skills you can ever learn.
TO DOWNLOAD THE PRINTABLE LIST - CLICK HERE!
