30 Days to Better Preparedness. Day 22. Skills, mending, repairs.
This subject might bring back a lot of memories of things our Grandparents did. I can't imagine now how it would have been to live through the Great Depression. I wish I had understood sooner and asked a lot more questions. But now I understand a little more why Nan and Pa were so very careful with everything.
Life taught me about hard times through them and also through neighbours I've had over the years. Amongst them I had Janet who had been a pregnant women in a concentration camp. We used to have long conversations and she told me things that shook me to my core. She kept old envelopes with news clippings from when they were liberated from the camp. The photos of dead children and a little girl in her dressing gown and slippers shot dead on the street. I learned history like this was so recent as my neighbour was living to tell me. History repeats. We need to remember this.
Later my neighbour Ted ... he lived through the Great Depression in Poland. He told me how his family got through those years and all his Mum and Grandmother made. Also how hungry he was. He told me how one day in a park he saw a young couple sitting on a bench . They sat and peeled an apple and shared it. They let the apple peel drop on the grass. Ted hid behind a tree and didn't move. He waited. The minute they walked away he ran and ate that apple peel. It was so good to him. And so I understood why he was so industrious, he fished every day, keeping the freezer full of seafood. He fixed, maintained and invented all day long. Also he had a big veggie garden. I could understand how that was so important to him.
If I wanted anything fixed Ted was my man. His wife was also very industrious. She baked and could knit anything and sold her exquisite work which was so fine Ted made her knitting needles from bicycle spokes that he would make pointy on one end. She taught herself cake decorating and supplemented the income with this as well.
I also grew up with the hardest working parents. So I learned how to be inventive and figure out how to do things. Dad always said when there was no way.... "well, we will make a way." And he always did. God is a Way Maker. Dad was my second Way Maker. When we are stuck in a bad spot we need to be Way Makers too.
In a lengthy situation making do and mending could be such important skills. Over time I have collected a lot of items that would help me mend clothing. I have all kinds of needles from darning to upholstery. I have found them in op shops mainly. I have iron on patches and all kinds of cottons. Pure wool for darning. Buttons and all kinds of things for jeans and heavy materials.
Andy is pretty good at making and fixing things. Maintenance and repairs. He keeps pretty good supplies in the shed, tools and equipment that he has build up over the years. Tools and basics like nails, screws, adhesives, rope, tarps and more. He can also weld and do metal work.
We have a friend who is on our "team" that is a mechanic. He can fix motors and types, small appliances too. He can also service them. We are in a place now we have actually talked about having a team. An agreement that we will all help each other. Our friend knows he can count on us for eggs and I can mend/fix anything. We can trade skills.
Some fixing and mending is easy with the right equipment! For instance you can buy amazing glue for shoes. How good it would be to keep some of this on hand. My cobbler skills would not be too great but glue I can do!
The ability to mend and fix things would be a highly tradable skill in times of shortages. Having good tools for all this jobs. Consider... hair cutting scissors, sewing scissors, a sewing machine, garden tools, all kinds of glues. Knives, string, wire, paint, brushes, magnifying glasses, tiny little screws and tools for glasses. What about globes, batteries and filters. Motor oil, sewing machine oil, masking tape ... How valuable these could be. They should be part of your preparations and all good investments. You can probably think of many others.
So today consider what skills you need to learn and what to keep on hand that would help you. They could make a big difference some day. I would love further suggestions of tools to keep and skills to learn too. xxx
This is something that Bluey and I have looked at, especially when things were initially shut down. We both have some good skills with mending and building. One thing we have decided that we need to add is some new fishing equipment. We can both fish but havent had to for a while. Fishing is a skill and it takes time to get the feel for it. We havent had to fish as I swap my sewing and mending skills for fish.
ReplyDeleteToday I swapped some homemade hand cream for a jar of pure honey. Learning how to trade and barter is a serious skill that you need to practice to get good at.
I am participating in a basket making session in early Oct. The tutor uses found materials to make his creations. I am very much looking forward to this course. This will be another skill that we can add to what we have here.
Bluey has been doing bike maintenance on my metal steeds. Having bikes and being able to use them for all sorts of jobs is another great skill to have. I have two ebikes, one is folding and one is large and a trike. All have large baskets and luggage racks so can be used for all sorts of collections and are an alternative form of transport.
I use to sit and listen to the stories my Grandparents would tell me of the Great Depression. I grew up in a very frugal family, due mostly because of the Depression. My one Grandmother was excellent at foraging, how i wish I had paid more attention to her when I was a child.
ReplyDeleteBeing frugal and learning skills was ingrained in me. I wasn't allowed to drive a car or ride a motorcycle till I knew how to repair it, we are talking down to replacing head gaskets, clutches, brake pads, etc... You were also taught home repair, from electrical, plumbing to painting.
Mon was in charge of home. She taught how to clean, cook, run the washer and dryer, how to hang clothes, the right way! By the time I was 18 years old both my parents and my Grandparents taught me so many things to get by. Most families didn't do this by my generation and it is lost by the next.
When I married at 18 years old, I was better prepared then most. I was fortunate to have a mother in law that helped me learn canning, crocheting and a lot of different needlework. I have more skills than most women learn due to family. A true blessing.
My Parents taught me to have a pantry and to stock it frugally, teaching me about sales, coupons, rebates. Between frugal shopping, foraging, canning, dehydrating, gardening my pantry was always full even in lean times.
I taught my son may different skills and he is teaching his children. It is so important now to have skills that you are able to use to barter with. One reason I even acquired am old treadle sewing machine, the just in case there is no power.
We need to build our skills along with our pantries.
What a blessing t have known all those amazing people! My grandparents were fortunate to live out in the country and on farms during the depression so they did not go hungry during those times.
ReplyDeleteWe are pretty good at figuring out ways to fix most everything here, too. Years ago a piece of plastic broke out of the bottom of our ice maker bucket so we cut a patch out of a plastic milk jug and taped it on with aluminum tape and it is still holding! Aluminum tape is a good thing to have on hand because it will stick in conditions where others will not.
Dear Annabel, Excellent post, excellent reminder, as always. Your sad stories can match mine from the communism period. My grandmother widowed very young and had to raise 4 children all alone, just relying on her garden and animal stock and sewing/washing/helping in the garden for other people in the village. Then they came and took her cows and pigs from the courtyard and left her without almost all of her garden. The 2 boys and the 2 girls (my mama) were big enough to work for helping on the family, they knew how to sew, knit, crochet, dig, cook, fish, split wood, all yhere was to do in order to go ahead with dignity. And they made it togheter! My mama and me as a child were gathering fire wood in the snow and she had oldnewspapers in the boots to stop snow getting into the cracks. But she raised me well. We had all we need and love, she always said "of course we can do this!" Aand we did. I can sew, crochet, knit, mend, invent, grow food, butcher up a chicken or pig/rabbit cook from scracth, built a fire, or sing a lullaby. Because of them. In hard times everybody manage to go ahead - because the alternative is much worse. Learn everything with open heart and open mind. Be a fighter!
ReplyDeleteI would also add that plumbing tools would also be helpful, like a small drain snake and sink and toilet plungers. A spare wax seal incase you have to lift the toilet(perhaps to take a small swimming frog toy out?). Even preventatives like a tub mushroom to catch hair. Learning how to pull out the elbow under the sink and clear it, you can find that on youtube. Think about the "mechanics" of your house and what you need to maintain and do basic repairs. Heating, AC, plumbing, electrical.
ReplyDelete-Kathryn, Washington state
Yes? We always keep spare toilet parts because they have a tendency to fail on holidays when we have a house full of company.
DeleteMaking and mending are vital skills which are just becoming “fashionable” in time for some of the younger generations to want to learn more before these skills die out. Here in Europe, the EU has finally passed a law saying that all electrical products sold must be repairable and manufacturers must make spare parts available. I have a vintage Readers Digest book all about household repairs which I can recommend.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to skills that might be learned, basic blacksmithing/welding are skills that my husband and boys have, but as we are on a farm, they have perhaps more need of such skills. Another skill, again perhaps more needed on a farm or homestead, is the ability to kill an animal correctly, and to be able to skin or pluck it, gut it and divide it up. Obviously these skills are not for everyone, and are often regulated by law. My boys have to take a shooting test every year to prove that they can shoot accurately and that they know where to shoot the different animals to kill them efficiently and humanely.
Dear Annabel,
ReplyDeleteAnother wonderful post. My maternal grandmother lived with us and my paternal grandparents lived across the street. None of them ever spoke about the Depression, which I find odd. They certainly all lived through it as adults in their 30's and 40's. My Dad was born in 1915 and my mom in 1924 and, again, not a peep about the Depression.
My grandparents were frugal, however, and my paternal grandmother taught me many skills; cooking, sewing, baking, housekeeping and bookkeeping. These skills have served my family well and I am grateful for my grandmothers nurturing.
If a freezer stops working or the electricity is out for an extended time, a pressure canner (not cooker) and the skill to can comes in very handy. Learning to garden and possessing the right tools can be extremely important. Knowing how to save seeds from plants and store them properly is helpful, also. I have found an amazing number of uses for paper clips and butcher twine. Fishing line can be used for sutures in a pinch.
John keeps extra's of his garden tools and supplies. When 'you know what' hit it was hard to get lumber here. We planned out enough raised garden beds, including those for future use, and when we found the lumber bought it all right then. He keeps extra shade cloth and soil, also.
Thanks again for all your effort it takes to post daily for this series.
It is appreciated.
Love and hugs,
Glenda
I mend clothing and remove stains, as did my mother, but most of what I do I learned in home ec in grade school or asked other people. (My parents weren't good about teaching). In my 20s, I learned to garden on my own and my mother-in-law taught me to can. I still use her pressure canner from the late 1940s.
ReplyDeleteWhen Mike and I were younger, all repairs and improvements were DIY, always because we couldn't afford to pay someone to do it for us. We didn't always enjoy it, but we did it. And not everything turned out perfectly, but we dealt with it. My husband hates plumbing! But you know what--he can do it! (Might take 3 tries, though). He actually enjoys carpentry. However, neither of us is mechanical, and we mostly paid people to fix our cars. I replaced the heating element in a water heater once and also the pump in a washing machine. Both times, I was at home with two little kids (and broke) when he was gone on business. Desperate people do desperate things!
Thank you Annabel for another great post to make us all think :).
ReplyDeleteI would like to add there is so many wonderful how to repair tutorials on places like YouTube that you can refer to to repair things around your home and gain knowledge if you haven't done it before. We all gain skills by trying new things and learning as we go.
Having supplies to be able to maintain and repair things in our home is vital also. Things like spare parts for our machinery such as spare chainsaw chains,spare recoil pull starters for chainsaws, an array of nuts, bolts, screws that can be used to repair multiple things, spare tyres and wheels for garden equipment, drills, sandpaper, sanders and hand tools etc.
We have skills in restoring furniture, using machinery of most types, painting, plumbing, basic mechanical, basic building skills, sewing and gardening skills. More importantly we are willing to learn new skills as well.
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).
Thanks for the post and for everyone sharing. My husband and I gleaned a lot of knowledge from accounts from the 1930's. We are mostly self-taught in all our mending and repair skills. Glad we can pass it on to our kids.
ReplyDeleteBlessings to you all!