Skills Over Stuff

How to develop skills rather than just buy more stuff

Have you heard the prepper phrase – “Two is One, and One is None”?

Way back in Episode 2 – Skills Over Stuff, in 2021, Perpend and I developed the idea of Skills Over Stuff. We even tried to get some traction behind the hashtag #SkillsOverStuff. (remember hashtags?)

We addressed the “Two is One, One is None” prepper mindset and recommended that instead of focusing on filling up your Bug Out Bag or pantry with two of everything, you should learn the skills to use them.

It is better to develop the skills to bridge that gap, rather than filling it with stuff.

You have a chainsaw. How often do you use it? Do you know how to sharpen the chain? Have you practiced this skill?

In my Bug Out Bag/Go Bag, I have four means of fire starting. But have I practiced using them? How about practicing using them in the rain?

When was the last time that you used them? My prepper friend Dave and I had a skills exercise one day on using our gear to start a campfire. Some of my vaseline-dipped cotton balls for fire starting were either completely dried out. And even worse – some had leaked through the plastic bag and into my BOB and onto my clothes and gear.

Buy the best thing that you can afford, within reason. With supply chain breakdowns, you may not be able to get replacements. And buying cheap hiking shoes or boots will make your feet very sad.

Teach Your Kids Foundational Skills

Jeff Putnam on Twitter/X posted that he as a team leader he lamented on how one of his junior team members did not know how to read a tape measure. On a Construction job!

Someone didn’t learn Foundational Skills.

Foundational Skills

Foundational Skills are ones that stand the test of time. (Also called Tier 1 skills). They are good 100 years ago or 100 years from now:

• Pattern Recognition
• Learn how to Learn
• Growing food
• Foraging
• Building and Making – Basic construction
• Repairing stuff
• Cooking, including cooking from scratch. You would be amazed how many college kids graduate college and do not know how to cook (other than ramen).
• Fix what breaks rather than replacing it
• Basic first aid
• Herbal/traditional medicine

Ben Falk’s Skills to Set up a Child for Success

Can your child point out North, South, East, and West when outside?

Ben Falk’s “The Resilient Farm and Homestead” book has been my homesteading Bible for over 10 years.

In his new edition of “The Resilient Farm and Homestead, Revised and Expanded Edition: 20 Years of Permaculture and Whole Systems Design”, Ben Falk has a new section on teaching children skills – How to set up a child for success.

For smaller kids, it is the basics: Don’t walk on the garden beds, Tool safety. But he then goes into recognizing animal tracks, Plant Identification.

He then has a long list of the High-School-level graduation competency requirements that he plans to use for his child, including both pattern understanding and hard skills. Lots of permaculture skills, but also recognizing cardinal directions (North/South/East/West), and “can ID fifteen wild edibles within 1 hour in midsummer and explain one or more ways to use each one”. (This is a challenging skill that I would like to learn/refine myself).

Some of the things on the list:

• Can cook from scratch (and his requirement is on a wood stove)
• Can read a map (not just Google maps).
• Can identify contours and water movement across land.
• Can tie a variety of knots.
• Can safely and competently use all of the tools in the shop or garage.
• Can run a mile in a specific time.
• Can swim and hold his breath underwater for a certain length of time.
• Basic first aid and wound care.
• Can get anywhere on the property without a headlamp on a cloudy night in the Winter.
• Knows gun safety and use of different firearms.
• Knows basic self-defense.
• Can identify how to make money in the local area. Create a business plan. Use a spreadsheet and ledger.

Conflict resolution skills will be important

Conflict resolution and de-escalation will be very important skills in the future.

Managing Tradeoffs. Not everything is Winner-Take-All or Zero-Sum. There are seldom 100% winners or losers. This is one of my Top 5 most important skills to teach. It is all about mindset.

“There are no solutions, only tradeoffs” – Thomas Sowell.

You would be surprised how many kids do not know how to play a game with good sportsmanship. I have seen kids quit when they start losing, not even waiting until the game is completed. Playing games even when you are losing build resilience.

You need to teach negotiation skills. Help them understand that you don’t start at the best deal because if you do that then you have nowhere to go in your negotiations. You also don’t “give away the farm”. You end up somewhere in the middle and teach your kid that “it is OK”.

Learn how to build trust with someone. How to interact with neighbors. Build community. How to listen instead of talking or thinking about what to say next. The importance of space and contemplation in the conversation.

Go to my Substack page for more great content. Let’s Thrive Together!

Teach Worldview, Faith, and Values

Teach a kid where he or she “fits” in the world, in the family, and in life. If we did this then a child would feel more purpose, and would feel “whole”.

Have discussions about family life when you grow up. You would think that this would be common sense, but schools, consumerism and pop culture, and climate anxiety have downplayed family and kids. Many kids do not understand that the purpose of life is to grow up, have a wife, a family, and kids. My 13 year old grandson thinks that the purpose in life is to grow up, get a good enough job to be able to afford his “all about me” stuff, and play video games. When asked about family, he thinks that all that will get in his way. Granted, he is 13 years old. But in many ways, we have failed to teach him the Meaning of Life. Sad.

Teach Faith and Values. Don’t only outsource it to church. Live those values.

Last week my grandson and I went to the auto parts store to get front brake pads for the car. They sold me the rear brake pads, not the front brake pads. I was upset, because this happened before.

We went back to the store, and I was going to give the manager a piece of my mind. It started to get tense. Then I took a deep breath, reached across the counter, and extended my hand and said, “I am sorry for the mixup.”

It defused the situation. Turned out that the computer has two of the brake pads next to each other and said that they were front brake pads. (this has happened before).

The guy, in his late forties, then lamented about how his day was going. Me making a big deal about this would have made his day worse.

I am not bragging. But kids need to see Grace in action.

What other Foundational skills can you think of?

I will break down these skills more in-depth in future posts.

If you like this content then Buy Me a Coffee.

Elderberry cuttings are now available at Grow Nut Trees. That’s at GrowNutTrees.com and BuyNutTrees.com.

Go to my Substack page for more great content. Let’s Thrive Together!