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Welcome to the Raggedy Cottage and Garden. As an effort to promote home style creativity and genuine old-fashioned character, I have starte...

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Off-the-grid skills that will save you "money".....

Of course, some off-the-grid skills do require more work and time than using a typical machine, but having these skills on hand could help you in knowing what to do in times of need and trial.

1. Knowing how to cook food from scratch.  Examples: pancakes, quick bread, sourdough bread, cornmeal mush, cornmeal foods, muffins, soups, stir-fry and more.

2. Knowing how to grow your own foods.  Examples: Lettuce, Kale, beans, tomatoes, peppers, vine-crops like pumpkins and cucumbers and more.  (Try square-foot gardening into 1 foot square laundry baskets lined with vinyl or grass....easy to care for method of gardening)

3. Cleaning up your home.  Cleanliness is a basic principle of life.  Examples: washing the dishes by hand, mopping, shaking out rugs and more.

4. Reading books.  Yeup.  Old fashioned books can be read without use of a screen.  Although it is cheaper to buy an online text version of a classic book, the 0.25 book you found at an auction or antique store can save you money in having to buy a new device every 3 years (300 books*0.25 =75$.....156 books is about how many books a person will truly read in 3 years).  What about using the public library??

5. Writing by hand.  Keeping a few notebooks and folders won't keep you from getting things done.  It is just a different way of organizing your life.  A few note-cards in a file can keep things in line.

6. Using lamps, special flashlights and other methods of lighting.  Once a week, turn off the lights and live by lamp light.  Seven candles lights up a room quite well for the ancient days.

7. Hunting and gathering.  If we all could go without going to a grocery store for every little thing, humanity would not fear, when the oil supplies are not near.  Knowing how to trap animals can help a lot of effort in getting enough meat supply on hand.

8. Sewing.  Yeup.  Just get out a needle and thread.  It takes 2 to 4 times as long to stitch together a garment, but the old method of needle, thread and thmble still works.  Try stitching 5 mini stitches in a row.  Back-stitch one and then start up another 5 stitches in a row.  Continue repeating.

9. Knitting.  Knitting can create a wide array of things.  What about some warm socks.

10. Hand washing clothes.  If you don't have a wringer, try stomping the clothes into a bucket filled with holes.  Pressing the washed clothes saves the hard hand work.  How to do clothes in a tub (like a bath tub or plastic bin)? Add clothes to hot water with soaps.  Soak 15 minutes or more.  Stomp and stir 10 minutes.  Drain.  Add rinse water and softener.  Soak 10 minutes or more.  Stomp and stir 5 minutes.  Drain.  Add more rinse water.  Soak 10 minutes or more.  Stomp and stir 5 minutes.  Drain.  Repeat last rinse session and ensure that the water runs clear.  Wring the clothes.  (Don't try the wringing by hand method, just stomp into a bucket filled with holes or get a wringer).....Hang Dry.

11. Education by bible and route.  Copy work, spelling, vocabulary, reading comprehension and more can be gathered from a regular bible.  Yes, it takes more time and effort to ensure that a child knows what he needs to know in life, but eventually reading psalms and proverbs multiple times should allow the child to pick up on practical reading skills.

12. Building things with mud and brick.  Build a little storage unit.  Build a house for chickens.  Build a play house.  Maybe even build your own home.  You really don't need to make a home that looks like the neighbor's home, just make sure it looks like you care about what you have designed.

13. Quick nature shelters.  Know how to gather cat-tail and build a little hut.  You never know when weaving skills from things in nature could come in handy.

14. Weaving things.  Know how to weave things from nature.  Keep learning and you will survive in hard times.  Baskets and rugs come in handy for many purposes.

15. Cooking on an open fire.  How long does it take to boil that soup?  Maybe you can purchase an old wood stove.

16. Bike and walk to work.  Exercise doesn't always come from a fancy gym membership.

This list could go on and on.  All in all, just consider that all things "new" or "progressive" are not necessarily good for humanity.  They are simply there to save some time and energy.  So go ahead, sew your own washclothes and towels.  You never know.

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Find more ways to develop greater understanding and rhetorical skills through post-secondary education in our demanding world, while still maintaining a strong biblical world-view.  Find a way to build confidence through frugal and effective post-secondary education, without compromising values.  My book may be purchased through amazon.com.  More information found here.

Remnant Education by [Spilde, Laura]





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