There’s a huge difference between a survivalist in an urban area and one who lives off-grid. The urban prepper can easily purchase food from the mall, has access to clean water, electricity, etc.
Any prepping they do is for a possible disaster or unforeseen event that may disrupt the amenities that they are accustomed to. They store water because the water supply may be contaminated if there’s a hurricane.
They store food because the malls may be closed, or panic buying may have left the shelves empty. The goal is to always be prepared to last a few days till some semblance of normalcy is restored and they go back to their old convenient lifestyle.
The survivalist who lives off-grid – his daily life is what the urban prepper expects in an emergency. The off-grid guy needs to get his own food, water, etc. It’s a whole different ball game. This is next level survival and you’ll need 7 crucial skills to survive if you wish to live off-grid.
Let’s look at what they are.
- Working with your hands
Carpentry skills, repair skills, etc. are a necessity. Since most off-grid survivalists don’t rely on technology or conventional power, they need to do a lot of chores on their own.
Repairing the roof of their house, building a chicken coop for the hens, building a fence to keep out predators from getting to the hen house, etc. will require good carpentry skills.
- Gardening
Want to eat vegetables? You’ll need to grow them. Gardening skills are crucial. You must have knowledge on how to choose a plot of land to grow crops. You’ll need to understand crop rotation. Instead of blindly adding fertilizer to the soil, an experienced survivalist will use a soil test kit first to ascertain if the soil is already nutrient rich.
Knowledge of which vegetables grow best in your climate is important. Some veggies grow better in containers while other grow better in soil. You need to know the difference… and also be able to control pests that may try to ruin your crops. All these require solid gardening skills.
- Raising animals
If you consume meat, you need to know how to raise chickens, goats, rabbits, cows, etc. You must have the skills to feed them, nurse them if they’re sick, keep them safe from predators, etc. Will you be selling the meat for money? That requires skills too.
Managing livestock is not easy. Waking up at the crack of dawn to feed them, clean the mess they make and so on can be tiring.
- Hunting and slaughtering
It’s inevitable to form a bond with the animals you’re raising. However, if you want the meat, you’ll have to slaughter them. This is a skill… and you want to do it as humanely as possible.
Whether you’re using a captive-bolt gun or a hatchet to do the killing, it has to be done quickly and effectively so that the animal doesn’t suffer. Just getting used to the idea and practice of slaughtering animals is enough to put most people off.
Hunting is a skill that you’ll require if you wish to have meat from an animal that you don’t raise. If you want deer meat, you’ll have to shoot a deer. If there’s a coyote that’s killing your chickens, you’ll have to shoot it to protect your livestock.
Guess what? That’s a skill too. Using a firearm is a skill. It’ll require practice for you to get accurate at shooting.
- Finding water and treating it
You’ll need to find water that’s suitable for drinking, treat it so that the water is potable, and you’ll also need to store supplies of it for days when it’s too cold to go get water… or you’re too busy.
- Chopping wood
You’ll not have electric heaters. So, chopping wood is a skill that’s important during the winter months. Burning wood in your fireplace will keep your house warm. Your ability to wield an ax proficiently will make your wood chopping faster and more efficient.
- Cooking
Finally, you won’t have pizza, pasta or any junk food available a stone’s throw away from where you live. You can’t drop by a restaurant at a moment’s notice. Living far away from society will mean that you often must prepare your own meals.
Good cooking skills will ensure that you have tasty meals. This will be one of the few pleasures you have when living off-grid. Learn to cook well.
By now you’ll realize that it will take time to master these skills, especially if you’ve lived in the city all your life. So, learn the skills first before you try living off-grid. You must have both knowledge and practice. There is no way around this.