Posted by Annie | | General Homesteading | |

Every homesteader, new and old, must learn certain homesteading skills if they want to have a successful homesteading experience. These skills range from the simple to the complex.

Finding the resources to learn these skills isn’t always easy. There is a myriad of information available on Google, Pinterest, and YouTube but figuring out which resources are the best can be daunting.

I have compiled a list of homesteading skills that are helpful to homesteaders and the resources that I found that seem to teach those skills the best.

 

Homesteading Skills: Preserving Food

 

Preserving and canning food is an important homesteading skill. If you want to be more self-sufficient, preserving food is on your priority list of skills to be learned. The following links are excellent sources to learn some of these skills!

 

• Self Reliant School: This is an online school taught by husband and wife team of Jennifer and Bill. They teach back to the basics food preparation and preservation skills. This site has everything from e-books to a membership site. They offer a private Facebook group as well as videos to learn from.
• Instructables: This website offers quite a few canning courses. The one linked here is a free course offered from a Canadian resident. It includes 6 lessons and is on the beginners level.  I would definitely suggest searching the Instructables site for more options and classes.
• How to Cooking School: This is another online canning class on the beginner level. It does cost $29.95 as of August 2017 to take the course but it has the option to try it out free to see if it is what you are looking for.  This site also has a pretty large number of other great courses pertaining to food preservation.
• Foodpreserving.org: This site has everything you can imagine to learn about food preservation and preparation. Their site includes guides, courses, and a blog. You are gonna want to grab a drink and sit down for some time on this site.
• Ball Canning: This is the official site of Ball canning jars. The site has an entire section dedicated to learning to can. From references and resources to videos and guides, there is an answer for almost everything here. You can also purchase from Ball directly!

 

Homesteading Skills: Gardening

 

There is always a reason to take a gardening class or course. There is always something new to learn.  Whether you are wanting to learn to start an herb garden or how to grow vegetables in the shade, these resources are helpful for the new and inexperienced gardener to the pro.

 

• Piwakawaka Valley: I personally got to review this 52-week long email course on gardening and let me tell you it is well worth the investment. This gardening course covers everything as if you haven’t even started a garden yet, and continues to walk you through what to do to prepare and grow your own garden. It doesn’t matter what zone you are in or what your experience is, there is something beneficial for all! Dana has put a lot of time and effort into this course and the result was amazing.
• Smiling Gardener: THis site offers a ton of free gardening lessons via your email. He covers soil, composting, organic gardening, worm bins, seed starting and more. He also has a paid course available. All you have to do is sign up for his free e-book and the lessons follow along.
• School of Permaculture: Although I have not dug into this site to deep they were recommended to me recently. They offer both paid course and free information. I like all the free content they offer! There is a lot of information on this site so you may want to plan for some time there.
• Growing the Future: Growing the Future: This is a UK site on herbs. It covers what herbs are, how to propagate them and more.  It is a quick Adobe Flash Player course but filled with a lot of information. There are other gardening courses on the site as well.

 

Homesteading Skills: Poultry/Livestock

 

Raising poultry and livestock can be a rewarding experience while homesteading. You should always learn as much as possible before taking on any new animal! These resources are great sources for information for learning everything you can before purchasing your animals.

 

• MrAnimal Farm: This site has a few great e-books and courses available with more on the way. Run by a couple who specialize in Silkie chickens and Nigerian goats, they offer great expertise as well as chickens and goats available for purchase.  Check out their website!
• The Chicken Chick: Run by Kathy Shea Mormino, this site answers everything you could want to know about chickens. She offers giveaways, products, e-books, and a plethora of information to provide the best education all about chickens.
• Coursera: This is a free online learning site that has so much to offer. The free membership allows you take just about any class online, however, the paid classes offer certificates and more. Search under “agriculture”, “life science” and “animal” to see the many classes they offer. I did find a great introduction for new horse enthusiasts for example.

 

Homesteading Skills: Self-Sufficiency

 

Self-sufficiency means depending on yourself to survive and live. It is growing your own food and raising your own meat. It means prepping and preserving, doing what comes naturally and appreciating a more independent lifestyle. If this sounds like you then these resources will be like finding a gold mine.

• Self Sufficient Farm Living: An extensive information filled website all about how to have a self-sufficient homestead. This site has links for almost every homesteading skill there is. I could spend days on this site! If you are really interested in having this lifestyle this is definitely the place to start.
• Self Sufficient Life: This website is the mac daddy of websites for self-sufficiency homesteading! I was blown away with the amount of information and resources available here! If you can’t find what you are looking for here you need to rethink your plans.

 

Homesteading Skills: Frugality

 

Homesteading is all about saving money, making your own products and recycling. These resources should help you learn those skills.

 

• Frugal Living Mom: This lady has it figured out. Learn couponing, how to get organized, find free stuff, and more at this site. There is also a great “Hacks and Tips” section I absolutely love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homesteading skills can be learned just about everywhere so I hope this helps you find new ways to learn the skills you may need. If you have any resources you can share please list them below.

 

This post has been shared on Good Morning Mondays Linky Party.