Survival Kit Ideas: What “Survival Skills” Can You Share?

Stocking Up

What’s in your pantry? How did people stock up on food in the past? How and where did they store it to prevent deterioration? How do contemporary communities do this now? 

• Take us into a food storage area at your site - a closet, fridge, icebox, drying shed
• Show us some preservation strategies that help food last a long time - eg, salted cod, dried fruits and herbs, canning jars 
• Does your community include people who preserve - make sausages, cheeses, freezer meals? Interview them about how they do it! 

Handicrafting

Can you show us how to make something practical and useful? 

• Sewing - from face masks to quilts 
• Can you show us how to make natural dyes or paints? 
• Show off some upcycled fashion
• Walk us through a woodworking project 

Entertainment

Got some ideas for fun? Share ideas for some "lo-fi" pastimes, past or present, that helped people while away the hours. 

• Show us a dance move - or a whole line dance, partner dance, group dance
• Give us instructions for making a homemade toy and demonstrate how to play with it
• Teach us a parlor game 
• Share a simple board or card game to download and make 

Growing Your Own

Can your site help people learn how to start growing some of their own food?

• Show us how to save seeds 
• Show us how to start seeds for a favorite crop, or make a DIY mini greenhouse for seed starting
• Make a container garden out of something lying around

Home Skills

Teach us how to do something handy and use home resources wisely! 

• Share some ways to conserve resources - like using cloth napkins instead of paper towels
• Show us how to repair or mend something instead of buying a new one 
• Teach us a substitution for something we can’t get at the store
• Show us how to use food waste for compost
• Teach us some vintage cleaning techniques using vinegar, soap flakes​

Foraging

Eat the yard! Know any edible wild plants? 

• Show us how to recognize a common, safe edible plant (like dandelions or pot herbs) and what to do with it
• Describe the process of making acorn flour, maple syrup or salt
• Teach how to make a white pine tea 

​

Wellness & Self-Care

• Share some (safe) home remedies - like the Kitchen Remedies from the People's Kitchen Collective
• Try some historic home-made cosmetic and beauty formulations
• Show us how people used to brush their teeth or do their hair 
• Raise spirits with a familiar song or prayer that helped people through tough times 
• Help us stay in shape with an at-home workout​

Learning

 Get the facts and learn new things 

• Share how to interview a Elder 
• Reading news critically
• How to teach yourself….