Six ‘Lost’ Off-Grid Lessons From The Amish
Written by: Tara Dodrill
Off the Grid News
http://bit.ly/1NszgRR

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When the editors of Off The Grid News asked if I was interested in going to visit one of the local Amish farms to craft a piece about homesteading skills we should all be learning, I jumped at the opportunity. I pulled on my favorite cowboy boots and headed out in the county to enjoy some of Alma’s amazing homemade cookies while talking off-grid living in our modern world with her farrier husband and some local Amish farmers.

Sadly, many of the traditional homesteading skills rural folks in my region once considered merely necessary daily tasks have been lost. Knowing how to grow you own food, preserve your harvest, raise and “doctor” livestock, and care for minor physical ailments are not only handy self-reliant skills for off-the-grid families, but survival attributes which could one day save your life.

My Amish friend, Ezra, said that over the course of the past year or so, more and more folks that routinely engage the services of his community have mentioned the disturbing events going on in the world and asked for tips to help them rediscover the Appalachian ways of the past and traditional homesteading skills.

Amish Homesteading Skills

1. How to Sew by Hand

2. How to Farm Without Machines
3. How to Take Advantage of Off-Grid Power
4. How to Identify Plants and Trees
5. How to Use Hand Tools
6. How to Homeschool