Sixty skills our grandparents knew by heart, from storing a year of water to churning butter in a jar. Every skill fits on one illustrated page, with the materials you need, numbered steps, and notes on what can go wrong.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”The old saying that opens the Fix-It chapter
A healthy adult can last weeks without food but only about three days without water. Ice storms and heat waves can knock out power for a week. When the store shelves are empty or the doctor is an hour away, the household that knows a few old skills keeps going.
Find it fast, follow it start to finish, and never flip back and forth mid-job.
Painted scenes show the hands-on work, so you can follow along even if you skim the words.
Most skills use buckets, jars, salt and scrap wood you already have around the house.
US Letter pages with color tabs on the edge, ready for a binder or a print shop.
Each chapter opens with a full-page painting and a short introduction, then moves through its skills one page at a time.
Chapter One · Skills 01–06Storing, finding and cleaning the one thing you cannot live without
Chapter Two · Skills 07–14Keeping the harvest the way our great-grandparents did
Chapter Three · Skills 15–21Bread, butter and thrift from scratch
Chapter Four · Skills 22–27Taking care of your own when help is far away
Chapter Five · Skills 28–34Heat, light, cooling and power when the lines go down
Chapter Six · Skills 35–40Growing food on any patch of ground
Chapter Seven · Skills 41–47Fire, shelter and finding your way
Chapter Eight · Skills 48–54Staying calm, aware and connected
Chapter Nine · Skills 55–60Mending, sharpening and repairing instead of replacing
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A green side panel lists what to gather, with a picture of each item so you know what to look for.
The skill number, its chapter, how long it takes and how hard it is. "Skill 01 · Water · 1 weekend · Easy."
Four to six painted steps, each with a short title and plain instructions you can read across the kitchen.
The things that go wrong, called out before they happen. "Never reuse milk jugs."
Tap a page to see it full size. Scroll sideways for more.
Drops of bleach per gallon of water, and common wild edibles with their dangerous look-alikes.
A 72-hour go-bag and other lists to copy and tick off as you build your kits.
Meeting places, an out-of-state contact and your doctor, filled in together and copied for every wallet.
Tick off each skill once you've done it, look up old terms, and find any topic fast.
The printed book is a full-color paperback with a glossy cover, the size of a magazine. Each copy is printed fresh when you order it and mailed to your door. Take a look inside above; the rest is waiting in the book.