Developing Peak Oil Skills: Get organized

Most people who have studied Peak Oil for even a short while recognize that certain skills are required in order to survive in an energy-deprived future. You have probably started collecting a short list of things to do or learn as soon as possible or perhaps just formed a vague vision of your future life.
Part of designing a sustainable home or community is designing our skill set. Each of us needs to develop requirements for ourselves based on our predicted needs and our existing skill sets. There are good lists like this one at Simple Living, and many such resources at LATOC, but each person will be different in their needs. Also, for this exercise I would emphasize skill acquisition over “activities”. Getting out of debt, moving to the country, making friends, and so forth are extremely important but belong on a different list than what I’m focused on here. A separate skills list will help keep you organized and focused on self-sustainability. You could set aside time every day or week to focus on skills development, working from your list.
I plan to run a continuous series within this blog highlighting my own learning process as I use Systems Engineering to design my future self. I’ll share what I’ve learned in hopes of easing the learning process for all who are interested. Remember that you cannot acquire a skill without actually doing it (repeatedly) and that your self-requirements list will likely be very different from my own.

My list of skills to acquire:
      1) Food preservation: Canning, smoking, drying, freezing, etc.
      2) Cheesemaking
      3) Sustainable gardening
      4) Building techniques: Foundations, framing, roofing, plumbing, wiring, carpentry
      5) Blacksmithing/metalworking
      6) Animal husbandry: Chickens, cows, sheep, alpaca; milking, butchering, shearing
      7) Papermaking: Toilet paper, writing paper, wrapping
      8) Hunting: Firearms, archery, trapping

Please remember a few things about this list: This does not include skills that I already possess; my list should complement my wife’s list so that we have an even distribution of required skills; and this list is dynamic – as I gain proficiency at some things I’ll be able to add more (less critical) skills.