Storey's Curious Compendium of Practical and Obscure Skills (214 Things You Can Actually Learn How to Do)

Ever wanted to learn to speak “chicken”? Capture a swarm of bees? Treat aches and pain with herbal remedies? Sharpen a knife? From Storey’s vast library of expertly-authored how-to books comes a compendium of valuable skills covering every area of interest and presented through clear, colorful how-to illustrations and custom photography. Drawing from the worlds of farming, gardening, building, cooking, preserving, crafts, and natural medicine and body care, Skill-o-pedia celebrates the diverse ideas and knowledge that enable a self-sufficient lifestyle. The wisdom in these pages covers the small, the substantial, and everything in between, including how to tell a sheep from a goat; how to pour a beer for great foam; how to field dress a deer; how to navigate by the sun; how to put a bike chain back on; how to darn socks; and how to build a homestead from (and in) the woods. Some skills are purely enriching, like learning about nature through sketching or teaching a cat to jump through a hoop, while others can be lifesaving, such as learning how to dismount a horse in an emergency or how to find fresh water when water is scarce. Whether casually curious or deeply invested in living more independently, Skill-o-pedia opens the mind while teaching readers just about anything they could ever wish to be able to do themselves.