The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Prepper Camp Speakers: Using Fibers for Survival and Homesteading w/ Jordan Smith

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Fiber, such as wool, is a resource that people pay little attention to in today’s time. Natural fiber items are even less understood and almost considered an oddity with the number of synthetic products now in circulation. Having the ability and skill to make your own clothing could make or break a family or group during tough time.Gloves, hats, shirts, sweaters, underwear everyday things that we take for granted could have a huge impact on our lives and make an individual quite vulnerable. This class will discuss the sources in which fibers come from, be it animal, plant or even insect.This will cover many of the main types of sources and the multiple uses for them in the prepper and homesteading lifestyle. You will get to see first-hand the type of equipment that are ideal. As well as getting to see and handle some of the fibers up-close.I will also present and show how these fibers can be used and handled in its final process. You will leave with simple set of plans to build your own drop spindle. We will also discuss the how to begin in your new fiber adventure.This class will allow you to walk away with a whole new view on this great resource.Prepare for AnythingTM At Prepper Camp 2025.For tickets and information go to: www.PrepperCamp.com

The Phoenix, J. Ferg, welcome in. How are you? Good. How are you? I'm doing great. Doing great. Glad to have you. Thanks for joining us. You are just a necessary piece of the puzzle with the PreparCamp speaker series. We can't do it without you. as far as I'm No So what do you think is the youngest A person can get started

Because I've seen some You really craft some youngsters up And you know Train them up at your booth What do you think is the youngest someone can get started Spinning fibers And you know Playing with fibers and that kind of thing

What had a five year old Five and six year olds come up to my booth and I taught them how to do a drop spindle. Is it going to be as finessed? No, but it's a good starting age. I was seven when I started sewing and crocheting. So within that range, five to seven, as long as the child's interest,

at five, they usually lose interest, but I feel like seven is a good, a good start in age that it will keep their attention. Yeah. Yeah, I notice a lot of, there's like all kinds of kids crocheting now. Boys and girl. I actually have, yeah, I actually had over the years this one young man who would come back and, you know, then one year he was like six feet tall.

But he was, he was spinning. And then I have had plenty of young women who come up and they crochet or they spin. And I will get periodic messages to do email and then try to respond on tips on how to apply, especially if we can't set up a Zoom or something. And so I can at least talk them through the demonstrations or what to look up in case, you know, we can't set anything up. Oh, sure, yeah. Yeah, I'm wondering if they'll make that connection or not. If it'll go from these kind of cool pre-packaged crochet kits to, well, how do we get? What's before the crochet? What's before the, you know, kind of your world, right?

I wonder if it'll get to the point where people will actually start to play around with some fibers and make their own. yarn and things like that. I think it comes in spells. I see a lot of heavy market in for the pre-made packages and people start out start out with acrylic. And it's a great beginner. But then once you get into what I call my conspiracy phase and realizing how much better natural fiber is,

then that's when you go downhill and go down a full rabbit hole. And then the next thing you know, you're already looking at buying sheep. Yeah, sheep and rabbits, I'm sure you want to, all that kind of stuff, right? It's funny that you say that we were just talking about setting up for some meat rabbits, but also bringing in some fiber rabbits and then eventually looking at maybe cross-breeding so I can have a dual purpose. I mean, I still ate my fiber rabbits when I had them, but something that gives a little more on both ends would be phenomenal. No doubt.

So your class is one of those that, and I've said it on air before, but it's one of those start to finish classes, I call it, because you go in thinking that, you know, this is kind of out of my wheelhouse, but I'll go check it out, at least from my standpoint. When I went into your class, I was thinking, you know, Jay Ferg's the expert here, but I want to see what she's doing and all that kind of stuff. And when I left the class, I felt like, like everything you taught was doable. You know what I mean? Like every piece of your class the person could do. I try to make people realize it's not as near as complex as it's made out to be. And I've actually had many of participants come in and say, I'll be honest with you. I took your class as just a filler. And I did not expect to learn near as much as I did. And I have had one gentleman who comes to my class every year for like the last four or five years.

And he's like, he goes, I love the class every time. He goes, and he goes, you're always critiquing or perfecting in some little way that I'm learning something new each year. He goes, and I like it. So I was like, oh, that's great. Well, you always bring cool stuff too, right? New stuff. And I throw yarn at people. That's good.

That's a good. I do throw skeins. I do throw skeins of yarn at people, only because it's, I believe fiber is very much a tactile thing to learn. and you need to be able to touch it and fill it. I've only ever had one instance where I had to get on to somebody for pulling apart something they weren't supposed to be touch. And I said, you can look at it, you can feel it. And then the next thing you do, they're doing this. And I said, don't do that.

And I took it away from them in front of the entire class. And I felt bad, but at the same time, I made it very clear. You can feel it. You can touch it. But this one item was not something you could pull apart or it would damage it. And what does the person do? they start pulling it apart. I'm like, what the heck?

I think that's my only shock and awe moment. You give out the awesome fiber vocabulary throughout the course too that I think everyone should come see and learn. All the terms in the fiber working world are, they almost sound like them. I didn't make them up. I know. They almost sound made up. And I wish I was like, man, I wish I was the one creative enough to have made these names. But that, yes, like nitty-noddy.

People don't know that this that measures your fiber and puts it together so you can wrap it into skein, is a nitty-noddy. And I spell it out to them. And people are like, that's made up. No, I wish. No, I love it, though. But no, nitty-notties are very much a very real word. Niddi rolls off the Phoenix tongue so perfect, too. I don't know why it is, but it's just like that.

What do you have there? That is actually the skein of yarn that I had on the nitty-nati. I just pulled it off. Oh, nice. Yeah, skein, that's another one. Yeah, or skein. Some people say skein. Yeah, people say skein or skein.

It depends, depending on how I'm feeling in skein or skein. So you said this stuff started for you at seven years old. Who taught you? How did you learn? Or you learned yourself? So now, the sewing I learned at 7 in the crochet and my aunt taught me to crochet. And then I got into spinning fiber right before I got, or right after I was pregnant with my oldest daughter. So she's 12. So it's going or so it's been almost 13 years ago when I started spinning. And then I just, it was a full on avalanche going into that. 13 years. I didn't fall into the rabbit hole. I jumped. What was some of your first

stuff that you did? I actually bring some with me. Are you talking about crocheting or spinning? Crochet. Oh, so I've been crocheting since I was seven. Oh, okay, okay. I've been spinning for 13 years. Maybe you should tell people what spinning is, those who don't know who are listening. Oh, so yeah, no, that's great. Actually, so spinning is actually taking a raw fiber, whether it be plant or animal based and turning it into a usable source like yarn for knitting, for crocheting, for weaving. Some people will actually do this crochet or make it into something and then felt it,

which is a whole other process. But so crocheting is where I take a hook, not the two sticks. The two sticks is knitting. I didn't know that. I'm going to be honest with that. The two pointy sticks is knitting. And the one hook is prochet. Yeah.

So I learned to crochet at seven. And I actually started out on like a little panel, but I started making hats pretty quick that by 10, I had a side hustle of making beanies for school for space. Spirit Week and making like $10 off a beanie based on the colors that people were won. So that was my way of having my own little pocket currency, especially growing up poor. It made the world of difference for me. Sure. Yeah, definitely.

Always good to have that side hustle. I didn't know that you were crocheting at such a young age. Yeah. I was that weird kid in school that people were, what are you doing? I'm making a hat. And oh, it looks like a baby hat and put it on. fits me and they're like oh i was that weird kid then i'm still that weird kid now yeah slightly taller for him just slightly we all barely fit in jake we all just barely make it through the day right

with the normal people so all those things you'll cover in your class right in uh fibers for survival yeah so i actually cover more than just spinning and crocheting I don't think people realize when I say utilizing fiber for homestead and in survival, it is also the fact that I go over the types of bases for fiber, as well as the multifaceted of those animals, because I want people to realize a sheep doesn't have to be just for fiber. There are good sheep for meat, good sheep's for milk, and folen if you want them to have multiple, multiple babies. Same with llamas being a pack animal and being great for a flock and they are

very aggressive against predators. You know, I go into detail of understanding that your animal doesn't have to be a single use, you know, project or item because some people are going to get into the fiber and then find out it's really not for them. And so I'd hate to see people commit to something and me stuck in this one thing and not know what to do with it, at least then if you know you have an alternative for your rabbits or your sheep or whatever you're trying to raise, you then also offer a source of food or milk or some other means for your home. I got you. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of our way, right? Getting the most out of the things we got. Yeah, I'm that person. If it doesn't have a multifunctional use, I don't. I don't. I don't.

don't like it. I don't like having something that is just a singular purpose. Yeah, I get it. That's why we don't have cats. But that's funny that you say that. It's funny that you say I would love a dog. And we've talked about it, but we're not at a point where I have the time for a dog, but I wouldn't mind a yard cat to have with my chickens. Yeah, I get that. Yeah, I mean, whatever you can put out in the yard to protect them chickens, man, because predators are real. There's no doubt about it. Yeah. We've already lost one.

We had a crazy year last year. What are you looking forward to this year at Prepper Camp the most? I broke up a little bit. Can you repeat that? Oh, yeah, sure. No, that's okay. I said, what are you looking forward to the most at Prepper Camp this year? Seeing everyone.

That is my main thing. It's like my family reunion. Yeah, that is it. And short of it. Yeah, I was getting to see everybody's getting to see the whole gang. And it's like, this is my family. It is a family. There's no doubt about it.

It is the family reunion for us. There's that whoever, I don't know where that came from. I may have came from you first, actually. But it happened this year. I know that for a fact that it started going and making the rounds. family reunion. I heard Rick say it. I heard Dave Jones say it. You may have been the progenitor of it, but it really isn't. There's so many things that I've actually pushed and started with y'all. I just can't. Well, you were the brains behind the tinfoil hat contest, Jake Ferguson.

I was going to say, I'm looking forward to that. I am looking forward to the tinfoil hat competition. And fingers crossed for any of those who are coming, please, please, it doesn't matter what it is. We get all. sorts of last minute and creative things. And I love seeing the designs. And some of them are out of this world. And some of them are simple. But you know what? I still love it because they took the effort to do it. Yep. Saturday, noon, disaster coffee booth. This year I'll have tin foil on. That's the, that's been the missing piece. The missing pieces. You know what? Same. Same. I've talked about doing mine. It is time that I do my Southern Bill hat. I just have to stop this this next weekend. I have plans to go into loads.

I'll go pick up everything I need. I'm just going to bring a roll and do the old-fashioned literal antennae at the top. So people look and say, I wonder what's going on. Oh, there we go over there. Because I feel like our one struggle. I really do want to come in with a flourished hat. I do have the big sun hats. And I do wear those.

And I'd love to do one in the tin form. That would be something. You may want to consult some of the previous winners because they've got some techniques worked up over the years it looks like we've got the one young lady who is amazing at it every year and her dedication is just phenomenal yeah she got me she got me good a couple years back at that pbn tower there was no way i know it's one of my favorite pictures yeah i couldn't say no to that one yeah so you've been to what six prepper camps now something like that since 2019 I think yeah so wait yeah this will be yeah this would be yeah

it's for someone like you I know that this question is basically impossible so maybe just throw a few out some great memories from Prepper Camps previous how about that because I'll tell you my favorite I'll tell you one of my favorite memories is the first time I met Dave Jones That's a great story. And I tell it all the time, but the whole, I thought you were going to be 35 years older and 150 pounds heavier. And I was like, no. Yes.

And then he goes, but I bet you thought I sounded a lot taller. And I was like, yeah, because we were looking eye to eye. And for those of you don't know, I'm only 5'2. Yeah. But, and then. That's an epic story for sure. Yeah, and being introduced to Sarah by Chen. Hey, you're the loudest woman at prepper camp.

Let me introduce you to the other loudest woman at prepper camp. And Sarah's my girl. I love her. You guys are at force at prepper camp for sure. I don't know. You know what? Honestly, there's so many great moments every year. I know.

Every year has its moments. I liked that first year that we all went and you were at our campsite getting up early and getting to have breakfast right off the lake. And I'm like, James, where you're going? I'm going to go fishing. That was a fun time. I appreciate you guys letting me sleep in your campsite that year. Not a big deal at all.

And then I liked us all getting to sit together in the evenings, and we'll have to set something up down in our area to make sure we do have another hangout. Because that's, I love it, just getting to sit there. Yeah, we may, yeah, we'll talk about that. I've got some ideas. about that but yeah that's same those hangouts were huge they were amazing no doubt about it yeah it's going to be an amazing year jayford i can't wait you know i'm fiending because i didn't make it last year and you know i know it didn't feel like camp without you there but i we all understood

i mean nobody knew what was going to happen nobody oh yeah was a roll of dice for everybody right Oh, we didn't know what. Right, well, we were already up there. Right, we were already up there. So there was no way of knowing what the full event was until after we came down. Like, we were discon, it was literally, we were separated from the rest of the entire world. So there was no way of knowing. It's crazy how it was the refuge in the area.

Yeah. You know? It actually ended up being the safest place. place we could have been, which is funny because we always say it is the safest place in America that entire weekend. And it really was. Yeah. There's been, for those of you watching, there's been countless. I mean, I feel like it's one per year. Someone says, this would be a good place for everyone to be if there was a, if there was a buckout situation or something like that. But my laptop's trying to die. Hold on. No, we're good. We're good. We can

wrap it up? Oh, it's good. I'm just plugging it in. I didn't know it wasn't put in. Yeah, no, it's fine. It's good. Yeah, I feel like every year, though, there's that mention of, uh, this is the place to be. If we all had to be with a group to survive something big, this would be the, the kind of like the best case scenario, you know? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And then the commodity and people working together and strangers helping strangers and the barter system became a really big thing too you know when electronics wasn't working we just bartered and trade i know there was a few things i bartered and trade with jave jones and yeah i loved it you pulled out the uh you pulled out the break right oh i did i did um so that first night we woke up and it was just torrential rain and

everything got soaked and i'm like yeah screw this going to take everything to the pavilion. And we loaded up the baby and the food and the cooktop. And I started cooking breakfast as much scrambled eggs and bacon as I had. And I knew I was going to use it all up on that day. And that was fine because I'd rather people being wet in hungry is miserable. Being just wet with a full belly is tolerable. So I was like, let's make it tolerable. There you go. So I kept like people, not everyone wanted to eat, but I'm like, here, have some food. here have been all right if you had coffee i could tell you that much food is that yeah not that much and i didn't i didn't have coffee so i need to make sure in the future i have some

coffee from you this setup it was speaking which after this i have some ideas for you so okay i like ideas you know i'm full of ideas yes that's what yeah that's a pbn standard anymore isn't it but um i can't wait to see you and your crew preper yes and 25 your kids probably probably like 15 by now, it feels like. And he's going to be two next Friday. Oh, God. Wow. He's going to be, he's been camping since he was a month old. So every year since he's been a month old, he's been to prep.

He's going to have to have to pass the ball of us at the end of this thing. You know? It's going to be who all is going to be trying to hold him. Oh, yeah, no doubt about it. Well, I can't wait to see you guys. Prepper Camp 2025, and we'll wrap this thing up, all right? All right, yes, sir. All right. See you, guys. Talk to you soon.