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Homemade Toys! — Easy to make, fun to play with, and great for gifts!

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

By John Silveira While we are waiting for the Coronavirus pandemic to subside enough so society can get back to normal, there are powerful and...

Grow some winter squash this year

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Fruit Trees

By Alice B. Yeager Fall winds down with the ripening of a Japanese persimmon known as the Fuyugaki...

Start a Self-Sufficiency Garden Even in a Cramped Apartment

Growing and Using Bamboo on the Homestead

Follow Jackie Clay-Atkinson and her husband, Will, as they homestead a 120-acre piece of northern Minnesotan woods entirely off-grid. Sharing their homestead are horses, beef cattle, a milk cow, dairy goats, chickens and turkeys.

Massad Ayoob on Guns

This blog, from a retired police captain and self-defense instructor, covers the use of different firearms, political musings, and self-defense tactics.

Building

The house that Dorothy built

Building and stocking your pantry

Install rafters alone the easy way

We built John Silveira’s chicken coop/garden

Self-Reliance

Essential oils

Homemade pest traps

By Patrice Lewis Issue #164 • March/April, 2017 Last summer, my little compost bucket near the kitchen sink became home to a zillion fruit flies. Once...

Sewing and using cloth diapers is easier than you think

By Annie Tuttle Issue #113 • September/October, 2008 I'll admit that it was the pastoral vision of a laundry line full of sun-bleached diapers above barefooted,...

Animals

The homestead cat

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson We have had at least one cat in our home ever since I was a young child. So it’s no wonder we...

Cheaper than Store-Bought Eggs

Raising your own beef

Fermenting Chicken Feed

Keeping homestead animals healthy

Science and Education

A brief history of health and medicine

The gee-whiz! page — Cats: Why they rule our world

Zombie Apocalypse

The world is coming to an end… and this time, I’m not kidding

Energy

Solar power for farm and ranch

By Jeffrey R. Yago, P.E. It may be surprising to learn that there are now all kinds of do-it-yourself solar powered devices specifically designed to...

Power-up bag

Amateur Ham Radio – The Ultimate Tool for Survival Communications

Keep the Ice On

Power Up

Americana and History

George Washington Carver — He wrote the book on self-reliance

Fried chicken for breakfast

Remembering what grandma used

Grandpa’s justice

Firearms

Air power superiority

Affordable firearms

By Massad Ayoob Issue #134 • March/April, 2012 Knowing that frugality is one of the cornerstones of rural living, Editor Annie Tuttle suggested that I tackle...

Answering some well asked questions about personal defense

By Massad Ayoob Issue #97 • January/February, 2006 Jeff Yago, Backwoods Home's energy writer, recently completed a couple of concealed carry handgun courses. The classes apparently...

Frontier style handguns for the modern backwoods home

By Massad Ayoob Issue #101 • September/October, 2006 The year was 1873. Samuel Colt had invented the revolveror at least introduced it to Americain 1836. The...

Preparedness

Food security 101

Storm survivors

Preparing for civil unrest

Disaster preparation!

Help your home survive in the path of a wildfire

The 7 core areas of preparedness

Articles By Dave Duffy

My View: Call Me Miracle Man!

By Dave Duffy Issue #177 • July/August/September, 2019 Superheroes are the rage these days at movie theaters. Even I am fascinated by them. Old style heroes...