Home - Backwoods Home Magazine

Want More Fruit From Less Space? Espalier Your Trees!

Grow Open Pollinated Seeds for Self-Reliant Gardening

Radiant floor heating — Alternative to forced-air heating is solar-powered, too An interview with Stephen Heckeroth

Practical Ideas for Self-Reliant Living

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...

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Grow some winter squash this year

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Start a Self-Sufficiency Garden Even in a Cramped Apartment

By Nancy Wolcott Issue #61 • January/February, 2000 You are sitting there in your recliner chair in your small city apartment desperately longing for the day...

Build a Heated Germination Bed

Gardening with a Chicken Tractor

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

Making and using a solar cooker

Build a cold smoker so you can make delicious squaw candy

Trusses — Low cost marvels to roof over most large spaces

Shelves and benches

Self-Reliance

Shearing, carding, spinning, weaving and creating with Margaret Boos

Wash day

By Jackie Clay Issue #130 • July/August, 2011 I was in a Lowe's store yesterday and happened to walk past the appliance section, where I saw...

Disaster preparation!

By Gary F. Arnet, D.D.S. Issue #74 • March/April, 2002 Are you prepared for a disaster that could affect the daily function of your life or...

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

Gee-Whiz: Dinosaurs

Gee-Whiz: Coffee

Zombie Apocalypse

Theories of the universe

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

Quilts — Masterpieces of the heart and windows into women’s history

Catfish Biscuits

From Martha and Abigail to Dolley and Louisa, America’s earliest First Ladies were fascinating

The Great Depression — A reminiscence

Firearms

How long should your gun’s barrel length be?

Thoughts on ammunition

By Massad Ayoob Issue #108 • November/December, 2007 Ammunition is to firearms as gasoline is to automobiles. However, with guns and ammo, the fit isn't quite...

Firearms and cold weather considerations

By Massad Ayoob Issue #79 • January/February, 2003 Many of our readers have established their abodes in places which, during the winter months, do not exactly...

The time for modern; the time for traditional

By Massad Ayoob Issue #137 • September/October, 2012 Traditional "old skool" guns, or the most modern and efficient ballistic hardware that money can buy? I asked...

Preparedness

Avoiding heat illness

Protein — The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet

Storm survivors

Keep the Ice On

Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?

Wildfires: Before, During, After

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...