Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

Commonsense preparedness just makes sense

Habeeb Salloum — Poet, Traveler, Recipe Writer

Make a fully functional cold storage pit/mound and enjoy your garden’s production all winter

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

Grow Open-Pollinated Tomatoes

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #166 • July/August, 2017 Nearly all of us homesteaders grow tomatoes in our gardens. Tomatoes are hugely valuable as a homestead crop....

A Small Space Yields a Big Crop of Garlic

Here’s a Mighty Creative Way to Protect Your Plants from Animals

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

Getting logs

The house that Dorothy built

Make your own effective fishing tackle while you save money and recycle scrap

Dorothy Ainsworth update: Out of the ashes

Self-Reliance

Call me plumber

Your survival depends on water

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #167 • September/October, 2017 As you develop your preparedness plans, consider your water supply. You can go without food for weeks but...

Preparing for a Temporary Catastrophe

By Dave Duffy Issue #139 • January/February, 2013 November's Superstorm Sandy on the Northeastern coast of the United States was our most recent grand reminder that...

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

The world is ending! … Again?

Science and truth. Are they related?

Gee-Whiz: Presidents

Testing Soil

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

President George Washington’s Farewell Address

Declaration of Independence: The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

The Great Depression — A reminiscence

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

Firearms

Moderate power firearms

Consider the 20-gauge shotgun

By Massad Ayoob Issue #120 • November/December, 2009 A year or more ago in these pages, I made the suggestion that sometimes less is more, and...

1911: The classic homeland security pistol

By Massad Ayoob Issue #83 • September/October, 2003 If you've read American firearms history at all, you know the lore of the .45 automatic. How during...

Firearms handling refresher Part I: Handguns

By Massad Ayoob Website Exclusive • December, 2003 One of our readers e-mailed John Silveira to tell him that taking a handgun afield after a long...

Preparedness

Your survival depends on water

Why you need to addsolar to your emergencypower backup plans

Keep the Ice On

Bugging out in place

Start a fire in any weather

Preparedness for travelers

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...