Home - Backwoods Home Magazine

Build this sturdy large-capacity food dehydrator

For health & comfort, try wild herbal teas

Trusses — Low cost marvels to roof over most large spaces

A view of self-reliance from a more timid perspective — A woman’s opinion

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

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Grow some winter squash this year

Tea for the garden

By Lisa Nourse We have poor soil and do our best to amend it with compost and manure every year. However, we feel our plants...

Grow some winter squash this year

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

Here’s an Easier (and Cheaper) Way to Make Wooden Beams

Dorothy Ainsworth update: Out of the ashes

Three Raised Bed Designs

A house a tornado helped build

Self-Reliance

Your kitchen pharmacy — How common culinary herbs and spices can help you feel better

The accidental homesteader

By Terry Hooker Everyone who homesteads has hit that point where they decide to be more self sufficient. Sometimes it’s from life circumstances and sometimes...

Annie on Everfree Farm, Part I

By Annie Tuttle Issue #145 • January/February, 2014 So here we are. Truth be told, it was a complete accident that we...

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

Can we make a Tyrannosaurus rex from a chicken?

Science and truth. Are they related?

The coming ice age

Gee-Whiz: Alcohol

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

Feeling nostalgic? Now you’ll rave! Here’s the story of Burma Shave.

Biological and chemical weapons through history

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

Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?

Firearms

Affordable firearms

BHM hosts Appleseed marksmanship event

By Massad Ayoob Issue #139 • January/February, 2013 Long a supporter of the Appleseed concept, Backwoods Home Magazine hosted one in Gold Beach, Oregon, in second...

Hunting, processing, and serving black bear

By Linda Gabris Issue #162 • November/December, 2016 Bear was a popular meat in our house when I was growing up in the rural woods. Black...

Military surplus and military “clone” rifles

By Massad Ayoob Issue #116 • March/April, 2009 One reader writes to ask if military surplus rifles are still a good idea for hunting, recreational shooting,...

Preparedness

Avoiding heat illness

Use solar landscape lights for emergencies

Caring for wounds in the field

Bugging out in place

With commonsense planning, you can survive hard times

Survival infection control

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...