Home - Backwoods Home Magazine

From triumph to tragedy to triumph again. Dorothy Ainsworth makes her valiant comeback

Funerals don’t have to be expensive

A Child’s Garden — More than Child’s Play

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

Fruit Trees

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

Use Non-Hybrid Seeds and Save Big Bucks in This Year’s Garden

Clover — From Livestock Forage to Medicinal Tea, This Humble Plant...

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

How to build a good fence for your homestead

A simple backwoods hay baler

Build a Simple, Inexpensive Greenhouse

How to Resurrect Old, Rusted Tools

Self-Reliance

Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?

How to begin taking wildlife photographs

By H. Bumper Bauer Issue #120 • November/December, 2009 If you want to get into wildlife photography, your timing could not be better. Many serious amateur...

Grandma will love this personal ‘Helping Hands’ wall hanging

By Sally Boulding Issue #46 • July/August, 1997 Here's a relatively easy gift that you and your child can make together. The instructions here are to...

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

Avian Flu — How afraid of this

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

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

A doomsday scenario to sleep on

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

Doesn’t anyone remember Tom Paine

The barnyard scramble

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

The vanishing outhouse

Firearms

Firearms — Tools of rural living

Canning game meat

By Linda Gabris Issue #166 • July/August, 2017 Attempting to can meat (or any other low acid food, for that matter) without the use of a...

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,...

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...

Preparedness

Preparing for a Temporary Catastrophe

Emergency treatment for fire-related injuries

Prepper power! Part 2

Emergency planning beyond the bug-out bag

Preparedness for travelers

Hypothermia — A real winter danger

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...