Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

Picking your pressure canner — All American or Presto?

Preparing for a Temporary Catastrophe

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

By Linda Gabris When I was growing up in the rural woods, Grandpa and I did a lot of fishing from spring through fall so...

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Grow some winter squash this year

Flowers Brighten the Garden

By Alice B. Yeager Photos by James O. Yeager Website Exclusive • March, 2006 Along with raising food plants, I like to tuck in a few flowers...

Growing Productive Strawberries

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

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

Tools and hardware for the backwoods home

Shake update

Adventures with a portable sawmill

Self-Reliance

Make a quilt out of Levis

Medical kits for self-reliant families

By Jackie Clay Issue #60 • November/December, 1999 There may be a time, as close as tomorrow, when your loved ones need medication or medical treatment...

There’s no such thing as free land!

(But if you're smart, you can get it cheap) By Setanta O'Ceillaigh Issue #165 • May/June, 2017 I have been a homeowner since I was 18 years...

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: Sleep

Gee-Whiz: Presidents

Science and truth. Are they related?

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

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

The summer of ’35

The Great Depression — A reminiscence

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

Fly it proudly and properly

Firearms

The time for modern; the time for traditional

Use the right ammunition!

By Massad Ayoob Issue #130 • July/August, 2011 The purpose of the gun is to fire ammunition. It follows that the ammunition should be the correct...

An economical battery of guns for the backwoods home

By Massad Ayoob Issue #114 • November/December, 2008 Everything's getting more expensive. Food. Gasoline. Guns and ammunition. Not everyone who appreciates the rural lifestyle was "born...

How long should your gun’s barrel length be?

By Massad Ayoob Issue #136 • July/August, 2012 The person new to guns is like the person new to timepieces. "How many of these things are...

Preparedness

Stashing Junk Silver for Bad Times

7 Mistakes of food storage

The return of home emergency shelters takes on a dual-purpose approach

Caring for wounds in the field

10 day survival pack for your vehicle for just $25

Commonsense preparedness just makes sense

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...