Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

Used bookstores can be sucessful in the hinterlands

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

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

Practical Ideas for Self-Reliant Living

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

Herb Boxes from Fence Boards

By Maggie Larsen Issue #86 • March/April, 2004 During a binge of spring cleaning, I ventured outside and began to renovate the exterior of my home,...

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

Shelves and benches

Build a compost tumbler

Our Unconventional House

A river rock shower

Self-Reliance

Here’s how to make a musical bamboo flute

Start a fire in any weather

By Charles Sanders Issue #161 • September/October, 2016 Most of us living in the backwoods are comfortable with utilizing fire as a tool. We use fire...

A worthwhile journey

By Kim Scheimreif Issue #124 • July/August, 2010 In February of 1996 my husband, Kevin, two-year-old daughter, Kayla, and I moved from New Jersey to Maine....

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 many benefits of garlic

How big is the solar system?

Avian Flu — How afraid of this

The world is ending! … Again?

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

Former first ladies — Beautiful, brilliant, crazy

Farm baseball … with ghost runners!

Presidents’ wives of the past Part 3

Biological and chemical weapons through history

Firearms

Hiding a gun — The rules of three

Air power superiority

When a well-placed shot is required, when stealth and quiet are called for, an air rifle may be the best option. By Gary Lewis Issue #151 • January/February,...

Teaching a 10-year-old to shoot

By John Moody Issue #174 • November/December, 2018 In my youth, I remember my dad dragging my brother and me out of bed in the middle...

Choose your ammo… police style

By Massad Ayoob Issue #93 • May/June, 2005 One of our greatest modern gun experts, Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper, USMC, Ret., once made the observation that...

Preparedness

Handy Keychain Mini-Gadgets

7 Mistakes of food storage

Build a community assistance recharging station

Power Up

Keep the Ice On

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...