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Build an inexpensive but durable jackleg fence

Make elderberry syrup for flu season

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...

Grow some winter squash this year

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Garden Seeds — A Great Winter Pastime

By Jackie Clay Issue #67 • January/February, 2001 Start your garden this year while the snow is still on the ground. I start all of my...

Cheaper than Store-Bought Eggs

Put Your Garden to Bed for the Winter

Swiss Chard — The Leaf Vegetable That Keeps on Giving!

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

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

Build a homestead Copy Cart

Making Apple Cider with a Homemade Press

Never underestimate a woman

Self-Reliance

Getting out of Dodge — 10 Things I am doing to prepare for the move to the country

Making a great rug from the rag bag

By Lois A. Adams Issue #18 • November/December, 1992 Recycling makes a lot of sense in these days of dwindling landfill space and non-renewable resources. But...

Just for Kids: Visit the great prairies

By Lucy Shober Issue #35 • September/October, 1995 Did you ever get an urge to just take off and go someplace exotic? Maybe the North Pole...

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 ‘risks’ with Swine Flu

Can we make a Tyrannosaurus rex from a chicken?

Gee-Whiz: Sleep

How big is the solar system?

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

Emancipation Proclamation by Historical Document

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

Former first ladies — Beautiful, brilliant, crazy

The Great Depression — A reminiscence

Firearms

BHM hosts Appleseed marksmanship event

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,...

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...

Answering some well asked questions about personal defense

By Massad Ayoob Issue #97 • January/February, 2006 Jeff Yago, Backwoods Home's energy writer, recently completed a couple of concealed carry handgun courses. The classes apparently...

Preparedness

Power Up

Gee-Whiz: From Paper to Canning

10 day survival pack for your vehicle for just $25

Preparing for civil unrest

A survival key ring — Your everyday tool for emergency preparedness

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...