Work continues on the May/June 2008 (No. 111) issue. As much as I try to maintain a calm demeanor as I engineer it, my enthusiasm is being transmitted to the writers and editors. There is something special in the wind. They know it and I know it. The mix of articles is about right. The theme, which will remain secret, is perfect. This is going to be a great issue. I predict it will sell out immediately on the newsstands, and our subscribers will buy up the extra 10,000 or so copies we’ll print as gifts for friends and relatives. This is when it’s a lot of fun to be running BHM. You can transform great ideas into nuts and bolts.

We’ve sponsored two subscription contests recently on internet forums.

 In the most recent, on the Alaska Cabins and Remote Living thread of the Alaska Outdoors Forums, we gave away six one-year subscriptions to the magazine.

Recently we sponsored a similar contest on the Homesteading Today Forum, on their thread, Homesteading Questions.

Sponsoring these forum threads and holding the contests have been great opportunities for BHM. Even I am surprised at just how popular BHM has become. We’ll continue sponsoring these threads, as well as look for other threads to sponsor on other forums.

Nelson Martin of Columbia, Missouri, sent me this message:

 “Check out the poll on the home page of www.strike-the-root.com, on what is their readers’ favorite libertarian magazine!"

Wow! Backwoods Home Magazine is winning the poll. Goes to show what “living by example” can do. I don’t think of BHM as a Libertarian magazine, but as a Homesteading magazine, even though other Homesteading magazines would not ever entertain the thought of writing Libertarian commentaries.

BHM is more the embodiment of Libertarian ideas. Ninety-eight percent of the content has to do with taking care of yourself and your family by doing things around the homestead. You’ll never find a “government solution” in BHM. John Silveira and I comprise the only Libertarian commentary, with his Last Word column and my My View column. These columns are more valuable, I think, surrounded by articles that shows people living their lives by taking care of themselves, whether it involves building their own home or canning their own food.

Most readers of BHM do not consider themselves Libertarian, and probably pretty much ignore politics. But they tend to live their lives as we Libertarians wish everybody would — by taking care of their own needs and by minding their own business, not the business of others.

I expect the dawning American recession, coupled with a Hillary, Obama, or McCain in the White House, will make BHM more popular than ever as people retreat into their own world hoping to escape the heavier hand of Government.