Issue #74 March/April, 2002

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A Backwoods Home Anthology — The Thirteenth Year
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DEPARTMENTS

6  Publisher’s Note 7  Editorial:     Personal guns getting to be in style 77  Ask Jackie:     Pickled hot peppers, sunflower seeds, dill pickles, preserving seeds, Brunswick stew in a jar, bitter milk, canning jam, and canning pesto 31  Ayoob on Firearms:     Sensible gun choices after September 11th and Reality confirms arming pilots 47  Irreverent joke page 24   The gee-whiz! page 23   Poems: Grandma Ruth, Jim Thomas 80  Letters 87   Advertiser Index 83  Classified ads (pdf) 83  Classified ad form 91   BHM books 88-89  Subscription Info 90  The last word:     Silveira's 1st Law: Every group needs a black sheep Order form or call Toll Free 1-800--835-2418

ABOUT THE COVER      Jackie Clay shot the photograph for the cover in a high country meadow in Yellowstone in 2000. She and her husband go there every year to observe the elk in rut. They hiked in before dawn and caught the elk just as sun rose. “It was cold,” she said. “About 10 degrees. The elk was bugling. What you can’t see, because they’re lost in the fog, is a pack of wolves that howled back.” She laughed. “What you also don’t see is the hair on the back of my neck as it began to stand up.”

FEATURES

Self-sufficiency 14   Disaster preparation   By Dr. Gary F. Arnet       If a major catastrophe happens, are you ready to deal with it? Most people have nothing in place to take care of themselves or their families during widespread disaster. And, as Dr. Arnet points out, despite vague promises by national or local leaders, you will be on your own. In his article Dr. Arnet provides you with an overview of what to expect and how to prepare for the worst 26  Nuclear terrorism   By John Silveira       If terrorists get “the bomb,” the world is never going to be the same. John Silveira talks about how the bomb works, what happened in the two Japanese cities that experienced the bomb, what will happen in an American city if terrorists detonate one here, and the possible ways they may get their hands on one. 37  Harvesting the wild   By Jackie Clay       To Jackie Clay and her family, hunting is not just a sport, it’s a way of getting food. In this, the first of several articles, she tells us how she hunts deer, moose, and elk, how she field dresses them, then butchers and preserves the meat. 48  Storing fuel   By Rev. J.D. Hooker 53  The return of home emergency shelters takes on a dual-purpose approach   By Jeffrey R. Yago, P.E., CEM       There is no longer a national defense program in the United States. But Jeff Yago shows us that there are still ways the self-reliant can protect himself and his family in the event of a natural disaster or the unthinkable—nuclear war. Yago surveys the types of shelters a family can build or install, the accoutrements to look for, and how a shelter can serve other purposes if the bomb never falls or that tornado never comes. Farm and garden 8  Grow, grow, grow   By Alice Brantley Yeager       Whether times are good or bad, a garden can make you more secure. 14  Raised bed gardening — neat and productive   By Alice Brantley Yeager       Raised bed gardens are easy to create and can make gardening easier and more enjoyable. 64  Raised beds, concrete blocks, and clay soil   By John Dunbar Building and tools 49  Tools and hardware for the backwoods home   By James Ballou       A certain degree of self reliance is obtainable by those who have the knowledge and skills, resourcefulness, courage, common sense, and tools to perform most of the tasks necessary to their own survival and way of life. Country living 22  Morels...a taste of springtime   By Linda Gabris