Home - Backwoods Home Magazine

Start a Self-Sufficiency Garden Even in a Cramped Apartment

Time to Forget About Snail and Slug Bait

Practical Ideas for Self-Reliant Living

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...

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Grow some winter squash this year

How to Grow Potatoes

By Alice B. Yeager Issue #97 • January/February, 2006 Potato plants need plenty of sunshine, a well drained soil, and no weed or grass interference. Ideal...

Want More Fruit From Less Space? Espalier Your Trees!

Garden Seeds — A Great Winter Pastime

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

Turning a $10,000 House into a Home — Part 1: Salvaging the Wreck

Build a portable woodstove for $30

Herb Boxes from Fence Boards

Build a 6500-gallon concrete water tank for $1500

Self-Reliance

Commonsense preparedness just makes sense

Harvesting the wild: Acorns

By Jackie Clay Issue #79 • January/February, 2003 When I was just a little girl, I used to collect acorns by the boxfull as they fell...

Defeating debt

By Don Chance Issue #82 • July/August, 2003 "Money does not solve money problems." — Dr. Phil McGraw For many, if not most, people yearning for the...

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 threat of electromagnetic pulse!

How big is the solar system?

Gee-Whiz: Insects

Testing Soil

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

Declaration of Independence: The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

The barnyard scramble

Quilts — Masterpieces of the heart and windows into women’s history

The greatest American who was never President

Firearms

The M1A — A rifle that makes a statement

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...

Tailoring guns to females

By Massad Ayoob Issue #131 • September/October, 2011 So, I'm sitting here in a hotel writing this, less than three hours after getting off the witness...

Picking a holster

By Massad Ayoob Issue #69 • May/June, 2001 One good thing about being out in the boonies by yourself is that you can carry a gun...

Preparedness

Battery-Powered Tools are Changing

Protein — The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet

Hypothermia — A real winter danger

Survival infection control

Use solar landscape lights for emergencies

Caring for wounds in the field

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...