Home - Backwoods Home Magazine

Radiant floor heating — Alternative to forced-air heating is solar-powered, too An interview with Stephen Heckeroth

Woodbarrow

By Setanta O’Ceillaigh When I first abandoned a slum town and fled back to the countryside I gathered and carried firewood with a laundry basket....

Grow some winter squash this year

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Growing Microgreens

By Lisa Nourse Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019 The small town where I live has two small grocery stores and getting a good variety of organic...

Leafy Green Vegetables — The Underrated Heroes of the Garden

Your Manure Pile — For Fuel, Fertilizer, and Maybe Even Improved...

A Child’s Garden — More than Child’s Play

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

Build a pallet fence

We built John Silveira’s chicken coop/garden

Here’s an Easier (and Cheaper) Way to Make Wooden Beams

Build Your Own Hoop House

Self-Reliance

In the classroom and at home, this system will help you grow self-reliant kids

Starting a Roadside Farm Stand

By John Murray  Issue #158 • March/April, 2016 For country landowners who desire a way to supplement their income, operating a small roadside farm stand is...

Garden injuries

By Joseph Alton, M.D. Issue #140 • March/April, 2013 Cuts and scrapes are the most likely wounds gardeners incur (hopefully, not on that green thumb of...

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 gee-whiz! page — Cats: Why they rule our world

Testing Soil

The world is ending! … Again?

Gee-Whiz: Presidents

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

the gee-whiz! page: Animals, humans, extraterrestrials, and tools

Presidents’ wives of the past Part 4 — Cunning, vindictive, and one may have been a murderess

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

The greatest American who was never President

Firearms

Sight and sound enhancement

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...

Firearms and cold weather considerations

By Massad Ayoob Issue #79 • January/February, 2003 Many of our readers have established their abodes in places which, during the winter months, do not exactly...

Affordable firearms

By Massad Ayoob Issue #134 • March/April, 2012 Knowing that frugality is one of the cornerstones of rural living, Editor Annie Tuttle suggested that I tackle...

Preparedness

Circle of friends

Food security 101, part 3: Why I love my vacuum sealer (and more)

Prepper power! Part 1

Battery-Powered Tools are Changing

The fire wick fire starter

The Five “P”s: A fire evacuation grab ‘n’ go kit

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...