Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

Determined woman builds distinctive vertical log studio

Practical Ideas for Self-Reliant Living

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

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

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...

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

Save Time and Energy with the Fenced Chicken Coop/Garden

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 Top-Bar Bee Hive

The Forever Floor

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

Build an inexpensive but durable jackleg fence

Self-Reliance

Make a Sure-Fire Live Trap

Brood X

By Rev. J.D. Hooker Website Exclusive • March, 2004 Over the past couple of decades Generation X has seen plenty of mention among the different branches...

Self-reliance for women — Surviving a biochemical attack

By Kelly McCarthy Issue #94 • July/August, 2005 Three and a half years ago, on the morning of September 11th to be exact, I was just...

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

Can we make a Tyrannosaurus rex from a chicken?

The many benefits of garlic

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

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

Fried chicken for breakfast

Emancipation Proclamation by Historical Document

Gee-Whiz: Presidents

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

Firearms

Tailoring guns to females

Frontier style handguns for the modern backwoods home

By Massad Ayoob Issue #101 • September/October, 2006 The year was 1873. Samuel Colt had invented the revolveror at least introduced it to Americain 1836. The...

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...

Women and guns

By Massad Ayoob Issue #121 • January/February, 2010 In a time when what used to be called "the women's liberation movement" has achieved many of its...

Preparedness

Protein — The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet

Homestead security for women

Preparedness for travelers

What to do when there’s no doctor

Battery-Powered Tools are Changing

With commonsense planning, you can survive hard times

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...