Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

Hypothermia — A real winter danger

Plant Your Irish Potatoes This Fall or Winter

For safety’s sake, homestead fuel storage must be handled properly

Practical Ideas for Self-Reliant Living

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

By Linda Gabris When I was growing up in the rural woods, Grandpa and I did a lot of fishing from spring through fall so...

Grow some winter squash this year

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Time to Forget About Snail and Slug Bait

By Lyle Dykes Issue #135 • May/June, 2012 Years ago when traveling on business, I looked out of the window of my motel one morning in...

Secure and Economical Livestock Feed

Prevent Foodborne Illness with Safe Gardening Methods

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

A river rock shower

Build a ski sled

Five building tricks for super strong framing

Build a deluxe barrel stove

Self-Reliance

Bugging out in place

Getting logs

By Dorothy Ainsworth Website Exclusive • March, 2004 Online Exclusive April 2003 Attention: Would-be loggers. There have been changes in policy at the United States Forest Service...

Avoiding heat illness

By Dr. Gary F. Arnet Drink early and often to avoid dehydration. The body normally needs two to three...

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

How big is the solar system?

Gee-Whiz: Dinosaurs

Can we make a Tyrannosaurus rex from a chicken?

Gee-Whiz: From Paper to Canning

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

Fly it proudly and properly

President George Washington’s Farewell Address

Catfish Biscuits

Emancipation Proclamation by Historical Document

Firearms

An economical battery of guns for the backwoods home

BHM hosts Appleseed marksmanship event

By Massad Ayoob Issue #139 • January/February, 2013 Long a supporter of the Appleseed concept, Backwoods Home Magazine hosted one in Gold Beach, Oregon, in second...

Reload your own brass

By Dale Petry Issue #132 • November/December, 2011 Not long ago a friend called to say he had seen an unusual rifle at the local gun...

How to shoot a handgun accurately

By Massad Ayoob Issue #85 • January/February, 2004 "I want you to do an article on how to shoot a handgun accurately," Dave Duffy told me....

Preparedness

Food security 101

Emergency planning beyond the bug-out bag

Medical kits for self-reliant families

Preparing for a Temporary Catastrophe

The return of home emergency shelters takes on a dual-purpose approach

Frostbite — Don’t flirt with this sneaky danger

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...