Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

Get the most out of your vehicle and your maintenance dollar

Goat birthing and raising kids

Cash in on your household junk

How to build a good fence for your homestead

Practical Ideas for Self-Reliant Living

Grow some winter squash this year

By Lisa Nourse I love summertime — I love the green of the trees, the warm weather, and growing my own food. I especially love...

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Propagating Plants

By Jackie Clay Issue #128 • March/April, 2011 We all love the idea of having a big, productive garden, full of all the nutritious, tasty foods...

Gardening with a Chicken Tractor

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

How safe is your electric fence?

Vise Dremel Moto Tool mount

Rural Building

Make your own lumber with a chainsaw mill

Self-Reliance

Caveman walking stick

The coffee mug knife sharpener

By Michael Cantrell Issue #105 • May/June, 2007 Not too long ago, I watched a man open his pocket knife by pulling it partway open to...

Survival/utility vest

By David Eddings Issue #144 • November/December, 2013 Editor's Note: Several readers have contacted us asking about the exact model number of the vest pictured in...

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 ‘risks’ with Swine Flu

The world is coming to an end… and this time, I’m not kidding

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

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

Grandpa’s justice

George Washington Carver — He wrote the book on self-reliance

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

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

Firearms

Use the right ammunition!

Teaching a 10-year-old to shoot

By John Moody Issue #174 • November/December, 2018 In my youth, I remember my dad dragging my brother and me out of bed in the middle...

The subtleties of safe firearms handling

By Massad Ayoob Issue #103 • January/February, 2007 There are so many makes and models of firearms in existence that no one has ever counted them...

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...

Preparedness

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

What to do when there’s no doctor

The fire wick fire starter

Building and stocking your pantry

Keep the Ice On

Commonsense preparedness just makes sense

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...