Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

Raised Bed Gardening — Neat and Productive

Finding, buying, milking, and living with the family milk cow

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...

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Grow some winter squash this year

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

By Jackie Clay Issue #69 • May/June, 2001 There are many things parents can give their children, other than plastic toys or a few bucks to...

Exotic Plants for the Homestead

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 cold smoker so you can make delicious squaw candy

Build an all-purpose ladder

Shake update

Build an attached solar greenhouse

Self-Reliance

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

Preparing for a Temporary Catastrophe

By Dave Duffy Issue #139 • January/February, 2013 November's Superstorm Sandy on the Northeastern coast of the United States was our most recent grand reminder that...

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...

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

Science and truth. Are they related?

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

The world is ending! … Again?

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

The time-travel ad

Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?

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

Emancipation Proclamation by Historical Document

Firearms

Firearms and cold weather considerations

Consider the 20-gauge shotgun

By Massad Ayoob Issue #120 • November/December, 2009 A year or more ago in these pages, I made the suggestion that sometimes less is more, and...

Inexpensive retired Russian military rifles can be the ideal backwoods meat guns

By Rev. J.D. Hooker Issue #47 • September/October, 1997 Like many another rural person, I've often found a firearm to be my most important tool. No,...

Get a piece of history — An M1 Garand rifle

By Mike Blank Issue #89 • September/October, 2004 What follows is my personal quest to acquire an M1 Garand through the Civilian Marks-manship Program (CMP). We've...

Preparedness

Prepper power! Part 2

Changing the odds in home fire protection

Survival storeroom

Homestead security for women

Disaster preparation!

Keep the Ice On

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...