Home - Backwoods Home Magazine

Jim Van Camp: Coffee roaster, painter

Where our farm animals come from

Yurt Magic — Building an Enchanting Instant House

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

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...

Gardening with a Chicken Tractor

Grow Garlic and Reap Health Benefits

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

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

Build a portable woodstove for $30

Building a Ferro-Cement Shed

Build Your Own Car Wash

Self-Reliance

Your survival depends on water

Making apple pectin

By Kristina Seleshanko Issue #167 • September/October, 2017 One day, as I walked past an apple tree that was naturally thinning its fruit by dropping tiny,...

Boost your income by adding a processing step to what you sell

By Harry Styron Issue #36 • November/December, 1995 Three boys spent several raw November days picking up black walnuts. We hoped to get a nice bit...

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

Testing Soil

Gee-Whiz: Trees

A brief history of health and medicine

Subduction zone tsunami — What the residents of the Pacific Northwest have to fear

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

Biological and chemical weapons through history

Fly it proudly and properly

Former first ladies — Beautiful, brilliant, crazy

Feeling nostalgic? Now you’ll rave! Here’s the story of Burma Shave.

Firearms

How big a gun do you need?

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...

Hunting, processing, and serving black bear

By Linda Gabris Issue #162 • November/December, 2016 Bear was a popular meat in our house when I was growing up in the rural woods. Black...

Understanding the gun debate, part 3

By Massad Ayoob Issue #163 • January/February, 2017 Click Here to read Part 1 Click Here to read Part 2 As noted in the two previous parts of...

Preparedness

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

Food security 101

Bugging out in place

With commonsense planning, you can survive hard times

Caring for wounds in the field

Power Up

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...