Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

The coffee mug knife sharpener

Everybody talks about lightning and yes, there are things you can do about it

Use Plastic to Get a Head Start on Corn in the Fall

Building David’s Cabin, Part One

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....

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Grow some winter squash this year

How to Grow Potatoes

By Alice B. Yeager Issue #97 • January/February, 2006 Potato plants need plenty of sunshine, a well drained soil, and no weed or grass interference. Ideal...

Elderberries — Hospitality, Health, And Beauty

Clover — From Livestock Forage to Medicinal Tea, This Humble Plant...

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

Build a Top-Bar Bee Hive

Building your chicken coop

Self-Reliance

The wonderful world of axes

A worthwhile journey

By Kim Scheimreif Issue #124 • July/August, 2010 In February of 1996 my husband, Kevin, two-year-old daughter, Kayla, and I moved from New Jersey to Maine....

Preparing for civil unrest

By Claire Wolfe Issue #118 • July/August, 2009 The most remarkable thing about civil unrest is that there hasn't been more of it. Politicians are making a...

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

Gee-Whiz: Ice Ages, Past and Future

The MTHFR mutation and why it may matter to you

How big is the solar system?

The threat of electromagnetic pulse!

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

Constitution of the united States of America

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

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

The summer of ’35

Firearms

The time for modern; the time for traditional

Catch your own bait

By Gary Gresh Issue #91 • January/February, 2005 Expensive lures and pricey tackle shop baits can sometimes make fishing an expensive proposition, raising the cost of...

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...

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

Bartering for bad times

Dollar Store to the Rescue

Power Up

Handy Keychain Mini-Gadgets

Stashing Junk Silver for Bad Times

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

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...