Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

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...

Grow some winter squash this year

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Currants and Gooseberries

By Sylvia Gist Issue #155 • September/October, 2015 Currants and gooseberries all belong to the genus Ribes (pronounced "rye-bees"). There are varieties of currants and gooseberries...

Leaf Mold is Another Way to Build Your Soil

Rotten Luck: The Skinny on Composting

By Hook or Crook: A Billhook is a Handy Homestead Tool

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 recycled dresser makes a useful bathroom vanity

Herb Boxes from Fence Boards

Building Eric’s house

Choosing a chain saw

Self-Reliance

Make your own firestarters

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

By Albert H. Carlson Issue #37 • January/February, 1996 What was a beautiful sunny day with large white billowing clouds low on the horizon has turned...

How to Resurrect Old, Rusted Tools

By R.E. Rawlinson Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019 The homesteading lifestyle can require a number of tools to cultivate the garden, maintain the home, repair the...

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

Three more ways the world can end … and I’m not kidding

The ‘risks’ with Swine Flu

Gee-Whiz: Insects

Gee-Whiz: Sleep

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 vanishing outhouse

Presidents’ wives of the past Part 4 — Cunning, vindictive, and one may have been a murderess

Constitution of the united States of America

The greatest American who was never President

Firearms

Savage Model 110 — A proven economical backwoods rifle

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...

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...

Answering some well asked questions about personal defense

By Massad Ayoob Issue #97 • January/February, 2006 Jeff Yago, Backwoods Home's energy writer, recently completed a couple of concealed carry handgun courses. The classes apparently...

Preparedness

Preparing for civil unrest

Avoiding heat illness

Solar-powered water purifiers

A survival key ring — Your everyday tool for emergency preparedness

With commonsense planning, you can survive hard times

Medical kits for self-reliant families

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...