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Want more fruit from less space? Espalier your trees!

Build a wood crib with free materials

Who were the best…and worst U.S. Presidents?

A guide to buying silver and gold

Current Issue

Installing a propane heater

By Watt Jones Issue #177 • July/August/September, 2019 Even with a 12,000 BTU Mini Split System installed in our cabin, my wife and I have experienced some...

Our journey to modern off-grid living

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.

Farm and Garden

Clover — From livestock forage to medicinal tea, this humble plant...

By Eugene Mitchell Issue #130 • July/August, 2011 Whether young or old, lying in the grass and searching for four-leafed clovers is timeless fun. Sometimes they're...

A New Use for Old Tires: A Garden Using Tires

Leaf mold is another way to build your soil

Growing potatoes in straw

Time to forget about snail and slug bait

Building

Dorothy Ainsworth update: Out of the ashes

Build a Concrete Root Cellar

Life-long siding with fiber cement board

Ambidextrous chainsaw filing

Self-Reliance

Just for Kids: Visit the great prairies

Homemade pest traps

By Patrice Lewis Issue #164 • March/April, 2017 Last summer, my little compost bucket near the kitchen sink became home to a zillion fruit flies. Once...

Finding wealth you can wear at yard sales

By Thomas M. Buckley Issue #126 • November/December, 2010 When you go to yard sales this year, be sure to look for jewelry. I used to...

Animals

Cheaper than Store-Bought Eggs

By Kristina Seleshanko Issue #177 • July/August/September, 2019 Something we heard a lot when we first started raising chickens in the suburbs was, “For the cost...

Raising your own beef

Fermenting Chicken Feed

Keeping homestead animals healthy

Build a chicken feeder on the cheep

Science and Education

Gee-Whiz: Presidents

Gee-Whiz: Ice Ages, Past and Future

Gee-Whiz: Dinosaurs

Avian Flu — How afraid of this

Energy

Keep the Ice On

By Jeffrey R. Yago, P.E., C.E.M. Self-Reliance, Fall 2019 When I ask most people why they own or are looking to buy a generator, most will...

Power Up

Battery-Powered Tools are Changing

Handy Keychain Mini-Gadgets

Power Up Light, Water, Communications in Emergencies

Americana and History

Grandpa’s justice

Remembering what grandma used

The vanishing outhouse

Fried chicken for breakfast

Firearms

Women and guns

Moderate power firearms

By Massad Ayoob Issue #110 • March/April, 2008 Robert Ruark, the great American writer of the mid-Twentieth Century, was also a big game hunter. One of...

Firearms handling refresher Part II: Shotguns

By Massad Ayoob Website Exclusive • December, 2003 In Part I, we began a series of refreshers on safety and proper handling of firearms. This time,...

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...

Preparedness

Emergency planning beyond the bug-out bag

With commonsense planning, you can survive hard times

What to do when there’s no doctor

Survival infection control

Building and stocking your pantry

Food security 101: part 2

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...