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...

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

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...

Growing Productive Strawberries

Garden Seeds — A Great Winter Pastime

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 log crib

A simple backwoods hay baler

Make your own effective fishing tackle while you save money and recycle scrap

A cabin for one

Self-Reliance

The joys of making soap

10 day survival pack for your vehicle for just $25

By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM Issue #104 • March/April, 2007 It seems like every winter there are news stories of people getting stranded for weeks in...

Saving money on the homestead

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #148 • July/August, 2014 I come from a "penny-pinching-and-proud-of-it" family background and I learned the importance of saving a buck at an...

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?

Zombie Apocalypse

The coming ice age

Gee-Whiz: Insects

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

President George Washington’s Farewell Address

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

Farm baseball … with ghost runners!

The greatest American who was never President

Firearms

Women and guns

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...

Thoughts on ammunition

By Massad Ayoob Issue #108 • November/December, 2007 Ammunition is to firearms as gasoline is to automobiles. However, with guns and ammo, the fit isn't quite...

Cold weather shooting considerations

By Massad Ayoob Issue #126 • November/December, 2010 Winter will soon be upon us. Cold weather makes a lot of things more difficult. Running. Walking. Navigating...

Preparedness

The fire wick fire starter

Your survival depends on water

Survival firebuilding skills

Power-up bag

Frostbite — Don’t flirt with this sneaky danger

Preparing for a Temporary Catastrophe

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...