Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

Learning to love the high desert

Lessons learned from an ice storm

Seed art — It’s fun to collect the seeds and create these unusual pictures

The coffee mug knife sharpener

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....

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Grow some winter squash this year

Jackie’s Garden Primer

By Jackie Clay Issue #117 • May/June, 2009 The birds are singing. The sunshine makes the day feel soft and warm. The soil is mellow and...

Time to Forget About Snail and Slug Bait

Grow some winter squash this year

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

Ambidextrous chainsaw filing

Build a Trapper’s Tilt

Tools and hardware for the backwoods home

Livestock fencing for the small homesteader

Self-Reliance

Intake and exhaust upgrades for better mileage and performance

Defeating debt

By Don Chance Issue #82 • July/August, 2003 "Money does not solve money problems." — Dr. Phil McGraw For many, if not most, people yearning for the...

Call me plumber

By Emily Chadwick Issue #121 • January/February, 2010 Sometimes life requires you to climb in the toilet, and elbow deep in the bowl, you discover 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

How big is the solar system?

The MTHFR mutation and why it may matter to you

The gee-whiz! page — Cats: Why they rule our world

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

Presidents’ wives of the past Part 3

The greatest American who was never President

George Washington Carver — He wrote the book on self-reliance

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

Firearms

The light at the end of the gun

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...

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...

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...

Preparedness

Stashing Junk Silver for Bad Times

Protein — The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet

Avoiding heat illness

A survival key ring — Your everyday tool for emergency preparedness

Building and stocking your pantry

Prepper power! Part 1

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...