Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

For large quantity food dehydration try this homemade gem from the past

Gardening in the Desert Using Only Rainwater

Medical kits for self-reliant families

Practical Ideas for Self-Reliant Living

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

By Linda Gabris When I was growing up in the rural woods, Grandpa and I did a lot of fishing from spring through fall so...

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Grow some winter squash this year

Caring for your chickens in winter

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson As winter approaches, we all are thinking of ways to make our livestock and poultry as comfortable as possible when the cold...

Growing and Using Bamboo on the Homestead

Swiss Chard — The Leaf Vegetable That Keeps on Giving!

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

Make a Quick and Easy Tipi

Gabion walls for form and function

Claw Hammers

Composite lumber helps outdoor projects resist water, weather, and sun

Self-Reliance

Pump water for free

You could furnish an entire homestead at Lehman’s ‘Non-electric’ Hardware Store

By Don Fallick Issue #47 • September/October, 1997 Let me state my bias right at the beginning: Lehmans Hardware has been advertising in Backwoods Home Magazine...

A canoe livery — An honest, clean business

By Harry Spetla Issue #46 • July/August, 1997 A canoe and kayak livery business is inexpensive to start and it's easy to operate. The business fits...

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

Subduction zone tsunami — What the residents of the Pacific Northwest have to fear

Gee-Whiz: Bad Fish, Big Fish

The coming ice age

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

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 barnyard scramble

James Polk — A model for modern presidents

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

The summer of ’35

Firearms

An economical battery of guns for the backwoods home

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...

Choose your ammo… police style

By Massad Ayoob Issue #93 • May/June, 2005 One of our greatest modern gun experts, Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper, USMC, Ret., once made the observation that...

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

Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?

Wildfires: Before, During, After

Disaster preparation!

Storm survivors

Avoiding heat illness

Survival infection control

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...