Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

Medical kits for self-reliant families

Seventeen great tips for caring for windows, mirrors, and other household glass

Practical Ideas for Self-Reliant Living

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

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Elderberries — Hospitality, Health, And Beauty

By Gail Butler Issue #124 • July/August, 2010 When friends stop by for a visit I like to offer them a hospitable and healthful libation of...

Leaf Mold is Another Way to Build Your Soil

Swiss Chard — The Leaf Vegetable That Keeps on Giving!

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

Making a wooden kitchen countertop

Making and using a solar cooker

Yurt Magic — Building an Enchanting Instant House

Dorothy Ainsworth update: Out of the ashes

Self-Reliance

A canoe livery — An honest, clean business

Preparing for winter

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #161 • September/October, 2016 In some climates, winter's no big deal — just a little rain and cooler weather. But for the...

Picking your pressure canner — All American or Presto?

By James Kash Issue #143 • September/October, 2013 The garden is in full swing and you have baskets of vegetables piling up; what do you do?...

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?

Gee-Whiz: Ice Ages, Past and Future

Gee-Whiz: Trees

The MTHFR mutation and why it may matter to you

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

Constitution of the united States of America

Habeeb Salloum — Poet, Traveler, Recipe Writer

Doesn’t anyone remember Tom Paine

Catfish Biscuits

Firearms

The subtleties of safe firearms handling

Of guns and snakes

By Massad Ayoob Issue #151 • January/February, 2015 Mas safely kills a rattlesnake in a populated area. (Note angle of gun and trajectory.) Pistol is a...

How to shoot a handgun accurately

By Massad Ayoob Issue #85 • January/February, 2004 "I want you to do an article on how to shoot a handgun accurately," Dave Duffy told me....

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...

Preparedness

Moving on: A small town can be a haven during a depression

Keep the Ice On

Frostbite — Don’t flirt with this sneaky danger

Caring for wounds in the field

Preparing for civil unrest

Bugging out in place

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...