Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

Medical kits for self-reliant families

Getting out of Dodge — 10 Things I am doing to prepare for the move to the country

New invention— The Fencerunner

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

By John Silveira While we are waiting for the Coronavirus pandemic to subside enough so society can get back to normal, there are powerful and...

Grow some winter squash this year

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Grow Open Pollinated Seeds for Self-Reliant Gardening

By Jackie Clay Issue #56 In the past I've grown hybrid vegetables, mostly the varieties that have been developed to produce early yields. Because of this,...

Growing Productive Strawberries

Raised Bed Gardening — Neat and Productive

Making Apple Cider with a Homemade Press

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

Here’s how to make a musical bamboo flute

A recycled dresser makes a useful bathroom vanity

Build this sturdy large-capacity food dehydrator

Dorothy Ainsworth update: Out of the ashes

Self-Reliance

Turn your passion into a business

Drive your own freshwater well

By Len McDougall Issue #128 • March/April, 2011 The well point's slotted holes permit water to enter, while stainless steel mesh inside keeps out abrasive sand. X...

Your kitchen pharmacy — How common culinary herbs and spices can help you feel...

By Rebekah L. Cowell Issue #122 • March/April, 2010 In a perfect world, we would get all the nutrients and medication we needed from the food...

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

Testing Soil

Gee-Whiz: Trees

Gee-Whiz: Bad Fish, Big Fish

Gee-Whiz: Dinosaurs

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 4 — Cunning, vindictive, and one may have been a murderess

Constitution of the united States of America

the gee-whiz! page: Animals, humans, extraterrestrials, and tools

The summer of ’35

Firearms

Firearms handling refresher Part III: Rifles

Frontier style handguns for the modern backwoods home

By Massad Ayoob Issue #101 • September/October, 2006 The year was 1873. Samuel Colt had invented the revolveror at least introduced it to Americain 1836. The...

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....

How big a gun do you need?

By Massad Ayoob Issue #99 • May/June, 2006 We Americans like to do things in a big way. Big houses. Big cars. Big boats. And, yes,...

Preparedness

What to do when there’s no doctor

Circle of friends

The 7 core areas of preparedness

Keep the Ice On

With commonsense planning, you can survive hard times

Hypothermia — A real winter danger

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...