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...

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

Raised Bed Gardening — Neat and Productive

By Alice B. Yeager Issue #74 • March/April, 2002 Are you tired of raising a big row crop gardenone that keeps you busy from dawn until...

Plant Your Trees in the Spring

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

Trusses — Low cost marvels to roof over most large spaces

Making a wooden kitchen countertop

Build a Trail

A recycled dresser makes a useful bathroom vanity

Self-Reliance

Picking your pressure canner — All American or Presto?

Flea market stories and strategies

By Jim Capossela I’m convinced it’s clean living that’s helped me make it to the age 39 I’ve been for quite some time now. I...

Storing dry foods

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson More and more folks are starting to buy bulk foods to ensure if stores run out of foods — as they did...

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

Gee-Whiz: Trees

The MTHFR mutation and why it may matter to you

Theories of the universe

Science and truth. Are they related?

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 summer of ’35

Remembering what grandma used

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

Fried chicken for breakfast

Firearms

The time for modern; the time for traditional

A used shotgun bargain: The Browning Auto-5

By Brad Rohdenburg Website Exclusive • September, 2014 A 1958 "Light Twelve" Browning Auto-5, with a 28" Improved Cylinder barrel and 'Speedfeed' loading. It weighs less...

Teaching a 10-year-old to shoot

By John Moody Issue #174 • November/December, 2018 In my youth, I remember my dad dragging my brother and me out of bed in the middle...

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...

Preparedness

The fire wick fire starter

A survival key ring — Your everyday tool for emergency preparedness

Buying the right emergency radio

Survival firebuilding skills

Dollar Store to the Rescue

Preparedness for travelers

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...