Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

Just for Kids: Some good clean fun!

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...

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Grow some winter squash this year

Growing and Using Bamboo on the Homestead

By Jereme Zimmerman  Issue #161 • September/October, 2016 Bamboo: The very word evokes an image of...

Tomatoes, the Essential Garden Crop

A Small Space Yields a Big Crop of Garlic

Vermicomposting — Raise Worms to Consume Waste, Amend Soil, and Earn...

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

Build an Old-Fashioned Hotbed and Start Your Seeds in Style

Build a lean-to greenhouse

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

The poor man’s ceramic knife sharpener

Self-Reliance

Dehydrating eggs at home

Raising kids simply

By Patrice Lewis Issue #131 • September/October, 2011 Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live simply? When asked what constitutes a simple...

New yarn from old sweaters

By Margaret Mills Issue #132 • November/December, 2011 Years ago, when my grandmother learned that some women purchased new fabric to make quilts, she was shocked....

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

Zombie Apocalypse

The world is coming to an end… and this time, I’m not kidding

The MTHFR mutation and why it may matter to you

Theories of the universe

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

Former first ladies — Beautiful, brilliant, crazy

Biological and chemical weapons through history

Grandpa’s justice

Firearms

Firearms — Tools of rural living

The Appleseed Project

By Massad Ayoob Issue #123 • May/June, 2010 There is nothing else in the shooting world quite like the Appleseed Project, which combines American Revolutionary War...

Hunting, processing, and serving black bear

By Linda Gabris Issue #162 • November/December, 2016 Bear was a popular meat in our house when I was growing up in the rural woods. Black...

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

Survival firebuilding skills

Food security 101: part 2

Dollar Store to the Rescue

Use solar landscape lights for emergencies

10 day survival pack for your vehicle for just $25

Preparing for a Temporary Catastrophe

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...