Home - Backwoods Home Magazine

Feeling nostalgic? Now you’ll rave! Here’s the story of Burma Shave.

Grow Open Pollinated Seeds for Self-Reliant Gardening

Five building tricks for super strong framing

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

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

The $1 Garden

By Jonathan Nunan Issue #122 • March/April, 2010 The dollar garden is simple in concept: buy as many seeds as you can for one dollar and...

Use Plastic to Get a Head Start on Corn in the...

Growing and Using Bamboo on the Homestead

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 a poultry killing cone

Save Time and Energy with the Fenced Chicken Coop/Garden

From triumph to tragedy to triumph again. Dorothy Ainsworth makes her valiant comeback

Build your own portable forge

Self-Reliance

Homemade Toys! — Easy to make, fun to play with, and great for gifts!

Breastfeeding — A primer

By Kathy Parkes Issue #49 • January/February, 1998 Unfortunately hospital practices that negatively affect breastfeeding are often the cultural norm. Our society pays only lip service...

10 day survival pack for your vehicle for just $25

By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM Issue #104 • March/April, 2007 It seems like every winter there are news stories of people getting stranded for weeks in...

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: Dinosaurs

Testing Soil

The MTHFR mutation and why it may matter to you

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

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

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

The vanishing outhouse

Quilts — Masterpieces of the heart and windows into women’s history

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

Firearms

Canning game meat

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....

Firearms handling refresher Part I: Handguns

By Massad Ayoob Website Exclusive • December, 2003 One of our readers e-mailed John Silveira to tell him that taking a handgun afield after a long...

Preparedness

Solar-powered water purifiers

Use solar landscape lights for emergencies

Prepper power! Part 2

Circle of friends

Prepper power! Part 1

Emergency treatment for fire-related injuries

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...