Farm baseball … with ghost runners!
By Tom Kovach
Growing up on a farm in north-central Minnesota wasn’t all chores and hard work … although there was plenty of that too. But back in the l950s and early l960s when I...
Habeeb Salloum — Poet, Traveler, Recipe Writer
Habeeb Salloum, 95, a poet, world traveler, linguist, and author of recipe books on Middle Eastern cuisine, has written recipe articles for Backwoods Home Magazine for 19 years. The son of Syrian immigrant farmers,...
The time-travel ad
By John Silveira
Issue #125 • September/October, 2010
It's become a minor Internet phenomenon. The ad reads:
It's also been read by Jay Leno on his late night TV show, on National Public Radio more than once...
Presidents’ wives of the past Part 4 — Cunning, vindictive, and one may have...
By John Silveira
Issue #35 • September/October, 1995
(This is a four-part series. Click the links to navigate to parts one, two, three, and four.)
Do you think we'll ever have a woman as President?" I asked....
the gee-whiz! page: Animals, humans, extraterrestrials, and tools
By O. E. MacDougal
Issue #154 • July/August, 2015
There was a time when it was thought that a defining difference between humans and animals was: we use tools, they don't. But, in the last few...
The summer of ’35
By John Graesch
Issue #64 • July/August, 2000
Sixty five years ago I was living in that part of Seattle, Washington, known as South Park. Few places had as much natural beauty as "The Park" as...
The vanishing outhouse
By Tom Kovach
Issue #79 • January/February, 2003
A person recently wrote to a large Midwest newspapers' advice column asking for information about outdoor privies. It seems that this person's family inherited a log cabin from...
Was the first government gun confiscation attempt foiled by an unsung colonial heroine?
By John Silveira
Issue #119 • September/October, 2009
Gun control people don't seem to get just how deeply etched into the American psyche gun ownership goes and that the resistance to being disarmed by their own...
George Washington Carver — He wrote the book on self-reliance
By John Silveira
Issue #31 • January/February, 1995
"What were you listening to when I got to your house? Sounded nice. I don't think I've ever heard it before."
O.E. MacDougal looked at me from across the...
The barnyard scramble
By Michelle Hampton
Issue #106 • July/August, 2007
Each year during our local county fair, one of the best-attended events happens when farm animals, donated by local ranchers, are let loose in the big rodeo arena....
Who were the best…and worst U.S. Presidents?
By John Silveira
Issue #49 • January/February, 1998
It was one of those days I love. We were between deadlines and Dave, Bill, Mac, and I had gone fishing on the lake. Dave, of course, is...
Remembering what grandma used
By Marjorie Burris
Issue #57 • May/June, 1999
My grandmother, Mary Etta Dillman Graham, was one of those frontier women who took life as it came; extremely practical, resourceful and inventive, she was always, always ready...
Declaration of Independence: The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
Action of Second Continental Congress, July 4, 1776
When in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume...
Fly it proudly and properly
By Roger Meyer
Issue #130 • July/August, 2011
Since September 11, 2001, more Americans are displaying the national flag. Our flag gives us a sense of unity and purpose as a nation. Old Glory represents our...
Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?
By Don Lewis
Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019
The year was 1834, a year that didn’t really stand out as all that particularly important in American history. But like any other year, it had its share...
Quilts — Masterpieces of the heart and windows into women’s history
By Marlene Parkin
Issue #22 • July/August, 1993
Many of the quilts of yesterday took a lifetime to make. Perhaps the mystical part of quiltsthe aspect that makes them almost humanis the countless hours of work...
