How safe is your electric fence?
By Eloise Twining
I’ve used solar powered electric fencing on my California ranch for at least 35 years. Over that time electric fencing has proved to be a very effective way of controlling stock safely....
The healthy and tantalizing pomegranate
By Habeeb Salloum
Wonderful to look at, appetizing in flavor, delicious in taste and with a juice which is refreshing on a hot summer day, is a fair description of the pomegranate.
Although according to the...
Tea for the garden
By Lisa Nourse
We have poor soil and do our best to amend it with compost and manure every year. However, we feel our plants still need a boost throughout the growing season. We like...
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...
How to become a backyard beekeeper
By Sheri Jones
If you’ve been intrigued by the idea of becoming a beekeeper but think you don’t have the space, resources, or knowledge, you’re about to be pleasantly surprised. Backyard beekeeping is a lot...
Growing and Using Cilantro
By Habeeb Salloum
Cilantro (also called fresh coriander, Chinese parsley, Mexican parsley, Spanish parsley, and Thai parsley) is one of the oldest herbal condiments known to humankind. It is thought to be the first herb...
Pruning Blueberries
By Kristina Seleshanko
When we purchased our mountaintop homestead, I was excited to discover four blueberry bushes that were already established on our property. Not all of them were large, but they were an excellent...
Homestead helpers
By Charles Sanders
My parents were children of the Great Depression. They learned to get by on very little, to make or repair or reuse almost anything, and never throw anything away — it might...
Consider the trades when it comes to your future ability to make money
By Patrice Lewis
When I was in my late teens and getting ready to attend college, my father gave me a piece of advice: “Study whatever you want, but always make sure you have a...
Making a wooden kitchen countertop
By Patrice Lewis
One of the advantages of living a homesteading lifestyle is participants can kick aside the ever-changing concepts of what constitutes “classy” home interior design. Those model-perfect suburban abodes often hold no appeal...
Publisher’s Note – Issue #179 Jan/Feb/Mar 2020
Welcome to the fourth decade of BHM
Welcome to the fourth decade publishing Backwoods Home Magazine. This is Issue #179, marking the beginning of our 31st year. Not much has changed! Dave Duffy, the magazine’s...
Amateur Ham Radio – The Ultimate Tool for Survival Communications
By Jeffrey R. Yago, P.E.
N4LPE
During any major disaster or grid-down event, communications will not only be critical for coordinating rescue efforts, but could actually save your life by receiving alerts and evacuation instructions. Unfortunately,...
Advice from second-time homesteaders
By Don and Patrice Lewis
In 1993, shortly after we got married, my husband and I took a leap into the unknown. We left urban California, left our jobs, left our families, and settled in...
Turning to turmeric
By Habeeb Salloum
On our farm in southwest Saskatchewan, of all the spices Mother used, there were a few with long histories that she never had in her kitchen. One of these was turmeric, a...
My View: Learn to Do One Thing Well
By Dave Duffy
Learn to do one thing well and you’ll never work another day in your life
A fundamental problem for many young people entering the work force is figuring out not only how to...
Keeping tools sharp
By Dana Benner
There are some things on the homestead that we take great care of, like firearms, knives and machinery. Then there are those things that don’t get the attention that they should, such...
