Yurt Magic — Building an Enchanting Instant House
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #76 • July/August, 2002
I awoke last night to a circle of moonlight reflected on a wall. It was so vivid I could almost see the dark-and-light patterns of the moonface in...
The art of living in small spaces
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The art of living in small spaces
By Claire Wolfe
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Issue #92 • March/April, 2005
Long ago, I read that to live in the country you must have the soul of a poet, the dedication...
Circle of friends
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #111 • May/June, 2008
Hardcore survivalists cherish what I call the "George Romero Scenario." It goes like this: The proverbial poop has hit the propeller. Cities collapse into chaos. But we, the...
The state of freedom in America
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The state of freedom in America
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By Claire Wolfe
Issue #149 • September/October, 2014
The world is becoming less free. In the Middle East and Africa, Islamist fanatics try to bring back the Dark Ages. Europe stagnates...
Make your own firestarters
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #129 • May/June, 2011
I bought an old house last summer and inherited lots of the former owners' stuff some of it good and welcome, some strictly landfill-fodder.
Among other things that...
Moving on: A small town can be a haven during a depression
By Claire Wolfe
Website Exclusive • September, 2010
One day last summer, I departed Last-Chance Gulch and the high desert, a U-Haul trailer bobbing behind. I aimed for my beloved Pacific Northwest where a friend had...
Kick the credit card habit and learn to stash cash
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #107 • September/October, 2007
My friend Jeanie, a professional woman, whips out her credit card at every spending opportunity. Wal-Mart expedition? Credit card. A week's worth of groceries? Credit card. DVD rental?...
Turning a $10,000 House into a Home — Part 1: Salvaging the Wreck
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #155 • September/October, 2015
December 2012. Welcome to my house as I first saw it.
The door opens onto a dirt-floored room. It's not a garage, not a storeroom, not a laundry room,...
Learning to love the high desert
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #120 • November/December, 2009
Earlier this year, the dogs and I got taxed out of Cabin Sweet Cabin. With a little help from our friends, we packed a small trailer with our...
Homemade bread: a metaphor for life
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Homemade bread:
a metaphor for life
By Claire Wolfe
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By Claire Wolfe
Issue #113 • September/October, 2008
My parents never actually bought Wonder Bread; I got my fix only at friends' houses. The breads that entered our little three-bedroom,...
A view of self-reliance from a more timid perspective — A woman’s opinion
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #94 • July/August, 2005
My fellow Backwoods Home writer Jackie Clay is a domestic wonder woman who can do anything from can kumquats to butcher an elk.
Not me. Unh uh. No way....
Simplifying simplicity
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #117 • May/June, 2009
In the bustling 19th century, Henry David Thoreau urged us to "simplify, simplify, simplify."
In the even more hectic 20th and 21st centuries, writer, philosopher, and frugalista Wendy McElroy...
Winter in the High Desert — Understanding the music
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #121 • January/February, 2010
My old friends from the Pacific Northwest think I don't love them anymore, now that I've moved far away to the high desert.
It's all a misunderstanding.
One after another,...
Activists on both the left and the right spotlight a broken federal government
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #97 • January/February, 2006
On October 28, 2005, 400 citizens of Vermont met amid the pomp of their capitol building and voted to secede from the Union. The media, to say the...
10 traits for better living
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #151 • January/February, 2015
It's a mystery why one person can be poor but still proud, independent, and reasonably content while the guy next door is merely content to slide into a...
