Pheasant and dumplings

Recipe of the Week  Pheasant and dumplings  Courtesy of Jackie Clay   You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here Ingredients 1 pheasant (or equivalent other bird) 2 Tbsp. butter 2 Tbsp. flour 2 cups broth from cooking 1/2 pint...

Tips and handy hints for 4X4 living

<!-- Tips and handy hints for 4X4 living By Jackie Clay --> By Jackie Clay Where Jackie lives, a 4x4 is essential Issue #71 • September/October, 2001 After spending more than 35 years living in homesteads that were so out of the...

Plant Once Harvest for Years

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #140 • March/April, 2013 Year after year we start seeds, till the ground, plant, weed, harvest, then tear it all out at the end of the season. It's a lot of work,...

Asparagus au gratin

Recipe of the Week  Asparagus au gratin  Courtesy of Jackie Clay   You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here Ingredients 2 lbs. tender wild asparagus spears 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated 2 Tbsp. butter 2 Tbsp. flour 1...

Grow Open Pollinated Seeds for Self-Reliant Gardening

By Jackie Clay Issue #56 In the past I've grown hybrid vegetables, mostly the varieties that have been developed to produce early yields. Because of this, I was able to grow things like sweet corn in...

Building David’s Cabin, Part One

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #172 • July/August, 2018 Like most young folks today, our son David graduated high school, got a job, and went to college (accumulating student loans in the process). After that, he worked...

Keeping homestead animals healthy

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #169 • January/February, 2018 As a veterinary field technician for more than 20 years, I saw firsthand the frustration and heartbreak when animal owners called the veterinarian (or started treatment) too late...

Build your own log home in the woods

By Jackie Clay (Photos by Bill Spaulding and Jackie Clay) Issue #72 • November/December, 2001 This is the third part of a three-part series. The first two parts appeared in issues 70 and 71. In the last two issues...

Harvesting the wild: Acorns

By Jackie Clay Issue #79 • January/February, 2003 When I was just a little girl, I used to collect acorns by the boxfull as they fell in the fall. I didn't know why. They just felt...

Protein — The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet

By Jackie Clay Issue #111 • May/June, 2008 It goes without saying that preparedness is not for "radicals" or "weirdos" anymore. I picked up a preparedness leaflet at the County Agent's office last week and another...

Saving Seeds

By Jackie Clay Issue #129 • May/June, 2011 I go through dozens of garden seed catalogs in preparation for each year's new (and better!) garden. I have a lot of "old reliable" varieties that I grow...

Corn and nopalito salsa

Recipe of the Week  Corn and nopalito salsa  Courtesy of Jackie Clay   You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here Ingredients 1 1/2 cups cooked sweet corn 1/2 cup chopped nopalitos 2 Tbsp. chopped sweet red pepper 1/4...

Old-fashioned baked beans

Recipe of the Week  Old-fashioned baked beans  Courtesy of Jackie Clay   You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here Ingredients 2 cups dry navy beans 1/4 cup ham or bacon 1/2 cup dehydrated chopped onions 8 Tbsp....

Fail-proof white bread

Recipe of the Week  Fail-proof white bread  Courtesy of Jackie Clay   You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here Ingredients 1 Tbsp. dry yeast 1/2 cup warm water 1/2 tsp. honey 4 cups hot water 3 Tbsp. shortening 1 Tbsp....

Our journey to modern off-grid living

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #177 • July/August/September, 2019 We’ve lived off the grid for decades. Throughout the years, we’ve traveled the path from living a very rustic lifestyle with few amenities to our current off-grid homestead...

Building your chicken coop

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #139 • January/February, 2013 Here's a coop we built from pallets and scrap lumber. The goats lived in one end and the chickens lived in the other. It was free and worked...