Can she bake an apple pie, Billy Boy?

By Jackie Clay Issue #77 • September/October, 2002 Okay, I know in the song it's "cherry" pie, but what the heck, we all love apple pies, don't we? Unfortunately, few people bake good old fashioned apple...

A Child’s Garden — More than Child’s Play

By Jackie Clay Issue #69 • May/June, 2001 There are many things parents can give their children, other than plastic toys or a few bucks to play video games at the mall. And one of the...

A recycled dresser makes a useful bathroom vanity

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #152 • March/April, 2015 Here's the finished vanity with our unfinished dresser that will store our extra towels and linens. We've had our log home built for more than eight years now, but until...

Bread — The staff of life

By Jackie Clay Issue #78 • November/December, 2002 In today's hurry-up, prosperous world, bread has come to mean that white, pasty stuff you buy in the store and slap together into boring, equally tasteless sandwiches. Or...

How to Grow Great Carrots

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #153 • May/June, 2015 Carrots are an old-time homesteader favorite. They can be frozen, canned, dehydrated, or simply stored in a cool location. They are nutritious, too, being a great source of beta...

Storing dry foods

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson More and more folks are starting to buy bulk foods to ensure if stores run out of foods — as they did at the onset of this epidemic — their families will...

Canning meat plus how to use your canned meat

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Although we have a big freezer, I can up most of our meat. We raise beef cattle, turkeys, chickens, and we hunt, so we have a lot of meat. (Besides that, I...

Quince preserves

Recipe of the Week  Quince preserves  Courtesy of Jackie Clay   You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here Ingredients 3 cups sugar 2 qts. water 7 cups pared, cored, quartered quinces Method When preparing quinces, discard all gritty parts....

Goat milk recipes

By Jackie Clay Issue #92 • March/April, 2005 One of my greatest joys is having a bounty of fresh milk from my goats come spring. And as I had two does milking on our new homestead...

Goat birthing and raising kids

By Jackie Clay Issue #112 • July/August, 2008 Dairy goats form one of the cornerstones of our homestead. Not only do they provide milk, cheese, ice cream, cottage cheese, and meat, but they also give us...

Build Your Own Hoop House

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #171 • May/June, 2018 I’ve had my own garden for more than half a century, and I have learned a few things after all these years. One of the most valuable things...

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...

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...

Homestead burnout — What it is and how to avoid it

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #134 • March/April, 2012 We've all been there: the roof is leaking on your temporary housing while you try to build a start on your new homestead. It's rained for a week...

Grow Open-Pollinated Tomatoes

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #166 • July/August, 2017 Nearly all of us homesteaders grow tomatoes in our gardens. Tomatoes are hugely valuable as a homestead crop. After all, they give us a wide variety of products. Many...

Building and stocking your pantry

By Jackie Clay Issue #125 • September/October, 2010 At the turn of the 19th century, most country homes had a walk-in pantry, as well as a root cellar for keeping vegetables and fruits. This pantry contained...