Building Archives - Backwoods Home Magazine

This coop is for the birds

By Dorothy Ainsworth Issue #71 • September/October, 2001 You can buy a dozen eggs at the supermarket for 99 cents, or you can go out to the chicken coop you built and fetch a warm egg...

Build a cold smoker so you can make delicious squaw candy

By Jane Duquette Issue #148 • July/August, 2014 For delicious squaw candy, start with the freshest fish. One fresh July evening at our summer cabin in Soldotna, Alaska, my husband, Tom, and I sat with friends around...

Build an Old-Fashioned Hotbed and Start Your Seeds in Style

By Roy Martin Issue #104 • March/April, 2007 A hotbed is a miniature greenhouse that is heated to protect new seedlings from cold. The hotbed differs from a cold frame in that it has an internal...

Build a Vertical Storage Rack for Cans

By Monika Williams Issue #155 • September/October, 2015 I am always trying to come up with different ways to utilize the small space I have to store food. Then there is the problem of rotating my...

Dorothy Ainsworth update: Out of the ashes

By Dorothy Ainsworth Issue #38 • March/April, 1996 I got the dreadful call from my son Eric at 2 p.m. on June 29th, 1995, an hour after I'd gone to work at the restaurant. "Your house...

Renovating old walls

By David Lee Issue #106 • July/August, 2007 Some years ago my wife and I were out searching for a new building lot when we fell into The Trap. We had recently built and sold a...

How to Resurrect Old, Rusted Tools

By R.E. Rawlinson Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019 The homesteading lifestyle can require a number of tools to cultivate the garden, maintain the home, repair the tractor, and build various pens and coops. We use them...

Easy awnings

By Dorothy Ainsworth Issue #149 • September/October, 2014 A window without an awning is like a lamp without a shade bare and glaring. In my opinion there's not a window around that wouldn't look better...

Build a log crib

By Dorothy Ainsworth Issue #69 • May/June, 2001 Baby Zane is probably the only newborn in Hollywood sleeping in a log crib made by his grandmother in Oregon, but it was inevitable. The finished log crib. Dorothy uses...

Build a cistern out of corrugated road culvert

By Joe Mooney Issue #146 • March/April, 2014 Using a corrugated road culvert as a cistern is an economical way to add to your water storage. Here is the finished tank with PVC pipe directing water...

Build a Groundhog Snare

By Allen Easterly Issue #98 • March/April, 2006 In just a few minutes your completed snare is ready to put an end to your groundhog woes. A snare set vertically is very effective catching groundhogs with...

Our Unconventional House

By Judy Zent Website Exclusive • December, 2002 Fig. 1 - Tire walls with roof framing. Need a prolonged workout? Want to do some major recycling? Want to stay warm and cozy with the help of the...

Building a Ferro-Cement Shed

By Robert Van Putten Issue #162 • November/December, 2016 For a year and a half, we lived in an 18-foot travel trailer while building a straw bale cottage. There isn't much space in a travel trailer,...

Ambidextrous chainsaw filing

By Thomas Brewer Issue #57 • May/June, 1999 I am not ambidextrous. My wife, Judith, uses chopsticks with either hand or even both hands at once. She is ambidextrous. I can barely write with my right...

The house that Dorothy built

By Dorothy Ainsworth Issue #86 • March/April, 2004 This isn't the first time we've had an article by and about Dorothy Ainsworth. Throughout the text are editor's notes refering you...

Build your own repeating mouse trap

By Allen Easterly Issue #110 • March/April, 2008 Safety note: Because of drowning danger, 5-gallon buckets with any amount of water in them should never be placed where children under the age of 5 will be...