Build a barrel stove
By Nick Weston
Issue #133 • January/February, 2012
This stove kept me warm and provided an excellent cooking surface for more than six months while I lived in my treehouse.
With a bit of nip and tuck...
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...
Build a ski sled
By Kai Moessle
Issue #138 • November/December, 2012
Since my property is almost half a mile away from the nearest road and I can't keep the dirt road to it plowed all winter (I don't live...
Build a deluxe barrel stove
By David Lee
Issue #108 • November/December, 2007
Winter is coming again, pretty much on schedule in spite of global warming, and it will be cold, just like always. Having a reliable heating system makes winter...
Radiant floor heating — Alternative to forced-air heating is solar-powered, too An interview with...
By Michael Hackleman
Issue #64 • July/August, 2000
Hydronic, or radiant floor heating is a method of heating a home, shop, or other building with the heat concentrated in the floor. It works by embedding special...
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...
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...
Building and Using Wattle Fences
By Kathryn Wingrove
Issue #139 • January/February, 2013
Wattle fences are made by weaving material in and out of posts in the ground. They were often used on the small farms of Victorian England. In fact,...
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...
Simplify life in your backwoods home by using these easy mountain methods
By Rev. J.D. Hooker
Issue #54 • November/December, 1998
Backwoods folk, or in my case, mountain folk, are typically very resourceful, utilizing whatever is on hand to make their lives easier and more pleasant. And hill-women...
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,...
Choosing a chain saw
By Steven Gregersen
Issue #119 •September/October, 2009
Winter will be here soon and along with winter comes cold weather and high heating bills. Obviously there's nothing new about any of this but with the current economic...
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 an all-purpose ladder
By Robert L. Williams
Issue #45 • May/June, 1997
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The story never varies. If I am doing outside work and need a ladder, I spend nearly as much...
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....
Build your own portable forge
By Corcceigh Green
Issue #51 • May/June, 1998
Looking for a handy summer project while building skills, supplies, and knowledge to put away for a rainy future? Here's one to consider: try making your own forge....
