Build a chicken house in a day
By Anita Evangelista
Issue #136 • July/August, 2012
We built our chicken house for around $200. We could have done it for less if we were dedicated scroungers. Three of us put up the 7x18-foot structure...
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...
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 Heated Germination Bed
By Charles Sanders
Issue #92 • March/April, 2005
Many of us who garden have learned the benefits of starting our own vegetable and flower plants. There are several benefits to having a spot to start your...
Tools and hardware for the backwoods home
By James Ballou
Issue #74 • March/April, 2002
A certain degree of self reliance is obtainable by those who have the knowledge and skills, resourcefulness, courage, common sense, and tools to perform most of the tasks...
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....
Make your own lumber with a chainsaw mill
By Jacqueline Tresl
Issue #39 • May/June, 1996
Milling a board with a chainsaw lumber-maker.
Figure1: The pieces.
Beams, joists and walls were made with a chainsaw mill.
Figure 2: The frame.
Figure 3: The surface to which the chainsaw...
Shake update
By David Lee
Website Exclusive • January, 2005
Since my shake article was published in Backwoods Home Magazine, Issue #88, I have learned that some of the more ambitious and better-looking readers have gone out and...
Build this sturdy large-capacity food dehydrator
By Charles Sanders
Issue #63 • May/June, 2000
Drying of food as a means of preservation has been around for a long time. Populations in suitably dry climates all around the globe have dried meat, fish,...
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...
How to Install a Steel Roof
By Morgan Barker
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Issue #159 • May/June, 2016
Steel roofing isn't just for factories and barns anymore. The choice to go steel is fast gaining popularity...
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...
Installing a steel roof
By Norman Bennett
Issue #126 • November/December, 2010
One of the reasons steel roofs have become so popular is the simplicity and economy with which they can be placed over an old shingle roof. Still, despite...
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,...
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...
Claw Hammers
By R.E. Rawlinson
Scottish writer and philosopher Thomas Carlyle observed that “Man is a tool using animal … without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.” In the modern world we are awash...































