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...
Making and using a solar cooker
By Joe Radabaugh
Issue #30 • November/December, 2004
Solar cooking is a delightful alternative to conventional cooking methods. The solar cookers available today really work and they deserve serious evaluation by a much larger audience. For...
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...
Make a Quick and Easy Tipi
By Bob Van Putten
Issue #174 • November/December, 2018
The native peoples of North America were a very practical lot. Over the centuries they developed some very efficient tools. Yet, perhaps because of their appreciation of...
Build a Composter
By Charles Sanders
Issue #170 • March/April, 2018
As with most of the other facets of homesteading, composting can be as simple or as elaborate as you wish to make it. One of the easiest ways...
Trusses — Low cost marvels to roof over most large spaces
By Martin Harris
Issue #23 • September/October, 1993
When you strip away all the frills, building construction is nothing more than enclosing a volume of space to create a micro-climate for human activity. You can call...
For summertime baking needs, build yourself an outdoor horno
By Rev. J.D. Hooker
Issue #57 • May/June, 1999
My family has always been big on birthdays and holidaysincluding Thanksgiving, Christmas, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, New Years, and so on. Every holiday is a major...
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...
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...
Five building tricks for super strong framing
By Don Fallick
Issue #49 • January/February, 1998
I was standing on the edge of the roof overhang, holding two bundles of asphalt shingles, when my boss's son drove up. He looked at me, then took...
The house that Dorothy built
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The house that Dorothy built
By Dorothy Ainsworth
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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...
A river rock shower
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #77 • September/October, 2002
The finished shower weighs a ton
and cost about $800.
Cultured stones, made of pumice and portland cement, weigh about half as much as river rocks.
Notched-trowel texturing in the mortar...
The Mini-Skyline — A homemade yarder to bring firewood up a draw
By James F. Deaton
Website Exclusive • January, 2006
The need to get firewood from a draw below my house to my woodshed started me on what became a fun project. After felling 4- to 8-inch...
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,...
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 chicken tractor
By Connie Rabun
Issue #127 • January/February, 2011
In the beginning we had chickens...and no coop! Any homesteader knows that the number one rule is to always have your animal housing prepared before you invest in...































