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 cabin for one
By Lee Greiman
Issue #109 • January/February, 2008
Between 1989 and 1990 I built a 20 by 20-foot log house on the Musselshell River in Montana. The next year I built an addition on it that...
Free pallet wood and birdhouses add up to big country dollars
By Rick Brentlinger
Issue #53 • September/October, 1998
If I could show you how to manufacture a product anywhere in the country and if I offered to find you the raw materials free, would you be...
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...
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...
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...
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 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 a 6500-gallon concrete water tank for $1500
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #101 • September/October, 2006
When I bought 10 dry barren "affordable" acres back in 1981 I got what I paid for: No electricity, no septic system, no well, and no water. What...
For large quantity food dehydration try this homemade gem from the past
By Rev. J.D. Hooker
Issue #41 • September/October, 1996
The thing I like the most about Backwoods Home is that, unlike a lot of other magazines, the articles are written by folks who are actually doing...
Shelves and benches
By David Lee
Issue #107 • September/October, 2007
Money doesn't buy happiness but it sure does buy a lot of stuff. If it is nice stuff then you need a place to display it. If it...
Make your own effective fishing tackle while you save money and recycle scrap
By Rev. J.D. Hooker
Issue #44 • March/April, 1997
My long time friend Hearold Ruby passed away. Death came as sort of a reprieve. He'd been terribly sick and utterly miserable for years and he was...
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...
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 Concrete Root Cellar
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #168 • November/December, 2017
I should have been a mole — it feels so safe and cool and quiet to be underground. So when my house burned down 20 years ago and...
Build a homestead Copy Cart
By Charles Sanders
Issue #45 • July/August, 1997
I don't know too many homesteaders, gardeners, or small farmers who haven't at one time or another wished for one of those fancy big-wheeled garden carts. It seems...































