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...
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...
Make adobe bricks
By Rev. J.D. Hooker
Issue #110 • March/April, 2008
Last winter I got a phone call from an old friend in Arizona. One of his sons had fallen in love, gotten the girl in trouble, and...
Solar Building Design
By Steven Heckeroth
Issue #63 • May/June, 2000
Solar building design has been used since ancient times. In the more recent past, it has been more or less ignored as impractical, complicated, or too expensive. Incorporating...
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 Hybrid Go-Kart For Kids For $150
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Website Exclusive • May, 2010
Grandma Clara used to delight in telling us the story of our Dad's first complete sentence at age 2 when he received a toy car for Christmas: "It's...
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,...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
PVC pipe in the home, garden, farm, and workshop
By Charles Sanders
Issue #94 • July/August, 2005
Perhaps one of the most important innovations in modern plumbing has been the development of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC), and related plastic pipe. These materials...
Composite lumber helps outdoor projects resist water, weather, and sun
By Steve Maxwell
How many times have you built an outdoor project out of wood, only to be disappointed by the deterioration that hit after just a few years? Solving this problem is why I...
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...































