We built John Silveira’s chicken coop/garden
By Suzy Lowry Geno
Website Exclusive • April, 2007
I have what seems like mountains of great "fertilizer" from my barn full of English Angora rabbits. But between my work as a newspaper editor and caring...
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,...
Build a Simple, Inexpensive Greenhouse
By Jennifer Poindexter
Issue #157 • January/February, 2016
Since my family is homesteading on a budget, the task of building a greenhouse had to be done as inexpensively as possible. Luckily, my husband is extremely crafty;...
Here’s an Easier (and Cheaper) Way to Make Wooden Beams
By Rev. J.D. Hooker
Issue #43 • January/February, 1997
I know that there are a lot of really fine products available for turning logs into lumber, from bandsaw sawmills to chainsaw attachments. I've seen a lot...
How to build a good fence for your homestead
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How to build a good fence for your homestead
By Charles Sanders
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By Charles Sanders
Issue #103 • January/February, 2007
One of the basic fixtures on a homestead is fencing. Fences are used to keep animals in, or...
Determined woman builds distinctive vertical log studio
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #27 • May/June, 1994
When I graduated from high school in 1960, my father wrote in my autograph book, "When you get married and have twins, don't come to me for safety...
A simple backwoods hay baler
By Rev. J.D. Hooker
Issue #82 • July/August, 2003
During the winter months, Steve and his wife Tandy feed between 120 and 150 bales of hay to a herd of pretty high-quality dairy goats on their...
Build a portable woodstove for $30
By David Scott Matthews
Issue #78 • November/December, 2002
I had a problem. Other men love football, baseball, basketball, or golf. I love to hunt. And the animal I love to hunt more than any other...
Eye-catching signs with mirrors
By David Lee
Issue #144 • November/December, 2013
The reflected image in the mirrored letters give a "see-through" illusion
to the sign and the tree. Stained glass nuggets add flashes of color.
Need a sign? Do you want...
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...
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...
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...
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 an inexpensive but durable jackleg fence
By Dynah Geissal
Issue #45 • May/June, 1997
When we moved to our land in the summer of 1994, we were fortunate that open grazing exists where we live because we had to build shelters for...
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...
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...































