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...
Build a stone wall
By Charles Sanders
Issue #70 • July/August, 2001
The natural beauty of a stone wall has been romanticized in poem and picture for hundreds of years. There is a soothing permanence that can be seen in...
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...
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,...
Ambidextrous chainsaw filing
By Thomas Brewer
Issue #57 • May/June, 1999
I am not ambidextrous. My wife, Judith, uses chopsticks with either hand or even both hands at once. She is ambidextrous. I can barely write with my right...
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 barrel stove
By Nick Weston
Issue #133 • January/February, 2012
This stove kept me warm and provided an excellent cooking surface for more than six months while I lived in my treehouse.
With a bit of nip and tuck...
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...
Livestock fencing for the small homesteader
By Don Lewis
In 1874, a United States patent (#157,124) was issued to Joseph F. Glidden, a long-serving sheriff in DeKalb County, Illinois. His invention — possibly one of the simplest ever recorded by the...
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...
Stairs — The next level
By Skip Thomsen
Website Exclusive • August, 2004
Any good carpenter can build a staircase. What we're talking about here is taking that staircase to the next level: beyond just a means to get from one...
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...
Parge the ugly out of your concrete wall
By Bill Leonard
Issue #57 • May/June, 1999
You can say a great deal in favor of cement block (or, if you prefer, concrete block) building. It's fairly fast, reasonably easy, particularly in small projects, and...
A Kid-Friendly Chicken Coop
By Melissa Souza
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Issue #159 • May/June, 2016
My family is committed to becoming as self-sufficient as possible, and a huge part of that is growing...
How to maintain a dirt road
By Marjorie Burris
Issue #48 • November/December, 1997
It is our job to maintain two and one half miles of dirt road if we want to get into our property. We are completely surrounded by forest...
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...































