Wildlife Tracking 101

By Len McDougall Issue #109 • January/February, 2008 A whitetail doe and her four-month-old fawn leave evidence that they came to drink at the shoreline of Lake Superior, just minutes before this photo was taken. These tracks...

Broody biddies make sense on the homestead

By James Kash Issue #139 • January/February, 2013 Broodiness is an avian behavior that is frowned upon in the world of agriculture. All industrial agriculturalists cull broody birds because the behavior inhibits production. But to frugal...

Our energy crisis Part 3 — Alternative energy resources for the nation and for...

By John Silveira Issue #118 • July/August, 2009 The first installment of this energy series (Backwoods Home Magazine, September/October 2008) dealt with the fossil fuels which include petroleum, coal, and natural gas. The second installment (Backwoods...

Tips and tricks for the kitchen

By Richard Blunt Issue #60 • November/December, 1999 The warmest and most interactive place in my mom's home was her kitchen. Cooking was her favorite pastime and her kitchen was a place she could relax and...

Just how good of a bet are those lotto tickets?

By John Silveira Issue #37 • January/February, 1996 I looked at the newspaper and tried to match up the lotto results printed there with my picks. I sighed. "Boy, I sure would've liked to have won...

Sgt. Jim Duffy — An ordinary hero

By Dave Duffy Issue #95 • September/October, 2005 My brother, Jim, died between issues. It was an expected death, as Jim suffered from lung cancer. My oldest brother, Bill, had called with the news in the...

Swedish log candle

By Nick Weston Issue #138 • November/December, 2012 At my Hunter-Gatherer school, we are constantly experimenting with different methods of outdoor cookery, from underground ovens (umu or hangi) to smoke roast tipis and run-of-the-mill fire pits....

Ham & Kidney Bean Soup

Recipe of the Week  Ham & Kidney Bean Soup   Courtesy of Beverly Rossman  Ingredients 1 pound spicy or sweet Italian sausage 2 Smoked pork hocks, sawed in half by butcher. 3 medium Potatoes, peeled and cubed 3 Celery...

Making Apple Cider with a Homemade Press

By Robert Van Putten Issue #170 • March/April, 2018 Apples are an important food resource for us. Every year we store hundreds of pounds in our root cellar where they will keep for up to six...

Installing a propane heater

By Watt Jones Issue #177 • July/August/September, 2019 Even with a 12,000 BTU Mini Split System installed in our cabin, my wife and I have experienced some spotty outages with our local electric cooperative and numerous power...

Tomato-Avocado-Buttermilk Soup

Recipe of the Week  Tomato-Avocado-Buttermilk Soup  Courtesy of Jimmy Andalli  Ingredients 3 pounds tomatoes, peeled and seeded 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1 cup buttermilk 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 avocado, mashed to a puree Juice of 1 lemon 2 tablespoons finely minced fresh parsley Salt...

Canning chickens for the pantry

By Samantha Biggers Issue #135 • May/June, 2012 For the past three years my husband and I have raised Cornish Cross broilers in chicken tractors on our farm in western North Carolina. This past year we...

Homemade skin care products

By Carly Egger Issue #145 • January/February, 2014 When you think of skin care products that soften, moisturize, and nourish the skin, do the words extravagant, unnecessary, and expensive come to mind? The skin is the...

The Government intimidation factor and its effect on the health of society

By Dave Duffy Issue #142 • July/August, 2013 How do you take the temperature of a society, that is, how do you tell if a society is healthy or sick? Several years after the Soviet Union dissolved...

Hiding a gun — The rules of three

By Claire Wolfe Issue #140 • March/April, 2013 My friend Jack pulled the car into a grassy clearing. We donned rubber boots, fetched a metal detector and digging tools from the trunk, and headed off along...

Design calculations for overshot waterwheels

By Rudy Behrens Issue #18 • November/December, 1992 (For good background information for this article, the reader should read "Waterpower for personal use" in Issue No. 16 and "Design calculations for overshot waterwheels" in Issue No....