Build your own battery charging station
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #142 • July/August, 2013
Completed charging station after sanding and painting
Let me guess the reason many of you do not use rechargeable batteries is that every time you need...
Slaughtering and Butchering
By Dynah Geissal
Issue #23 • September/October, 1993
Fall is butchering time, a period of joy in the harvest of the year's work and of sadness that the lives of your beautiful, healthy animals have come...
Baked Bean Soup
Recipe of the Week
Baked Bean Soup
Courtesy of
Oliver Del Signore
When I saw "Baked Bean" listed under "Soups" in the Fannie Farmer cookbook I could not imagine the two going together. I looked at the...
Self-reliance is a mindset — A woman’s opinion
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #94 • July/August, 2005
Self-reliance is a mindset. If you have it, you are on your way to independence. If you don't, it would be in your best interest to develop it....
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...
Egg thingies
Recipe of the Week
Egg thingies
Courtesy of
John Silveira
You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here
Ingredients
For each egg:
1 Tbsp. or so of olive oil
1 green onion, diced
1 Tbsp. diced red...
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...
How long should your gun’s barrel length be?
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #136 • July/August, 2012
The person new to guns is like the person new to timepieces. "How many of these things are there?" "In how many configurations?" "And they've been around for...
Homestead Helpers
By Charles Sanders
Issue #65 • September/October, 2000
Every day around the home place brings with it many new experiences. The number of projects, chores, repairs, and other tasks often seem endless. With those jobs come...
Standby battery charging techniques can ensure engine startups
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #83 • September/October, 2003
Those of us living beyond the suburbs own various sizes and types of yard and garden machinery. From the mandatory riding lawnmower for those weekend warriors...
Basic biscotti cookie
Recipe of the Week
Basic biscotti cookie
Courtesy of
Richard Blunt
You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here
Ingredients for egg wash:
1 egg
2 Tbsp. milk
Ingredients for cookies:
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar-divided
1 tsp....
Make sourdough with wild yeast
By Leah Leach
Issue #151 • January/February, 2015
Those of us who live as self-sufficiently as possible love to forage. From wild greens to wild meat, foraged foods make their way onto our tables as often...
Meat For the Homestead
By Jackie Clay-Atkinson
Issue #137 • September/October, 2012
Meat is often the most expensive portion of our grocery bill, and it is getting more and more expensive every day. I've seen steaks "on sale" for more...
Corn cob jelly
Recipe of the Week
Corn cob jelly
Courtesy of
Charles A. Sanders
You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here
Ingredients
12-14 red corn cobs
6 cups sugar
2 pkg. Sure-Jell
Method
Start by gathering a few dozen red...
Nut Trees on Your Homestead
By Jackie Clay-Atkinson
Issue #149 • September/October, 2014
While growing up in Detroit, we had no nut trees in our yard (though we did have seedlings before I left home). That didn't stop my parents, though....
Old-fashioned baked beans
Recipe of the Week
Old-fashioned baked beans
Courtesy of
Jackie Clay
You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here
Ingredients
2 cups dry navy beans
1/4 cup ham or bacon
1/2 cup dehydrated chopped onions
8 Tbsp....































