The burglar does far more than steal!
By Dave Duffy
Issue #89 • September/October, 2004
"Never mind about stealing the damn stuff!
This is the wrong place!
We have to leave!"
"That's what they were saying Dad, right outside my window," my 12-year-old son Jake told...
How big is the solar system?
By John Silveira
Issue #60 • November/December, 1999
In artists' renderings of the solar system we often see the sun represented by a small sphere with the planets drawn fairly close by. In truth, drawings like...
Picking your pressure canner — All American or Presto?
By James Kash
Issue #143 • September/October, 2013
The garden is in full swing and you have baskets of vegetables piling up; what do you do? You can them, of course. Your mother's old granite-ware canner...
Of guns and snakes
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #151 • January/February, 2015
Mas safely kills a rattlesnake in a populated area. (Note angle of gun and trajectory.) Pistol is a Springfield EMP loaded with 9mm 127 grain +P+ Winchester Ranger-T...
Black Beans & Rice
Recipe of the Week
Black Beans & Rice
Courtesy of
Betty Marx
It won't be exactly the same, but you can save a considerable amount of time by using canned black beans.
Ingredients
1 lb. dried Black Beans (3 cups),...
New invention— The Fencerunner
By Dietmar Berg
Issue #68 • March/April, 2001
Here's a gadget I developed to run barb or barbless wire. You mount it on the back of a pickup truck using the ball hitch (see drawing) so...
Breastfeeding — A primer
By Kathy Parkes
Issue #49 • January/February, 1998
Unfortunately hospital practices that negatively affect breastfeeding are often the cultural norm. Our society pays only lip service to breastfeeding and then makes women feel guilty if their...
Do rural homeowners need guns for self-defense?
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #72 • November/December, 2001
Do rural homeowners need guns for self-defense? Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't, according to Ayoob's experience, but those who did never really knew they would until...
Build a lean-to greenhouse
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #154 • July/August, 2015
Just thinking about a greenhouse can stimulate the senses. In our minds' eyes, we can see the filtered light shimmering down on rows of greenery, feel the moist...
Gardening with a Chicken Tractor
By Brianna Stone
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Issue #161 • September/October, 2016
This spring, my parents let me enlarge my garlic business and till up three 600-square-foot beds for planting...
This coop is for the birds
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #71 • September/October, 2001
You can buy a dozen eggs at the supermarket for 99 cents, or you can go out to the chicken coop you built and fetch a warm egg...
Brining pickles by the quart or gallon
By Vicky Rose
Issue #113 • September/October, 2008
The ancient art of brining pickles produces a product similar to the expensive "deli-style" pickles in the supermarket. The process is not difficult; however, older recipes call for...
Making delicious, unthinkable wines
By Lev G. Fedyniak
Issue #110 • March/April, 2010
I love wines. Always have. I've drunk wine, studied wine, written about wine, and collected wine.
But I got tired of hearing my back-to-nature friends chide me by...
Phantom solar — The crucial invisible system needed before you install solar
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #78 •
Are you planning to install a solar photovoltaic system to reduce your utility bills? How would you like it if your first solar electric power system had invisible...
Cleaning a well
By Pat Barden
Issue #105 • May/June, 2007
We have a good well with sweet water. It was already in place when we bought our property and had been in use for more than 20 years....
Banana, blueberry, and peach scones
By Ilene Duffy
Issue #136 • July/August, 2012
My friend Alison and I have known each other a long time. We were roommates in college for several years, and then we both had three boys at...































