Bread — The staff of life
By Jackie Clay
Issue #78 • November/December, 2002
In today's hurry-up, prosperous world, bread has come to mean that white, pasty stuff you buy in the store and slap together into boring, equally tasteless sandwiches. Or...
Brew your own root beer
By Tim Murphy
Issue #130 • July/August, 2011
Ah, root beer! That sweet, dark elixir of kidhood, majestically topped with a beige pillow of foam. It's the perfect companion to Bazooka bubble gum, baseball cards, wiffle...
What is reality?
By John Silveira
April 7, 2006
I don't read much. So, I missed James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, though it made best sellers lists from the New York Times to amazon.com. If the truth be...
Build a Vertical Storage Rack for Cans
By Monika Williams
Issue #155 • September/October, 2015
I am always trying to come up with different ways to utilize the small space I have to store food. Then there is the problem of rotating my...
Terrific tamale pie
Recipe of the Week
Terrific tamale pie
Courtesy of
Janine Hawley
You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here
Ingredients
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
1lb. ground beef
2 8 oz. cans seasoned tomato...
Start a post-construction cleaning business
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #76 • July/August, 2002
Wherever construction is going on, there will be a big mess left in its wake that somebody has to clean up. That somebody can be you, and you...
Making and using a solar cooker
By Joe Radabaugh
Issue #30 • November/December, 2004
Solar cooking is a delightful alternative to conventional cooking methods. The solar cookers available today really work and they deserve serious evaluation by a much larger audience. For...
Spicy Beef and Peppers
Recipe of the Week
Spicy Beef and Peppers
Courtesy of
Yvonne Melillo
Ingredients
2 lb sirloin steak, cut in 1/2 inch strips
2 bell peppers, cut in strips
2 cups chopped onion
6 green chiles, skinned, seeded, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh...
Build your own repeating mouse trap
By Allen Easterly
Issue #110 • March/April, 2008
Safety note: Because of drowning danger, 5-gallon buckets with any amount of water in them should never be placed where children under the age of 5 will be...
A used shotgun bargain: The Browning Auto-5
By Brad Rohdenburg
Website Exclusive • September, 2014
A 1958 "Light Twelve" Browning Auto-5, with a 28" Improved Cylinder barrel and 'Speedfeed' loading. It weighs less than 7½ pounds, balances nicely, and the stock dimensions suit...
Companion Planting
By Beverly Mettot
Issue #81 • May/June, 2003
Companion planting is nothing new, and yet in recent years it has made an extraordinary comeback, not only in fooling those pesky pests who thrive on fruits and...
Boiled crawfish
Recipe of the Week
Boiled crawfish
Courtesy of
James Robertson
You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here
Ingredients
1 sack of live crawfish (35-40 lbs.)
2 26-oz. boxes of salt
5 medium onions, halved
1/2 4-oz. bottle...
Blonde brownies
Recipe of the Week
Blonde brownies
Courtesy of
Rhoda Denning
You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter (no substitutes)
2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans,...
History of Backwoods Home Magazine
The second generation takes over
By Dave Duffy
Originally published in issue 200 of BHM, the April/May/June 2025 issue
This is the second time I’ve written the history of Backwoods Home Magazine (BHM). The first was 16...
Just for Kids: Killing some time (Create an afternoon time warp)
By Lucy Shober
Issue #26 • March/April, 1994
Click on picture for printable, full-sized version to color.
There is a book that describes a time warp as being a kind of bubble, a place in time that...
