The Electoral College — How we elect the President

By John Silveira Issue #18 • November/December, 1992 I've been getting a lot of telephone calls from Oregon lately. My article is late — again — and Dave Duffy, the fellow who publishes this magazine, keeps...

Creamy white bean soup with kale

Recipe of the Week  Creamy white bean soup with kale  Courtesy of Lisa Nourse   You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here Ingredients 8 oz. Kielbasa, thinly sliced (or if you like things spicier you...

Baking Bread

By Linda Gabris Issue #168 • November/December, 2017 Growing up in the rural woods miles away from the nearest country store, store-bought bread was seldom seen in Grandma’s house. So to keep up with demand, she...

Build a poultry killing cone

By Allen Easterly Issue #135 • May/June, 2012 You've worked hard and spent many hours raising your pretty flock of meat chickens from eggs or chicks to nice fat fryers, roasters, or stewing birds. They've provided...

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...

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...

Dilled oyster crackers

Recipe of the Week  Dilled oyster crackers  Courtesy of Alice Brantley Yeager   You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here Ingredients 2 12-oz. pkgs. oyster crackers 1 cup canola oil or other light vegetable oil 2 tsp....

The poor man’s ceramic knife sharpener

By Rick Brannan Issue #87 • May/June, 2004 There are few things more frustrating and dangerous than working with a dull knife. In my quest for a sharp knife, I have purchased many different styles of...

Reflections on the Second Amendment

By Massad Ayoob Issue #77 • September/October, 2002 A reader named Molly e-mailed a note to the office of BHM asking what the editor thought of Attorney General Ashcroft's recent affirmation of the Second Amendment as...

Bob’s basic breads for beginners, bachelors, barbarians, and backwoodsmen

By Bob Van Putten Issue #173 • September/October, 2018 I reckon it takes a lot of gall for me to write about bread because compared to my wife I’ll never be anything but a rank amateur...

Modify an E-Tool to make your own Combi-Tool

By Dave Strom Issue #172 • July/August, 2018 Campers, soldiers, and off-roaders are familiar with military-issue Entrenching Tools, commonly called “E-Tools.” They are light, compact, and multipurpose. They can shovel, hoe, chop, pick, and scrape. The...

Build Your Own Hoop House

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #171 • May/June, 2018 I’ve had my own garden for more than half a century, and I have learned a few things after all these years. One of the most valuable things...

Eggplant salad

Recipe of the Week  Eggplant salad  Courtesy of Habeeb Salloum   You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here Ingredients 1 large eggplant (about 2 lbs.) oil for frying 4 cloves garlic, crushed 1 small hot pepper, very finely...

Apricot stuffed Lamb Chops

Recipe of the Week  Apricot stuffed Lamb Chops  Courtesy of Philip Small  Ingredients 4 boneless Lamb chops 1/2 pound dried Apricots 2 cloves of Garlic, chopped 2 red Chillies, seeded and finely chopped 2 Tbsp. Apricot Jam 1 tsp....

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...

Medicinal uses of garlic

By Joseph Alton, M.D. and Amy Alton, A.R.N.P. Issue #134 • March/April, 2012 One of the greatest gifts of natural medicine that can be found on this earth is garlic, or Allium sativum. It has been...