The coffee mug knife sharpener
By Michael Cantrell
Issue #105 • May/June, 2007
Not too long ago, I watched a man open his pocket knife by pulling it partway open to a wide L-shape with his hands, and then push it...
Making apple pectin
By Kristina Seleshanko
Issue #167 • September/October, 2017
One day, as I walked past an apple tree that was naturally thinning its fruit by dropping tiny, baby apples, I thought, “I wish there was something useful...
Roger Clark: Cane syrup maker
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #117 • May/June, 2009
In the syrup house on Roger Clark's farm in Suwannee County, Florida, three generations of his family gather around a vat big enough to make a good size...
Homeschooling your dylsexic kid
By John Silveira
Issue #142 • July/August, 2013
I write and edit for a living. I'm the senior editor for Backwoods Home Magazine for which I've written numerous columns during the last 24 years. Before that...
The joys of making soap
By Grace Brockway
Issue #84 • November/December, 2003
My initial enthusiasm for making my own soap was deflating with each book I read on the subject. They all warned of the dangers of lye, one of...
Your kitchen pharmacy — How common culinary herbs and spices can help you feel...
By Rebekah L. Cowell
Issue #122 • March/April, 2010
In a perfect world, we would get all the nutrients and medication we needed from the food we ate. However, our diets and the foods available to...
Survival firebuilding skills
By Corcceigh Green
Issue #97 • January/February, 2006
Firebuilding skills are essential for those who may find themselves in survival situations. As a testimony to this idea, Americans in the Gulf Coast States experienced a string...
The saga of Benjamin, the backwoods, homeschool boy who wanted to get a job
By Margaret Wright
Issue #37 • January/February, 1996
Raised in the woods of Northern Idaho, home schooled by loving, protective parents, he was a happy, carefree child for the first sixteen years of life. The sixteenth...
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...
How to Resurrect Old, Rusted Tools
By R.E. Rawlinson
Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019
The homesteading lifestyle can require a number of tools to cultivate the garden, maintain the home, repair the tractor, and build various pens and coops. We use them...
Survival infection control
By Joseph Alton, M.D.
Issue #151 • January/February, 2015
For several months now, news regarding the devastation that the Ebola virus is causing in West Africa has been in the headlines. A disease once found only...
Roasting coffee on a wood stove
By Lorinda McKinnon
Issue #175 • January/February/March, 2019
In hard times, comforts are important for morale. Some might stash a jug of whiskey or a case of cheese puffs, but for me, comfort is a steaming...
The adventures of a first-time homesteader
By Jessie Denning
Issue #160 • July/August, 2016
In November of 2015, my husband and I moved onto our 50-acre parcel of land in a 28-foot travel trailer -- with no knowledge of homesteading except what...
Based on years of personal experience, here are 10 good tips for homeschooling your...
By Mary Jo Bratton
Issue #41 • September/October, 1996
Are you considering homeschooling your children, but don't know where to start? The following 10 tips will help answer some of your questions.
Read, read, read
But don't read...
In the classroom and at home, this system will help you grow self-reliant kids
By Marjorie (Sultzbaugh) Harrison
Issue #42 • November/December, 1996
My husband Allan started teaching sixth grade at the Moreno Valley, California, Unified School District in September of 1959, without even slightly knowing how. Fortunately for him,...
Lessons learned from an ice storm
By Anita Evangelista
Issue #108 • November/December, 2007
The weather reports indicated ice could be coming in. It was already raining and getting chilly on that early Friday afternoon in Springfield, Missouri. Hubby and I drove...
