Self-reliance Archives - Backwoods Home Magazine

The cholesterol in your stovepipe can be fatal

By D.B. Frandsen Issue #36 • November/December, 1995 The season is arriving. The garden is ready for its final turning, the apples are picked, and it's supposed to freeze by the end of the week. So,...

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...

Get out of debt, stay out of debt

By Darlene Campbell Issue #67 • January/February, 2001 Decades ago it was advised of young high school graduates to deposit a set amount of money into the bank each month, and when they retired they would...

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...

A determined Rose Bley escaped the city

By Gene Sheley Issue #51 • May/June, 1998 Rosie Bley's self-reliance and confidence has served her well all her life, permitting her to live in one of the most remote areas of California and to meet...

Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?

By Don Lewis Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019 The year was 1834, a year that didn’t really stand out as all that particularly important in American history. But like any other year, it had its share...

Annie on Everfree Farm, Part III

By Annie Tuttle Issue #147 • May/June, 2014 Previous in Series Me with Brownie, Cupcake, Red Velvet, and Flan (mostly hidden). These were our first four goats, and are all Kiko x Boer...

How we found our remote backwoods home

By Jackie Clay Issue #65 • September/October, 2000 Right now I'm sitting in a south-facing huge, sunny window, looking through our own private valley to a larger mountain valley below and the pine covered mountains beyond....

Sewing and using cloth diapers is easier than you think

By Annie Tuttle Issue #113 • September/October, 2008 I'll admit that it was the pastoral vision of a laundry line full of sun-bleached diapers above barefooted, rosy-cheeked, milk-fattened babies that first drew my attention toward cloth...

Build a holz hausen to dry firewood

By Doug Fluckiger Issue #132 • November/December, 2011 My secret passion is tall, dark, and handsome. I may find her lying luxuriantly among a dark grove of firs. She may be standing proudly on a sunny...

Woodstove cooking

By Cindi Myers Issue #127 • January/February, 2011 If you have a woodstove for heat, take advantage of the fire to cook your dinner for no extra cost and very little effort. The heat of a...

Moving to the wilderness — Turning the dream to reality

By Jackie Clay Issue #36 • November/December, 1995 The Dream An increasing number of folks are having the same dream today: get a piece of land isolated from the stress and pollution of civilization, and...

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...

Swedish log candle

By Nick Weston Issue #138 • November/December, 2012 At my Hunter-Gatherer school, we are constantly experimenting with different methods of outdoor cookery, from underground ovens (umu or hangi) to smoke roast tipis and run-of-the-mill fire pits....

Paring down for off-grid living

By Steven Gregersen Issue #93 • May/June, 2005 My first exposure to a home power system came when I visited the remote homestead of a retired electrical engineer. What a set-up. Housed in its own little...

Fully Involved

By Diana Morgan Issue #58 • July/August, 1999 A strident tone blasts me from sleep. I catch the words "fully involved" first time around. Where the heck are my glasses? Oh, God, I can't find my...