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...
Battery-Powered Tools are Changing
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., C.E.M.
April/May/June, 2019
Battery-powered tool technology is now undergoing some rapid changes in both the power of the tool motors and the batteries supplying the added power. For many years most battery-powered...
Finding wealth you can wear at yard sales
By Thomas M. Buckley
Issue #126 • November/December, 2010
When you go to yard sales this year, be sure to look for jewelry. I used to always look for tools or other items that a self-reliant...
Storm survivors
By Anita Evangelista
Issue #71 • September/October, 2001
First couple days of June, 1998, weather pretty good, a bit wetter than it is now. Clear day, clouds moving in during the afternoon. By suppertime, the sky...
Vinegar — A splash is all you need for healthful eating, natural healing, and...
By Linda Gabris
Issue #97 • January/February, 2006
Call me a sourpuss, if you will, but I love vinegar and can't imagine a day going by without calling upon one type or another for cooking, curing,...
No dentist? Oh, no!
By Gary F. Arnet, D.D.S.
Issue #75 • May/June, 2002
Enjoying lunch while looking out over the gorgeous view from your backcountry home, you bite down hard on a nut, hear a loud crack, and immediately...
Step onto the ice and catch tonight’s dinner
By Jim Capossela
During open water season, the dedicated fisherman dreams of a trophy gamefish to hang in the fishing camp, or, increasingly, to photograph and return to the water. During those three seasons,...
Water development for the homestead: Ponds, cisterns, and tanks
By Roy Martin
Issue #102 • November/December, 2006
In most areas, wells or springs are able to provide water sources for the homestead, but there are places where groundwater is either not available or where it...
A young couple moves to the country
By Jessie Denning
Issue #175 • January/February/March 2019
As many of you know, I’ve been the managing editor of this magazine for the last four years. But what you may not know is that when I’m...
Just for Kids: Some good clean fun!
By Lucy Shober
Issue #24 • November/December, 1993
Click on pictures for printable, full-sized versions to color.
When a chill hits the air and the first cool winds of winter begin blowing, there's no better place to...
Tale of a country family
By Rachel Baxter
Issue #66 • November/December, 2000
Dave and Dianna Saleh (pronounced "Sally") always knew they wanted to live a rural lifestyle. They both came from big cities before they met and fell in love,...
Caveman walking stick
By Jim Van Sant
Issue #108 • November/December, 2007
The lake near our rural home has a long hiking trail that winds around its shore. We walk on this path in the morning through the oak...
35 country jobs — How folks make a living near my hometown
By Charles Sanders
Issue #89 • September/October, 2004
If you're relocating to the backwoods, you will very likely have to give some thought to generating some income, that is, making a living. Hopefully, the topic is...
Dealing with heat stress
By Joseph Alton, M.D.
Issue #154 • July/August, 2015
In the wilderness, there may not be shelter to protect you from the elements. Even on a working homestead, physical exertion in hot weather can easily lead...
The community treasure chest
By Sandy Coates
Issue #114 • November/December, 2008
Do you have odds and ends sitting around that you no longer need? Are you a "green" thinker, hating to throw items away that are still useful? Do...
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...






























