Make a quilt out of Levis
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #77 • September/October, 2002
Back in the 80s I worked as a waitress in a busy little café where our mandatory uniform was a pair of Levis and a T-shirt. The only...
Drive your own freshwater well
By Len McDougall
Issue #128 • March/April, 2011
The well point's slotted holes permit water to enter, while stainless steel mesh inside keeps out abrasive sand.
X marks the spot. How "witching" for water works is a...
A survival key ring — Your everyday tool for emergency preparedness
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #117 • May/June, 2009
If you saw the movie, "Castaway" starring Tom Hanks, you might remember that his character always carried a small pen knife with him. Early in the...
Homestead water
By Patrice Lewis
Issue #144 • November/December, 2013
It is the most necessary of homestead requirements: water. It is literally a make-or-break resource.
There are some parts of our country blessed with an abundant and never-ending supply...
Picking your pressure canner — All American or Presto?
By James Kash
Issue #143 • September/October, 2013
The garden is in full swing and you have baskets of vegetables piling up; what do you do? You can them, of course. Your mother's old granite-ware canner...
Pysanki — You can make those biddies pay!
By Amy E. Peare
Issue #86 • March/April, 2004
There are usually two problems with raising chickens. a) You have too many eggs, or b) you aren't getting enough eggs to warrant shelling out the bucks...
Starting a Roadside Farm Stand
By John Murray
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Issue #158 • March/April, 2016
For country landowners who desire a way to supplement their income, operating a small roadside farm stand is an excellent business venture. Produce which is harvested on a...
Seventeen great tips for caring for windows, mirrors, and other household glass
By Sandy Lindsey
Issue #43 • January/February, 1997
1 To make windows and mirrors sparkle, dip a clean cloth in a 50/50 mixture of borax and water or denatured alcohol and wipe down. Polish with a...
The accidental homesteader
By Terry Hooker
Everyone who homesteads has hit that point where they decide to be more self sufficient. Sometimes it’s from life circumstances and sometimes it’s a conscious choice. For me the moment came after...
There’s no such thing as free land!
(But if you're smart, you can get it cheap)
By Setanta O'Ceillaigh
Issue #165 • May/June, 2017
I have been a homeowner since I was 18 years old and I still continually shop for land opportunities in...
How to begin taking wildlife photographs
By H. Bumper Bauer
Issue #120 • November/December, 2009
If you want to get into wildlife photography, your timing could not be better. Many serious amateur and professional photographers are upgrading their 35mm film cameras to...
An Introduction to Small-Scale Home Hydroponics
By Ben Richards
Issue #154 • July/August, 2015
As most people are already aware, hydroponics is the practice of growing plants without soil. This is done by using a water-based nutrient solution to deliver the necessary...
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...
New yarn from old sweaters
By Margaret Mills
Issue #132 • November/December, 2011
Years ago, when my grandmother learned that some women purchased new fabric to make quilts, she was shocked. She was an "old-school" fiber artist quilting, crocheting, and...
Annie on Everfree Farm, Part II
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Annie on Everfree Farm, Part II
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By Annie Tuttle
(Most photos by Dave Duffy)
Issue #146 • March/April, 2014
Previous in Series
Most of the old fence around the garden was pretty well thrashed. Some was torn out 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...






























