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,...
Make elderberry syrup for flu season
By Karen M. House
Issue #169 • January/February, 2018
Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) has been a traditional influenza remedy for hundreds of years. I first learned about using elderberry syrup as a flu treatment a few years...
Teach speed reading to your children even if you can’t speed read yourself
By George Stancliffe
Issue #59 • September/October, 1999
For over two years, I have had the hobby of teaching speed reading to people in the community where I live. So far I have taught over 300...
You could furnish an entire homestead at Lehman’s ‘Non-electric’ Hardware Store
By Don Fallick
Issue #47 • September/October, 1997
Let me state my bias right at the beginning: Lehmans Hardware has been advertising in Backwoods Home Magazine for a long time, but I made my first purchase...
How to organize an outdoor canning party
By Jennifer Grahovac
Issue #119 • September/October, 2009
When my husband and I decided to return to Ohio after living for 15 years in the mountains of Vermont, it was with some trepidation and a little...
The art of living in small spaces
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The art of living in small spaces
By Claire Wolfe
-->By Claire Wolfe
Issue #92 • March/April, 2005
Long ago, I read that to live in the country you must have the soul of a poet, the dedication...
I heat my house by burning corn
By Judith W. Monroe
Issue #42 • November/December, 1996
As I write this, it is fall in New England. If you burn wood, you are probably well along with the annual chores of chopping, splitting, and...
Bugging out in place
By Jackie Clay-Atkinson
Issue #163 • January/February, 2017
Some emergency situations require quick evacuation. You barely have time to grab your bug-out bag, gather the family, and run out the door. Most of us are ready...
Keeping tools sharp
By Dana Benner
There are some things on the homestead that we take great care of, like firearms, knives and machinery. Then there are those things that don’t get the attention that they should, such...
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...
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....
10 day survival pack for your vehicle for just $25
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #104 • March/April, 2007
It seems like every winter there are news stories of people getting stranded for weeks in bad weather while driving through the many remote areas of...
Garden injuries
By Joseph Alton, M.D.
Issue #140 • March/April, 2013
Cuts and scrapes are the most likely wounds gardeners incur (hopefully, not on that green thumb of yours). In many cases, these could have been prevented by...
Space heater safety tips
By Tom Kovach
Issue #90 • November/December, 2004
If you are going to try to take the chill out of your home without turning on your main sources of heat, or if you want to add...
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...
Emergency planning beyond the bug-out bag
By Jackie Clay-Atkinson
Issue #157 • January/February, 2016
In many emergency situations, simply staying home can be your most sensible choice. After all, most of us have stocked up on a good supply of food in...































