Self-reliance Archives - Page 14 of 15 - Backwoods Home Magazine

Homestead Helpers

By Charles Sanders Issue #65 • September/October, 2000 Every day around the home place brings with it many new experiences. The number of projects, chores, repairs, and other tasks often seem endless. With those jobs come...

Pump water for free

By Kai Moessle  Issue #158 • March/April, 2016 I opened the valve on the output side of the pump slowly, like the instructions said, and after a few more starts it ran just by itself. Still...

Teaching the joy of reading

By Amy E. Peare Issue #96 • November/December, 2005 Most parents want to see their children well equipped to succeed in life, and homesteaders are no different in that regard. Many homesteaders choose this lifestyle to...

Drawing the line on timber trespass

By Paul Lamble Issue #78 • November/December, 2002 Over the 4th of July weekend, my wife and I learned an important lesson the hard way. We live near Kansas City, but for several years we've owned...

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...

Buying the right emergency radio

By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM Issue #98 • March/April, 2006 In our last issue I addressed how to select the best battery-powered lighting for your emergency needs. Recent examples of poor emergency response during the Katrina...

Stashing Junk Silver for Bad Times

By John Silveira Issue #131 • September/October, 2011 This is a pile containing $100 face value of pre-1965 "junk silver" coins, but it could represent 400 gallons of gasoline or 400 loaves of bread. When I was...

Commonsense preparedness just makes sense

By Jackie Clay Issue #48 • November/December, 1997 What if that snowstorm turned to a blizzard or an ice storm lasted for days, knocking out the power and phone lines? Would you be prepared? Or what...

Annie on Everfree Farm, Part I

By Annie Tuttle Issue #145 • January/February, 2014 So here we are. Truth be told, it was a complete accident that we found our farm. We weren't even looking for it. We...

Seed art — It’s fun to collect the seeds and create these unusual pictures

By Alice B. Yeager Issue #42 • November/December, 1996 Seed art is an old craft going back to long, long ago. Where the art of turning seeds into pictures first began is obscured by time, and...

SARS — Is this a glimpse of the future?

By Gary F. Arnet, D.D.S. Website Exclusive • March, 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, SARS, is a new respiratory disease that has recently infected people in Asia, Europe, and North America. The emergence of this disease...

The art of living in small spaces

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...

Cut your grocery bill in half

By C. M. Hudman Issue #53 • September/October, 1998 There was a time when I despised grocery shopping. Every time I walked into a grocery store it seemed the dollars were simply sucked out of my...

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...

Start a fire in any weather

By Charles Sanders Issue #161 • September/October, 2016 Most of us living in the backwoods are comfortable with utilizing fire as a tool. We use fire to heat our homes, burn brush, power our forges, help...

7 Mistakes of food storage

By Vicki Tate Issue #55 • January/February, 1999 If you are going to store food, make sure that the food you store is adequate for the need you and your family anticipate. This may not be...