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

Sew a baby quilt in two days… for a lifetime of memories

By Ilene Duffy Issue #83 • September/October, 2003 During my last year of teaching school, I was pregnant with Jacob. I'll always remember receiving a beautifully crocheted baby blanket that one of my student's mothers made...

Making a great rug from the rag bag

By Lois A. Adams Issue #18 • November/December, 1992 Recycling makes a lot of sense in these days of dwindling landfill space and non-renewable resources. But I can remember practicing recycling in my home when I...

Survival firebuilding skills

By Corcceigh Green Issue #97 • January/February, 2006 Firebuilding skills are essential for those who may find themselves in survival situations. As a testimony to this idea, Americans in the Gulf Coast States experienced a string...

Help your home survive in the path of a wildfire

By Brent Stainer These firefighters fought hard to save this house, but the best way to save your house is to make basic preparations...

Hypothermia — A real winter danger

By Tom and Joanne O’Toole Issue #84 • November/December, 2003 Hypothermia is a deadly enemy. It steals body heat and kills more outdoor enthusiasts every year than anything else. Hypothermia is the rapid and drastic chilling of...

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,...

Food security 101

By Rowena Aldridge Issue #138 • November/December, 2012 These days a lot of people are concerned, and rightly so, about their family's economic stability and security. Recently I've become aware of the ways in which I,...

A view of self-reliance from a more timid perspective — A woman’s opinion

By Claire Wolfe Issue #94 • July/August, 2005 My fellow Backwoods Home writer Jackie Clay is a domestic wonder woman who can do anything from can kumquats to butcher an elk. Not me. Unh uh. No way....

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...

Caring for wounds in the field

By Bill Glade, M.D. Issue #75 • May/June, 2002 The beautiful remote Canadian lake has provided a bountiful supply of fresh fish. You are cleaning the catch when a moment's inattention allows the knife to slip...

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...

Bartering for bad times

By John Silveira Issue #138 • November/December, 2012 Bartering may not be a part of your life, right now, but if there's a deepening of the recession, or it becomes a depression, or we enter a...

Cleaning a well

By Pat Barden Issue #105 • May/June, 2007 We have a good well with sweet water. It was already in place when we bought our property and had been in use for more than 20 years....

Cold process goat milk soap

By Michele Cooper Issue #171 • May/June, 2018 Making soap can seem scary to some people, but the truth is, it only takes a few steps. Tools & equipment The equipment you use to make soap needs to...

The adventures of a first-time homesteader

By Jessie Denning Issue #160 • July/August, 2016 In November of 2015, my husband and I moved onto our 50-acre parcel of land in a 28-foot travel trailer -- with no knowledge of homesteading except what...

Better wood heating

By David Lee Shop heater. This example is a 55-gallon drum and stove kit surrounded with leftover concrete blocks. I stack extra bricks, slates, and metal on the top to give...