Submitted by Ruth Dixon of Gold Beach, OR

My daughter Lyndsey Dixon with a lamb from a field trip to the Wahl Sheep Ranch in Langlois, Oregon. We live in Gold Beach and our 4-H club took a trip there. She fell in love with this little bummer, who was blind.

Submitted by Amy Edge of Lytle, TX

My daughter Hannah Beth Edge in our garden this year, standing by the tomatoes. She is 4 (5 in July). I bought her own hoe, and she likes to hoe the weeds, and make sure the water flows through the irrigation ditches. You can tell from the pictures that she REALLY likes her picture taken.

[Inset] Hannah Beth helping me make laundry soap. She loves to stir the soap, and helps pour it into the storage containers.

Submitted by Keith Cutter of Cocolalla, ID

Becky with a two-day old goat named Rosie.

Submitted by Ruth Dixon of Gold Beach, OR

The picture was taken by my 12-year-old daughter, Lyndsey Dixon, in our yard in Gold Beach, Oregon. She sat patiently and got some really good shots of this little guy.

Submitted by Karen Brindle of Maple Valley, WA

Some of our lambs at 2 weeks old running toward me. Ah, the joys of spring and the end of another successful lambing season on our small farm! These are pure-bred border cheviot lambs.

Submitted by Emily Farmer of Grenada, MS

This is my son D. Alan Farmer (age 2) at Mountain Village in Bull Shoals, Arkansas

Submitted by Keith Cutter of Cocolalla, ID

Here’s a photo of my daughter Becky helping with one of our kids. We had an early batch (December) and are having a blast weaning them by bottle feeding. By the way, that’s a milk mustache on the goat. She eats like a PIG!

Submitted by Jeff Zimmerman of Frenchtown, Montana

This is my son Brock Zimmerman age 10. Shooting my .45-70 at our cabin. He is an accomplished marksman for 10 years old. He has been shooting since he was 3.

Submitted by Dondra Dorch of Sparta, TN

My mother, Donna, has taught me so much about the wonderful world of goats. I hope to take the knowledge that she and my father have given me and apply it to my dream of being self sufficient. We Goat Gals clean up pretty good when we aren’t tending to nannies!

Submitted by Sandy Housego of Freeland, WA

On Feb. 24, 2006 we had a dusting of Snow. Here in western Washington we really don’t see a lot. A couple of inches, a couple of times is about it each winter. So with the one hour school delay my son, Kelley Jay, 9, and I set out to go explore. Our little family of three (plus a dog and some cats) live on old farm we are restoring in Freeland, WA, which is located on Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound. In the picture, Kelley was being silly, hiding behind one of the plum trees in our orchard. Snow is a lot of fun and very exciting when you don’t see much of it and get time off school.

Submitted by Ruth Dixon of Gold Beach, OR

This is my daughter, Kaitlyn Hampton, about 4 years ago, when she was 15, at the Curry County Fair, in Gold Beach, Oregon, doing her presentation on “Running the Barrels”. She got reserve champion on her presentation. A great example of old fashioned fair time fun.

Submitted by George Romano of Murfreesboro, TN

My son, Matthew, age 9 and I at a father-son campout. We got rained on… it was in the 40’s that night, but it was great! We made s’mores, roasted hotdogs over a campfire and went on a 1 mile night hike that night. The next morning, we had a chance to do some archery, BB gun shooting, and tug-o-war with some other dads and boys who were there. After that, we went down by the lake to skip stones and look for crawdads.

Submitted by Linda Cardinal of Alpine, CA

My daughter Carrie Cardinal sitting with our Nigerian dwarf dairy goats and Great Pyreness.

Submitted by Dondra Dortch of Sparta TN

My mother, Donna Dortch, holding a 2 day old kid on her and my father’s farm here in Sparta, Tennessee. Thank you for the inspiration from your wonderful magazine and all the readers who dare to wish for a simpler way of life.

Submitted by Jackie Gillis of Prince Edward Island, Canada

This is my beautiful and always funny cat Snoopy. He is known in the neighbourhood as King Kitty and we love him A LOT!!

Submitted by Annette Baughn of Diana, TN

Row of sunflowers; they add beauty and are a natural bird attracter, especially doves. Dove hunting is very popular in Tennessee. Many fields are planted with sunflowers for this purpose. Sunflowers really are multipurpose. The seeds are tasty also.

Submitted by Ellen Mellon of Gold Beach, OR

Last year a feral cat adopted us and a week later blessed us with four babies. Of course our 12 year old Cock-a-poo (Willy the Wonder Dog) was so excited to be an uncle. This is Sno-Cone’s first outing and Willy is showing him all the places to hide. Barely visible in the background is Gizmo.

Submitted by Kate Patrick of La Grande, Oregon

Four-year-old Willow Beberniss of La Vista, Nebraska catching a nap under the birthday quilt I made.

Submitted by Josephine Howland of Albany, NH

This bull moose stopped by my backyard one Labor day as I was working on a new shed. He stayed quite some time, so I got several photographs, but this one with the target is my favorite. I call it Priceless, like the MasterCard ads. Hunting Lic. $40, New Rifle, $650, Guided hunting tour to Alaska, $5000, Moose walks up to your backyard target stand….PRICELESS!

Submitted by George J. Romano of Murfreesboro, TN,

My son, George Romano, age 11, competed in and won his local, county and sub-regional 4-H competitions with his project on growing corn

Submitted by Codi Wolf of Coudersport, PA

This was my small vegetable garden this year. I had peas, corn, tomatoes, sweet peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts, zucchini squash, strawberries, and Asparagus. I live way out in the country, surrounded by Sesquehanook State Forrest, with big black bears, elk, white tail deer, coyote, wild turkey, mountain lions, wolves, bobcats, and more. Hence the fence around the garden.

Submitted by Jackie Gillis of Prince Edward Island, Canada

My husband John Murdock Gillis, and some clams he dug in an afternoon. Our cat, Snoopy, likes them, too!

Submitted by Jackie Gillis of Prince Edward Island, Canada

My husband, John Murdock Gillis, collecting Irish Moss on the shores of Point Prim.

Submitted by Norma Phillips of Bolingbrook, IL

Our English Bulldog ‘Gracie’ welcomes our new Golden Doodle ‘Vegas’ into the household on 1/9/2005. Vegas was so named because he was a substitution for a long planned trip that never materialized. Viva Las Vegas!

Submitted by Stacy Segovia of Clarksville, TN

My precious little white pomeranian, Bonita, isn’t so precious when she’s exploring her own brand of heaven on Earth — the creek. Her fur is white as the driven snow, and she loves nothing more than to lay her pink belly on the cool, muddy creek bottom. She comes out looking like two thirds of an Oreo cookie!

Bonita was a puppy mill mom, and when she stopped having enough puppies, she was going to be euthanized. Lucky for us, she got the chance to be a country grrrl instead.

Submitted by Tina Schleh from Missouri

First off, I would like to thank you for the informative magazine and the great web site. Both of which have been an asset to this suburia family that moved to the woods less than a year ago! We knew very little and have learned so much. You have a great family at BWH…we intend to stay members for as long as possiable!

This picture is my of our family…The Schleh’s of Missouri –Ken, Tina, Victor 10, Diego 9, Kaitlyn 8, Tori 7, and Bradley 5.

After making my first batch of homemade bread…during the holidays of 2004…it proved to be a hit with my little ones! I am the happiest mother on earth. Thanks for helping this family see the light!

Submitted by Jenny Pipes of Manti, UT

9 year old cat “Pumpkin” meeting one of the new kids. They played for an hour.

Submitted by Micah West of Fairchild AFB, WA

Harmon West, age 2 1/2, on a day hike with his father Micah in Riverside State Park, Spokane, Washington.

Submitted by Danielle Shatto of Springfield, OH

Haylee J. M. Walker, age 2 years 8 months, eating birthday cake in her Nana’s back yard at her Great Grandma’s 70th surprise birthday party in Springfield, Ohio

Submitted by Dondra Dortch of Sparta, TN

The baby raccoons were asleep along the roadside and the old Ford would have run them over if I hadn’t got out and woke them up. I was able to get them to mosey back to the fence line when I pulled my cell phone out and took their picture.

Submitted by Terri Sanday of Fairland, OK

Grandpa Brian showing his 7 month-old granddaughter Ashtyn Iris’s that came from her great-great-grandma’s Ella Francis’s farm.

Submitted by Jenny Pipes of Manti, UT

Ten year old Summer Pipes with her favorite hen, Fluffy

Submitted by Sheri Lee of Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Wandering away from Papa Tom and his brother while fishing on a pond at the farm of a friend, Orv Schraeder, in Nekoosa Wisconsin, Grandma Sheri caught Jaden coaxing “Nellie” over to eat out of his hand, showing that the “Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence!”

Submitted by Edward Harrell of Colerain, NC

A rabbit made her nest in our garden, under the tomatoes. Looks like a country moment to me.

Associate editor Annie Tuttle takes a break from laying out the issue to hug her daughter, and newest member of the Backwoods Home Magazine family, Olga.

Evan Bell, 2 years old, of New Lebanon, OH, introduces his favorite chicken to his friend, Morgan.

Submitted by Sarah Polens

My parents ended up with an orphan lamb and my two year old son was happy to help feed her. My son’s name is Ben Polens and the picture was taken at his Gramma Emilie and Grampa Bob’s Farm in Chelsea, MI.

Submitted by Kristin Bothur of Columbia, CT

The photo is of three of my ten children on our little 3-acre homestead the day after our new kid was born. Jordan, age 6 months is held by her brother, Derek age 12. Siouxsie, the baby goat is held by my son Ian, age 15.

Garrett Breidel, age 14, from Pistol River, Oregon, caught this 41-inch, 36-pound salmon in the Pistol River near his home.

Submitted by Tina Schleh of Ellsinore, MO

My two son’s Victor 9, Diego 8, and Ken, my husband. They went of a ATV ride and came back muddy! Wished I went too!

Jacob Statler, 1½, Atalissa, Iowa, eats tomatoes from the family garden. He also likes to collect eggs from the chickens.

As Jerry Murray of Palomino, Nevada, worked under the hood of his truck, his dog, Murphy, stayed right on the job making sure it was done right.

Maggie Kogler, 19 months, Montrose, Colorado, with her newborn doe kid and Willa, the mommy goat. Maggie talks constantly about how “Wiya’s baby’s out!”

May Krewson, 3, West Plains, Missouri, making a friend. This photo, by her grandmother, won third place in the local county fair.

Harley Dylan Rogers

Age 3

Fellows, California

Country moments aren’t just for kids. Bob Walker, (age 55) Cañon City, Colorado, with one-week-old lambs.

Harmon West

Age 21 months

Fruitland, Idaho

James Cutter

Age 8

Cocolalla, Idaho

Nell and Laine Baumgarten

Ages 6 and 4

Seattle, OR

From Greg and Bonnie Schippers

Our daughter, Laura, age 7, holding 2 eggs recently laid by our Hubbard Isa Brown hens. The smaller egg is large enough to hold the lid open on a jumbo egg box, and the LARGE one is the biggest we have ever seen! It weighed just over 4 ounces!! (gives new meaning to the term 1/4 pounder). When we cracked it into a measuring cup, it was just under 1/2 Cup, with two BIG yolks!

Taylor Greer

Age 4

Madison, KS

Lee Summerlin and his son, Lee, Jr, Age 4

Ft. Walton, FL

From Jenny Pipes, Arroyo Grande, CA

These are pictures of the newest lambs at our place. “Maaa” shown in the picture…their mother, is a Merino/Jacob cross. The Ram used was a registered Icelandic. We named the lambs Ivy and Sage. We have 2 more ewes due to lamb within the next 6 weeks or so.

My name is Jenny Pipes. (Aunt Jenny for those of you who read the BHM forum) I live with my husband and 3 of our 4 sons (our boys range in age from 5 up to 24!) We are on the central coast of Calif. about 1/2 way between LA and SF, in a smallish agricultural area. We live about 6 miles from town on a country road.

Besides the 6 sheep we have an angora goat, a dairy goat, a pet turkey named Earl, one horse, 7 ducks, 27 laying hens, one rooster and 13 rabbits. Most are angoras. And 3 dogs and 3 cats. I will be raising at least 25 meat chickens this year again.

We rent the place we live now, but plan to buy our own place in the near future. Hopefully NOT in California.

We enjoy gardening, fishing, hunting, food storage and preparedness. I enjoy spinning and knitting with wool from the sheep and fiber from the goat and rabbits. My husband stays busy putting up fences and helping me with projects I dream up for him around here.

From forum member Beth M in KY:

[The top photo] is of my daughter, Amanda, and her daughter, Morgan (age 3), (my granddaughter). In our small town, population 1500, we have a summer street festival called Lakefest. After a couple long days of street vendors, talent shows, beauty pageants, etc, we have a beautiful fireworks display. My son-in-law, Jason, snapped this picture as Morgan couldn’t decide if she liked the loud noises of the fireworks or not. I love not only the wonder in her eyes, but also the security she feels as her mother shields her from the noise. Her little hand has a death-grip on her mother’s wrist.

The [bottom] pic is of our 250-year-old cabin which stands on an acre of woods. The cabin was moved log by log from it’s original site about 30 miles away, about 30 years ago. Many of the logs are 18 inches thick. It does have electricity, but no indoor plumbing. We get our water from a well near the side of the house. We were fortunate enough to be able to purchase it about a year ago. It is a beautiful place, on a little country lane. So peaceful. I can hear God whisper through the wind in the trees.

From Susan De Lano

Hi, This a picture of my husband Steve and I. We live in the north woods of Northwestern Minnesota. I was raised on a farm in Michigan and have owned my own horse ranch in Western Michigan. We moved to Minnesota a year after purchasing 40 mostely wooded acres love the peacefulness of the country. We raise Alaskan Malamutes and they are one of the reasons we are here. Please feel free to visit our web site at http://www.familyhomepage.com/steveandsusan to see more of our home and beloved Alaskan Malamutes. Also, you can read more about how we are doing in making our land livable.

From Carole Jurasko of Fairmont, West Virginia

Our 2 year old was a little confused this Easter. When his dad told him we were going on an “Easter Egg Hunt”, the little guy immediately ran and got his play rifle and headed toward the door! I swear this kid thinks up stuff no other kid in the world has EVER thought of! I’ve been telling telling my husband Mike for sometime that Matt was gonna be a real true to life Redneck one day…I guess he just proved mommy right; only a West Virginia Redneck boy would take his shotgun to hunt Easter eggs!

From Mike Brady of Mesa, Arizona

The Brady family, Linda and Mike, with “The Masters.”

“This picture [was taken] on our 75 acres outside of Vinita, Oklahoma. We hope to be moving there soon….permanently. We have owned the land for two years now. It took a ton of searching to find the right place. If you know of anyone wanting to live in the metropolis of Phoenix, AZ. I have a nice little house for sale. Hope it sells fast.

“There is always a lot to catch up on when we get to Oklahoma. The neighbor currently leases the land to run 18 head of cattle on. Fences seem to require a lot of tending. Cherry and pecan trees need lots of pruning, fertilizing and pest control. Of course if we don’t spend a couple of days trying to kill poison ivy it would overrun the place. But it all sure beats working. We bought the tractor [Massey Fergusson 65 Diesel] with the place. It sure does help considering we have 50 acres of grass to mow.

Our “Masters”, Maggie and Bear, are mother and son. Boxers have to be some of the finest companions on earth. Just hope they aren’t too chummy with [the] chickens.

My name is Judy Murray and in this [top] picture I am sitting at my desk, I work for a medical school in New Orleans and my job is coding for physician’s billing.

In the second picture I am standing in front of what was my great-grandparent’s driveway. When they married my great-grandmother’s father give her 40 acres. She and my great-grandfather lived on this land for over 50 years of married life. I spent many holidays and summers visiting them.

A few years after my great-grandmother died, in 1964, the house burned down and eventually anything recognizable disappeared. This is where I am going to retire.

There is much work to be done in preparation for my move there. I will have the pleasure of learning all about clearing an area for our house, putting in a septic tank, having the electrical lines put in, either having a well dug or hooking up to the water line that runs along the highway and deciding on the type of home we will have. I will just about be starting from scratch, but am so familiar with the area and have cousins by the dozens there. I have such memories of the garden, smoke house, barn, chicken house and the woods where I played as a child.

From Carole Jurasko of Fairmont, WV

We live outside of the city limits of Fairmont, WV. " I would say we live in the “suburbs” but I think West Virginia is pretty much a suburb to the entire country! " and do alot of hunting for deer and fishing for bass. My husband Mike also hunts turkey and squirrel…sorry but I just can’t bring myself to cook a little squirrel so he has to take it up the hill to his Mom to cook for him. His parents only live like 50 yrds from us. (It’s a WV Redneck thing I think?!)

We have 1/2 acre where we have 18 chickens, 4 ducks, a Golden Retriever and 4 kids from ages 2 to 16. I am not sure we are “country” or just WV Rednecks as my hubby keeps his old car in our backyard behind the chicken coop!

I love flower gardening and have planted over 400 flower bulbs this past fall that I am hoping to see this spring! Because we do live so far out of town….gardening is my LIFELINE! I am hoping that this year I can get a vegetable garden in!

I am sending along a favorite picture of mine of our 2 year old. His name is Matthew…he is mommy’s little heart throb and I am sure you can see why in the photo! This was the first Christmas that he really enjoyed as last year he wasn’t even a year old yet. But this Christmas was just filled with “WONDER” for him. I am also proud to announce that our 16 year old son, Danny got his first deer this year! Needless to say his 2 younger brothers were just ecstatic for him! I am sending you a picture of Danny, Matt (age 2) and Michael (age 6) with big brothers deer as well! I hope you like the pictures!

Oh and I also have my own website! I am so excited because my husband bought me my own domain for Christmas! :) It is called the Friendship Garden and we currently have LOADS of visitors and 11 “Garden Members”. It has been a very fun hobby!

Bob Johnson of Plymouth, Mass. holding the 16″ cucumber mentioned on the BHM Forum this past summer. I’m part time handyman, part time computer instructor and self proclaimed full time “country boy” The latter which I practice as much as possible.

Dorothy Bellipanni of Havelock, North Carolina

My parents once owned a cabin on Tarsney Lake, about 12-15 miles south of I-70, just east of Kansas City. Last time I was home for Christmas (1993) I took some pictures of the lake out behind the cabin. You can’t really see the neighbors across the lake in the photos, but the lake was originally set up to be a more “upscale” deal. A dam was built to form the lake and there is an upper lake as well. (I’m not sure how it was built and have never seen it.) The regular Joe Schmoe off the street got a foothold though and so there hasn’t been much if any build up around the lake.

Many of the cabins around the lake were built by their original owners in the typical styles of hodgepodge and whatever was on hand. LOL I wish I had a photo of the cabin itself, it was built out of old wooden ammo cans.

To this day, no one has had any real luck fishing in this lake. No one knows what the heck the fish are eating and no one has found a bait that works! LOL It’s pretty in the winter though.

From Doc:

[This is a] photo of [me and] my significant other on Thanksgiving weekend at our cabin. Like most wimmen she changes hair color with the seasons. But this is her. Her name is Leona but she prefers to be called the boss…LOL. She has been my rock for awhile now and frankly I’m still surprised why she keeps me around. She tells me it’s because she wants to see what antics I get up to next

Ron Graham " Operations Manager of Backwoods Home Magazine

This picture was taken 10 years ago. I sold the bike when my daughter was born. I wanted to be around for her as she grew up. My wife Nathele and I are saving to buy a little piece of property outside of town where we can get back to basics. I don’t need a Harley anymore, but I would like to have one again.

From Rick Wyckoff of Mesa AZ

Cochise is around 3 years old now. He is registered as malamute/sheppard. Its hard to take him places because he thinks he has to sit in my lap.

I own my own decal installation company and do a lot of traveling to jobs. Its really tough to drive with an 80 LB animal on you!

From Brett Meyer of Black Diamond, Washingtom

This is our chicken house we built out of spare lumber and finished siding. The plexiglass window on the left is used to check on our 5 Rhode Island Red and 5 Barred Rock hens which we raised from day old chicks. The door below the window provides rear access to three layer boxes for collecting the eggs. The structure is 4′ X 6′ with a 10′ X 8′ covered run. Great news, we collected our first 3 eggs today!

From Cheri Leigh Syphrett, Madison, Kansas

The colt’s name is Bonito Diablo, which is Spanish for pretty devil. Strange, I know to give an Arabian a Spanish name, but it just fit. My grand-daughter, Taylor, (right) could not pronounce it correctly and would call him Nito Dollo… it stuck! We still call him Nito. My husband, Dan, (left) loves the colts… he does not care for adult horses even though all the colts love him…. They will “steal” an apple from his shirt pocket, take a ballcap off his head, and in general are the smartest horses I have ever been around and so people oriented. My stallion has never been broken due to a hoof injury when he was two, yet several people have been on his back with no problem, including my grand-daughter when she was just 2 years old.

We had a mid-life crisis, moved to Kansas from Texas, bought a 360 acre farm and I started collecting all the animals I had wanted in my lifetime, now that I had room to keep them. I had dreamed of Arabians from the time I saw Ben Hur (movie) as a teenager. We have a stallion, who is a grandson the the famous Bey Shah, two mares and several colts we have raised from them. It is just a hobby, as we live near the Flinthills of KS and it is cattle country with all the ranchers owning Quarter horses. We have more crop ground than anything, raising alfalfa, corn, soybeans and milo. We do have enough pasture for a few cattle and have 20 registered Angus and 4 Jersey cows we use for nurse cows. The Jerseys can raise several extra calves a year for us.

We have the usual assortment of cats, a Border Collie, ducks, geese, peacocks, etc. and have been able to have the pre-schoolers out to the farm to see all the animals in the spring. That is a wonderful experience for us…. we also try to raise pumpkins every year in our one acre garden for all the school children to have. Madison is a very small farming community.

Karen Farmer of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, a regular in the Readers’ Forum sent in this photo of her garden with its concrete raised beds and greenhouse over to the right. In the background is her newly sided and re-roofed house.

From forum regular Elizabeth Petofi of Ruckersville, Virginia

This is a photo of my dog, Tengri, at my beaver pond on my property in Orange County, Virginia. There is a shallow part and a deep drop-off which she fell in. She is climbing back out looking disgruntled. It was a beautiful day and I’m happy I can share this with the forum community.

A collage from Readers’ Forum denizen Doc – alias thisisdoc….nemesis of Selena and RNMOM…friend to all who make him cookies. Clockwise from the bottom right: Doc, hisownself " Two views of the creek that runs through my property year round " My cabin/serenity hideaway " The “GUEST HOUSE”, just in case the mother in law comes visiting, or forum regulars who don’t bring cookies.

From David Spangler of Brandon, Mississippi

The photo from the early 70’s was taken on my Granpa’s farm near Carnes, Mississippi. It shows, right to left, my Granpa, Elbert Seal, my brother, Charles Spangler, and my uncle, Malcolm Seal. Hanging from the [2×4 frame are] two six feet plus rattlesnakes my uncle stumbled upon while he was checking cattle. As a sidenote, after he killed them he washed his hands in the creek and almost grabbed a cottonmouth while drying his hands on the grass!

Readers Heather & Kevin Miller of Montpelier, Ohio " Heather with her kitty.