Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Llamas guarding sheep? — Not such a far-fetched idea

Build a chicken feeder on the cheep cheep cheep

Khaki Campbell ducks — The other egg layer

Build your own log home in the woods

By Jackie Clay (Photos by Bill Spaulding and Jackie Clay) Issue #72 • November/December, 2001 This is the third part of a three-part series. The first two parts...

Make your own lumber with a chainsaw mill

We built John Silveira’s chicken coop/garden

Currants and Gooseberries

By Sylvia Gist Issue #155 • September/October, 2015 Currants and gooseberries all belong to the genus Ribes (pronounced "rye-bees"). There are varieties of currants and gooseberries...

Leaf Mold is Another Way to Build Your Soil

Presidents’ wives of the past Part 3

By John Silveira Issue #34 • July/August, 1995 (This is a four-part series. Click the links to navigate to parts one, two, three, and four.) Do I...

Who were the best…and worst U.S. Presidents?

Biological and chemical weapons through history

Doesn’t anyone remember Tom Paine

Former first ladies — Beautiful, brilliant, crazy

Preserve the harvest naturally through wild fermentation

Sewing and using cloth diapers is easier than you think

Modify an E-Tool to make your own Combi-Tool

Just for Kids: Killing some time (Create an afternoon time warp)

Generators alone are not enough

Just for Kids: Sun-kabobs and solar sizzle

Install a mobile, solar powered toilet

Affordable firearms

By Massad Ayoob Issue #134 • March/April, 2012 Knowing that frugality is one of the cornerstones of rural living, Editor Annie Tuttle suggested that I tackle...

Frontier style handguns for the modern backwoods home

Gee-Whiz: Alcohol

By O.E. MacDougal Backwoods Home Did early man first cultivate grains just to get drunk? The brewing of beer is older than civilization and goes back at...

The gee-whiz! page — Cats: Why they rule our world

Avian Flu — How afraid of this

The state of freedom in America

The logic behind term limits and a historical perspective

The world’s least-free country

Animal disease traceability

By Patrice Lewis Issue #137 • September/October, 2012 In 2009, small farmers and ranchers breathed a sigh of relief. So did people worried about another curtailment...

Bovine basics for beginners

By Patrice Lewis Issue #122 • March/April, 2010 Congratulations. You've escaped the city life and are now the proud owners of your little plot of rural...

Khaki Campbell ducks — The other egg layer

This St. Bernard backwoods hero saved old Grandma’s life

Dorper sheep — Revolutionizing the meat sheep industry

The poor man’s ultra-light dual-fuel backpacking stove

Stashing Junk Silver for Bad Times

Sewing and using cloth diapers is easier than you think

Making Apple Cider with a Homemade Press

By Robert Van Putten Issue #170 • March/April, 2018 Apples are an important food resource for us. Every year we store hundreds of pounds in our root cellar where they will keep for up to six...

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...