Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Chickens — The most valuable animal on the homestead

Finding, buying, milking, and living with the family milk cow

Turning a $10,000 House into a Home — Part 1: Salvaging...

By Claire Wolfe Issue #155 • September/October, 2015 December 2012. Welcome to my house as I first saw it. The door opens onto a dirt-floored room. It's...

Build a Simple, Inexpensive Greenhouse

Adventures with a portable sawmill

Building and using wattle fences

Hügelkultur for the Homestead

By Rose Shelton Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019 Last spring, I finally completed a long-planned homestead project of constructing two hügelkultur beds. What is hügelkultur? It’s...

Here’s a Mighty Creative Way to Protect Your Plants from Animals

Gardening in the Desert Using Only Rainwater

A New Use for Old Tires: A Garden Using Tires

Former first ladies — Beautiful, brilliant, crazy

By John Silveira Issue #30 • November/December, 1994 (This is a four-part series. Click the links to navigate to parts one, two, three, and four.) (When we...

Doesn’t anyone remember Tom Paine

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

Lamb and black bean tamale pie

Preserve the harvest naturally through wild fermentation

Homemade Toys! — Easy to make, fun to play with, and great for gifts!

Homeschooling through high school

Battery-Powered Tools are Changing

Generators alone are not enough

Why you need to addsolar to your emergencypower backup plans

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...

Teaching a 10-year-old to shoot

Cold weather shooting considerations

The M1A — A rifle that makes a statement

The MTHFR mutation and why it may matter to you

By John Silveira Issue #170 • March/April, 2018 This is an article with both anecdotal evidence and science. It is about me, anxiety and depression, a...

A vast cultural divide exists between environmentalists and gun owners

Some thoughts on growing older in the backwoods

The black man’s worst enemy is not racism

Cheaper than Store-Bought Eggs

By Kristina Seleshanko Issue #177 • July/August/September, 2019 Something we heard a lot when we first started raising chickens in the suburbs was, “For the cost...

Chickens — The most valuable animal on the homestead

By Jackie Clay Issue #109 • January/February, 2008 When I was a child, I used to read and re-read the chick section in our Sears and...

Build a chicken feeder on the cheep cheep cheep

A contrary guide to feeding animals

Protein — The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet

Mosquitoes outnumber us and no one likes them

Based on years of personal experience, here are 10 good tips for homeschooling your children

For safety’s sake, homestead fuel storage must be handled properly

The 7 core areas of preparedness

By Kristina Seleshanko When we purchased our mountaintop homestead, I was excited to discover four blueberry bushes that were already established on our property. Not all of them were large, but they were an excellent...

Flowers Brighten the Garden

By Alice B. Yeager Photos by James O. Yeager Website Exclusive • March, 2006 Along with raising food plants, I like to tuck in a few flowers both annuals and perennials. There's something about bright orange...