Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Raising cattle on your own place

Protein — The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet

Build an Old-Fashioned Hotbed and Start Your Seeds in Style

By Roy Martin Issue #104 • March/April, 2007 A hotbed is a miniature greenhouse that is heated to protect new seedlings from cold. The hotbed differs...

For summertime baking needs, build yourself an outdoor horno

Livestock fencing for the small homesteader

Determined woman builds distinctive vertical log studio

For Extra Production, Try Mound Gardening

By Edward Love Johnson Issue #44 • March/April, 1997 I began experimenting with mound gardening several years ago, due to limited garden space. Then as time...

Your Manure Pile — For Fuel, Fertilizer, and Maybe Even Improved...

Rotten Luck: The Skinny on Composting

By Hook or Crook: A Billhook is a Handy Homestead Tool

Was the first government gun confiscation attempt foiled by an unsung...

By John Silveira Issue #119 • September/October, 2009 Gun control people don't seem to get just how deeply etched into the American psyche gun ownership goes...

George Washington Carver — He wrote the book on self-reliance

Presidents’ wives of the past Part 3

Farm baseball … with ghost runners!

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

A canoe livery — An honest, clean business

Battery-Powered Tools are Changing

Install a mobile, solar powered toilet

Water: a safe supply when you’re off the grid

Picking a holster

By Massad Ayoob Issue #69 • May/June, 2001 One good thing about being out in the boonies by yourself is that you can carry a gun...

Savage Model 110 — A proven economical backwoods rifle

How to shoot a handgun accurately

The coming ice age

By John Silveira Issue #139 • January/February, 2013 I'm putting my apocalyptic ice age novel, Danielle Kidnapped, on Amazon's Kindle and also producing a paperback version...

Three more ways the world can end … and I’m not...

Armed civilians can help fight terrorism

Something unsaid about Timothy McVeigh’s execution

The unheralded roots of America’s freedoms

How to buy your first sheep without getting shorn

By Anita Evangelista Issue #32 • March/April, 1995 Multimillionaire J. Paul Getty was once asked the secret of becoming rich. He's reported to have said, "I...

Broody biddies make sense on the homestead

By James Kash Issue #139 • January/February, 2013 Broodiness is an avian behavior that is frowned upon in the world of agriculture. All industrial agriculturalists cull...

How to butcher a chicken in 20 minutes or less

Raising your own beef for your family

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

Shearing, carding, spinning, weaving and creating with Margaret Boos

Roasting coffee on a wood stove

Start your food storage on $10 a week

Secure and Economical Livestock Feed

By Sherry Willis Issue #145 • January/February, 2014 The recent droughts in the midwest have meant hard times for many livestock owners. Areas without irrigation saw parched earth without a scrap of green anywhere. Corn withered...

How to become a backyard beekeeper

By Sheri Jones If you’ve been intrigued by the idea of becoming a beekeeper but think you don’t have the space, resources, or knowledge, you’re about to be pleasantly surprised. Backyard beekeeping is a lot...