Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Animals

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

Cheaper than Store-Bought Eggs

Slaughtering and Butchering

Keeping homestead animals healthy

Building

The Forever Floor

By David Lee Issue #92 • March/April, 2005 It is pretty devious starting off an article with an exaggeration but now that I have your attention...

Build a Trail

Building a $3,000 Barn

How to build a good fence for your homestead

Build a Concrete Root Cellar

Farm and Garden

No Worrying About Fire Blight with Orient and Kieffer Pears

By Alice B. Yeager Issue #52 • July/August, 1998 Everyone likes a good success story, and if I were called upon to name the most successful...

Herb Boxes from Fence Boards

Home-Grown Eggs

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

For Extra Production, Try Mound Gardening

Americana and History

the gee-whiz! page: Animals, humans, extraterrestrials, and tools

By O. E. MacDougal Issue #154 • July/August, 2015 There was a time when it was thought that a defining difference between humans and animals was:...

The Great Depression — A reminiscence

Feeling nostalgic? Now you’ll rave! Here’s the story of Burma Shave.

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

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

Food and recipes

Recipes from my mother’s kitchen

Persimmon bread

Egg thingies

Creating and maintaining your own sourdough starter

Self-reliance

Take care of your knife

Funerals don’t have to be expensive

Harvesting the wild: Acorns

Moving to the wilderness — Turning the dream to reality

Energy

Generators alone are not enough

Build your own solar-powered water pumping station

Solar Power 101 — Solar arrays

Our journey to modern off-grid living

Guns and Hunting

The subtleties of safe firearms handling

By Massad Ayoob Issue #103 • January/February, 2007 There are so many makes and models of firearms in existence that no one has ever counted them...

Firearms handling refresher Part III: Rifles

BHM hosts Appleseed marksmanship event

Hiding a gun — The rules of three

Hunting, processing, and serving black bear

Science

Zombie Apocalypse

By John Silveira Issue #134 • March/April, 2012 "Can you survive a zombie apocalypse?" a familiar voice asked. I turned in my seat to see O.E. MacDougal,...

The ‘risks’ with Swine Flu

The world is ending! … Again?

Gee-Whiz: Ice Ages, Past and Future

Science and truth. Are they related?

Politics and Commentary

Planning the lives of generations to come

Can the U.N. Ban America’s Guns?

That old survivalist mumbo jumbo and 10 reasons why it makes sense

Putting it all on the Amtrak line for Self-Reliance magazine

Animals

Beekeeping basics

Issue #88 • July/August, 2004 Bees have been managed for their honey production for about 5000 years or so. Especially for the...

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

Get to know your spiders

Hog butchering — Using everything but the squeal

Switch your family to goat’s milk

Self-Reliance

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

The raging torrent — Respect it even when you play

Stashing Junk Silver for Bad Times

Clover — From Livestock Forage to Medicinal Tea, This Humble Plant is One of Nature’s Best Gifts

Farm and Garden

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 went by, I found other reasons (or should I say...

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Testing Soil

By Tom Kovach Issue #119 • September/October, 2009 Testing the soil content of a garden is very important and is quite easy to do. Soil tests are needed because some plants prefer slightly acidic soil, while...

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