Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Forget the dog, chicken is man’s best friend

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

Build a Heated Germination Bed

By Charles Sanders Issue #92 • March/April, 2005 Many of us who garden have learned the benefits of starting our own vegetable and flower plants. There...

Livestock fencing for the small homesteader, part 2

Build a portable woodstove for $30

Build a 6500-gallon concrete water tank for $1500

A house a tornado helped build

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...

You Can Make Your Own Fertilizers

How to become a backyard beekeeper

Use Non-Hybrid Seeds and Save Big Bucks in This Year’s Garden

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

By John Silveira Issue #49 • January/February, 1998 It was one of those days I love. We were between deadlines and Dave, Bill, Mac, and I...

Habeeb Salloum — Poet, Traveler, Recipe Writer

James Polk — A model for modern presidents

Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?

Betty’s Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

Tips for finding your affordable home

Roasting coffee on a wood stove

For a truly independent energy system, your choices are solar, wind, and water

Keeping your food cold — Solutions to refrigeration when electricity is scarce

The M1A — A rifle that makes a statement

By Massad Ayoob Issue #45 • May/June, 1997 I take the Springfield Armory rifle out of the box, and savor it. I seldom do that with...

The light at the end of the gun

Gee-Whiz: Dinosaurs

By O.E. MacDougal July/August 2014 Backwoods Home Biologists and paleontologists are now pretty certain that birds are part of the dinosaur lineage. Their extinct relatives include...

Can we make a Tyrannosaurus rex from a chicken?

Goodbye TV, hello constructive time

The Newtown atrocity and “gun control”

Common sense about burglary prevention

Why we have no “constitutional” rights

Build a poultry killing cone

By Allen Easterly Issue #135 • May/June, 2012 You've worked hard and spent many hours raising your pretty flock of meat chickens from eggs or chicks...

Beekeeping basics

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

Khaki Campbell ducks — The other egg layer

Raising quail — A home grown delicacy

Raising your own beef for your family

How to butcher a chicken in 20 minutes or less

The saga of Benjamin, the backwoods, homeschool boy who wanted to get a job

Sew a baby quilt in two days… for a lifetime of memories

10 tips for selling your homemade product

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 basically a method of recycling junk wood to make a...

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 tree in our small orchard I'd have to say it's...