Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Animals

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

Raising your own beef for your family

Switch your family to goat’s milk

Home Dairying

Building

Eye-catching signs with mirrors

By David Lee Issue #144 • November/December, 2013 The reflected image in the mirrored letters give a "see-through" illusion to the sign and the tree. Stained glass...

Making Apple Cider with a Homemade Press

Build a poultry killing cone

Dorothy Ainsworth update: Out of the ashes

Determined woman builds distinctive vertical log studio

Farm and Garden

Leafy Green Vegetables — The Underrated Heroes of the Garden

By Jackie Clay Issue #104 • March/April, 2007 When you mention "garden," everybody immediately thinks of sweet corn, green beans, and tomatoes, with a few peppers...

Tea for the garden

Want More Fruit From Less Space? Espalier Your Trees!

Grow Open-Pollinated Tomatoes

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

Americana and History

The greatest American who was never President

By John Silveira Issue #60a • November/December, 1999 "The election's next year, right?" I asked. Dave Duffy, the publisher of Backwoods Home Magazine, was editing a rather...

Fly it proudly and properly

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

From Martha and Abigail to Dolley and Louisa, America’s earliest First...

Doesn’t anyone remember Tom Paine

Food and recipes

Baked Spaghetti

Canning meat plus how to use your canned meat

Sweet pepper salad

Broccoli-Turkey Casserole

Self-reliance

13 steps to a life of freedom

Couponing, refunding, and stockpiling will make your money stretch

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

New yarn from old sweaters

Energy

Power-up bag

Solar Building Design

Solar suitcase

Build a passive-solar food dehydrator

Guns and Hunting

Firearms handling refresher Part I: Handguns

By Massad Ayoob Website Exclusive • December, 2003 One of our readers e-mailed John Silveira to tell him that taking a handgun afield after a long...

Reload your own brass

Catch your own bait

Frontier style handguns for the modern backwoods home

Air power superiority

Science

The ‘risks’ with Swine Flu

By John Silveira Issue #118 • July/August, 2009 Do we have anything to worry about the reemergence of Swine Flu Novel Influenza A (H1N1) ...

The world is coming to an end… and this time, I’m...

Gee-Whiz: Presidents

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

The many benefits of garlic

Politics and Commentary

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

Gulf War II opened the eyes of Americans to the UN and the media

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

Why oil and other fossil fuels are good

Animals

Protein — The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet

By Jackie Clay Issue #111 • May/June, 2008 It goes without saying that preparedness is not for "radicals" or "weirdos" anymore. I picked up a preparedness...

Raising quail — A home grown delicacy

By Allen Easterly Issue #101 • September/October, 2006 Raising quail is inexpensive, easy, provides very healthy low-fat white meat, and supplies the fertilizer you need for...

Raising your own beef

Chickens — The most valuable animal on the homestead

Where our farm animals come from

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

Self-Reliance

How to make money from storage building auctions

A view of self-reliance from a more timid perspective — A woman’s opinion

With commonsense planning, you can survive hard times

Dehydrating eggs at home

Farm and Garden

Gleaning — An Old Tradition Made New

By Daniel Furtney Issue #147 • May/June, 2014 Gleaning. You may remember the term from Sunday School or your Bible studies. In the book of Ruth, "gleaning" refers to poor people being allowed to follow a...

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Garden Seeds — A Great Winter Pastime

By Jackie Clay Issue #67 • January/February, 2001 Start your garden this year while the snow is still on the ground. I start all of my own plants from seeds. One of my favorite winter pastimes...

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