Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Keeping homestead animals healthy

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

Broody biddies make sense on the homestead

Shelves and benches

By David Lee Issue #107 • September/October, 2007 Money doesn't buy happiness but it sure does buy a lot of stuff. If it is nice stuff...

Build a 6500-gallon concrete water tank for $1500

Make a fully functional cold storage pit/mound and enjoy your garden’s...

For summertime baking needs, build yourself an outdoor horno

The $1 Garden

By Jonathan Nunan Issue #122 • March/April, 2010 The dollar garden is simple in concept: buy as many seeds as you can for one dollar and...

Grow Garlic and Reap Health Benefits

The ‘Chocolate Tree’ Isn’t Just for Kids

Gardening with a Chicken Tractor

Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?

By Don Lewis Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019 The year was 1834, a year that didn’t really stand out as all that particularly important in American...

Quilts — Masterpieces of the heart and windows into women’s history

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

Food security 101, part 3: Why I love my vacuum sealer (and more)

Homeschooling your dylsexic kid

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

Emergency solar power for $950

The light at the end of the gun

By Massad Ayoob Issue #128 • March/April, 2011 Dave writes, "A few weeks ago I had to shoot a skunk in the chicken house, but the...

Frontier style handguns for the modern backwoods home

Can we make a Tyrannosaurus rex from a chicken?

By John Silveira Issue #169 • January/February, 2018 Do you have chickens, ducks, turkeys, or geese in your yard? They’re not “just birds” because scientists now...

The unheralded roots of America’s freedoms

Consider the trades when it comes to your future ability to make money

Do rural homeowners need guns for self-defense?

Personal guns getting to be in style

Hog butchering — Using everything but the squeal

By Charles Sanders Issue #142 • July/August, 2013 A 450-pound hog will provide a lot of delicious meat. Hogs are raised throughout our neighboring Amish community for...

Where our farm animals come from

Issue #105 • May/June, 2007 We don't know how far back the domestication of animals goes. But we...

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

Chickens — The most valuable animal on the homestead

Raising quail — A home grown delicacy

The cholesterol in your stovepipe can be fatal

Help your home survive in the path of a wildfire

Homestead burnout — What it is and how to avoid it

Homeschooling through high school

Rotten Luck: The Skinny on Composting

By Patrice Lewis Issue #141 • May/June, 2013 For much of human history, people have tried to prevent things from rotting. Literally every food preservation method we've come up with in the past few thousand years...

An Introduction to Small-Scale Home Hydroponics

By Ben Richards Issue #154 • July/August, 2015 As most people are already aware, hydroponics is the practice of growing plants without soil. This is done by using a water-based nutrient solution to deliver the necessary...