This issue is Sold Out.
Most articles are included in our print anthology
A Backwoods Home Anthology — The Twelfth Year
Click on General Store to the left.
Click on items listed in red to read them.

DEPARTMENTS
6  Publisher’s Note

7  Editorial: How do you keep yourself safe?

68  Ask Jackie: Above ground root cellars, “cream” soups, finding a rural place to live, canning spaghetti, rabbit liver paté, harvesting basil, black walnuts, quinces, sourdough starter, short-season crops, and more

47  Think of it this way: The coming American dictatorship, Part VII

20  Ayoob on Firearms: Do rural homeowners need guns for self defense?

44Irreverent joke page

43   The gee-whiz! page

60  Book Review Three by Anita Evangelista

74Small business profile

77  Letters

87   Advertiser Index

83  Classified ads (pdf)

83  Classified ad form

91   BHM books

88-89  Subscription Info

90  The last word:Money can buy happiness

Order form
or call Toll Free 1-800–835-2418

Cover 72
ABOUT THE COVER
This issue’s cover is a photo by Pat Ward of the house built by BHM Publisher Dave Duffy in the Oregon woods.

The house essentially launched Backwoods Home Magazine, as Duffy realized that anyone could do what he had done. Like one of the major articles in this issue, Build a $10,000 home, Duffy’s house also cost him $10,000 to build.

The house has since been enlarged and sold, but the lesson lives on—anyone can build their own affordable home.

FEATURES

Independent energy

24  A solar primer: How it works, how it’s made, what it costs   By Jeffrey R. Yago

This is an easy-to-understand article that discusses the different types of solar energy components, how they work, and what they cost. Jeff Yago has provided an excellent beginner’s primer.

Self-sufficiency

16  Knowing survival fire craft can save your life   By Robert N. Anderson

Anderson talks about the fire-making tools that may one day save your life.

32  Living the outlaw life   By Claire Wolfe

Claire Wolfe explains why and how to fight back against the people who compile databases on us.

40  Reading animal tracks and signs   By Tony Nester

Winter is a great time of year to take the family out to find and identify the tracks of those critters that live around us. Tony Nester gives us some handy hints on how to read those tracks.

57  Spinning fiber for the homestead   By Susan Shephard

75  Homemade toys! Easy to make, fun to play with, great for gifts!   By Cynthia Andal

Farm and garden

66  Precious persimmons   By Marcella Shaffer

Winter is the time of year when persimmons come into their own. Marcella Shaffer talks about how to plant and care for persimmon trees, then how to harvest, preserve, and cook their fruit.

Building and tools

8  Build your own log home in the woods: part 3   By Jackie Clay

In this, the third installment of Jackie’s popular “build your own log home series,” she finally puts windows, doors, and a porch on the log home we’ve watched going up for the last two issues.

36  Build a house for less than $10,000—We did it!   By Judy Statezny Ulch

Believe it or not, Judy Ulch and her husband built their own beautiful home for less than $10,000. They did it by getting most of the materials that went into it either for free or for next to nothing. In this article she tells you how you can do it, too

62  Build a split-rail fence in impossible soil   By Dorothy Ainsworth

Dorothy’s back and she shows us how she built a beautiful but inexpensive split-rail fence on her property with just split logs, some rebar, and a little copper wire.

Recipes

64  Cookies in a jar   By Sharon L. Palmer, RD