Most magazines last a day on the table. Ours stays a month.
"I read lots of magazines for an hour every morning while drinking my coffee. I judge them all by the amount of time they're on the table. Some last a day, others two or three days. I got my first Backwoods Home about a month ago... it's still on the table."
116 pages of practical homesteading know-how every season, with about 90% fewer ads. The kind of reading that earns its spot next to the coffee pot.
★★★★★ 4.9 from 223 reader reviews · 130,000+ readers
Four seasonal issues a year · Ships free in the US · Cancel anytime
Subscriptions renew automatically each year at the regular rate so you never miss an issue. You can cancel at any time by email, phone, or online.
Get both magazines and save
Self-Reliance is our sister magazine: 100 pages an issue on gardening, cooking, DIY, livestock, foraging, and off-grid living, with almost no ads. Together that's over 200 pages of hands-on reading every season.
This discount is valid for your first subscription year. Subsequent years renew automatically at the regular rate. Cancel anytime by email, phone, or online.
Where reading goes to live or die
Every magazine that comes into the house gets the same trial: does it survive next to the coffee pot, or does it slide into the recycling bin by Thursday?
The glossies
Skimmed over one cup. Celebrity gardens, ads every other page. In the bin before dinner.
The lifestyle stack
A couple of pretty spreads, nothing you'll actually do. Buried under the mail by the weekend.
Backwoods Home
Still on the table. Dog-eared, coffee-ringed, halfway through the canning article, and headed for the shelf when you finish it.
At 116 pages, each issue reads more like a book than a magazine. There's always one more article to get to.
Reading you come back to all month
Each issue is 116 pages written by homesteaders, builders, gardeners, and tradespeople describing what they actually did, including what went wrong. Almost no ads to flip past.
- Grow more food and put it up for the year
- Build and fix things yourself
- Raise chickens, goats, rabbits, and more
- Be ready when the power goes out
- Recipes, projects, and country living
Every cover is an original painting. Readers keep every issue on the shelf and pull them back down for years.
Anytime
Keep Every
Issue
You're never locked in.
If it's not for you, cancel anytime by phone, email, or online in about a minute, and keep every issue you've received. Cancel partway through and we refund the unused portion, prorated. After 37 years, we'd rather earn your renewal than trap it.
Other tables it's stayed on
"Like an old friend just talking about country living and how to make your life matter."
"First started reading it when I saw it on the table as we visited our daughter's home. She had a year's worth stored in the magazine rack and I read every one cover to cover. I just knew I needed to get my own subscription."
"I have received my first issue and read it from cover to cover. There is so much information within the pages of this magazine. This is the type of magazine you save for years as a reference. For anyone on the fence about ordering, DO IT!"
Before you subscribe
We send new subscriber files to our printer every week, and your first copy goes out in the next batch. Periodical mail moves slowly, so allow a few weeks for it to reach your mailbox. Digital access is immediate with a Digital or Print + Digital subscription.
Four times a year: one big 116-page issue every season. Each one is deep, seasonal, and worth keeping on the shelf.
Your subscription renews automatically each year at the regular rate so you never miss an issue. You can turn renewal off or cancel whenever you like.
Anytime, by phone (541-250-5134), by email, or online from your account in about a minute. You keep every issue you've received, and if you cancel partway through your term we refund the unused portion, prorated.
Yes. Subscriptions ship free anywhere in the US.
Earn your own coffee ring
Put It on Your TableFour seasonal issues a year · Ships free in the US · Cancel anytime