Home - Backwoods Home Magazine

Grow some winter squash this year

By Lisa Nourse I love summertime — I love the green of the trees, the warm weather, and growing my own food. I especially love...

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

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...

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

Gardening in the Desert Using Only Rainwater

Follow Jackie Clay-Atkinson and her husband, Will, as they homestead a 120-acre piece of northern Minnesotan woods entirely off-grid. Sharing their homestead are horses, beef cattle, a milk cow, dairy goats, chickens and turkeys.

Massad Ayoob on Guns

This blog, from a retired police captain and self-defense instructor, covers the use of different firearms, political musings, and self-defense tactics.

Building

Livestock fencing for the small homesteader

Make your own effective fishing tackle while you save money and recycle scrap

Build a Concrete Root Cellar

Five building tricks for super strong framing

Self-Reliance

By Hook or Crook: A Billhook is a Handy Homestead Tool

Simplifying simplicity

By Claire Wolfe Issue #117 • May/June, 2009 In the bustling 19th century, Henry David Thoreau urged us to "simplify, simplify, simplify." In the even more hectic...

The 7 core areas of preparedness

By Patrice Lewis Issue #133 • January/February, 2012 As I write this article, it's early September. And September, as you may or may not know, is...

Animals

The homestead cat

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson We have had at least one cat in our home ever since I was a young child. So it’s no wonder we...

Cheaper than Store-Bought Eggs

Raising your own beef

Fermenting Chicken Feed

Keeping homestead animals healthy

Science and Education

Subduction zone tsunami — What the residents of the Pacific Northwest have to fear

The world is coming to an end… and this time, I’m not kidding

How big is the solar system?

The threat of electromagnetic pulse!

Energy

Solar power for farm and ranch

By Jeffrey R. Yago, P.E. It may be surprising to learn that there are now all kinds of do-it-yourself solar powered devices specifically designed to...

Power-up bag

Amateur Ham Radio – The Ultimate Tool for Survival Communications

Keep the Ice On

Power Up

Americana and History

James Polk — A model for modern presidents

Habeeb Salloum — Poet, Traveler, Recipe Writer

The summer of ’35

Gee-Whiz: Presidents

Firearms

Frontier style handguns for the modern backwoods home

Affordable firearms

By Massad Ayoob Issue #134 • March/April, 2012 Knowing that frugality is one of the cornerstones of rural living, Editor Annie Tuttle suggested that I tackle...

The subtleties of safe firearms handling

By Massad Ayoob Issue #103 • January/February, 2007 There are so many makes and models of firearms in existence that no one has ever counted them...

Choose your ammo… police style

By Massad Ayoob Issue #93 • May/June, 2005 One of our greatest modern gun experts, Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper, USMC, Ret., once made the observation that...

Preparedness

Battery-Powered Tools are Changing

Changing the odds in home fire protection

Moving on: A small town can be a haven during a depression

Preparedness for travelers

The fire wick fire starter

Power Up

Articles By Dave Duffy

My View: Call Me Miracle Man!

By Dave Duffy Issue #177 • July/August/September, 2019 Superheroes are the rage these days at movie theaters. Even I am fascinated by them. Old style heroes...