Editor and Staff,

I just wanted to drop a line and say thanks for a great magazine and E-newsletter. I look forward to getting the newsletter every month and the magazine every couple. I have several friends (hopefully future subscribers) who I have turned onto your magazine and and I know have been visiting the website.

I live in the depressed economy of Michigan and like many others is trying to keep my head above water. I hate going to my job due to the negativity and dismal spirit found there. I work in the auto industry and can tell you things are better than they were even just 6 months ago but I can still feel that my job is in jeopardy on almost a daily basis. It’s time for a change I just haven’t figured out what that is totally going to be.

You are always a bright light of hope as I can see where I need to go. I’m working on it and probably will be relocating my family in the near future to a property where we can practice the homesteading spirit. I don’t know what I will be doing yet but you have given me some direction on where to look.

Thanks again,

Jim Loomis

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Hello BWH!

I just had to drop you a line and let you know how much my hubby and I love your magazine. We have been subscibers for only a couple of years now, but have learned so much! In our plight for self sufficiency, your magazine has been so valuable to us-when we receive it…we actually flip a coin to see who gets to read it first! Cover to cover I might add! We always find a project that sounds good, so we put it on the to-do list. And we love the letters from the other folks who also are faithful readers.

Since subscribing, we have managed to put in an even larger garden than we had, and grow and can almost all of our veggies. Anything we need to supplement, it’s farmers’ markets and local farmers only.

We are surrounded by ocean so we do a lot of fishing, as we love fish…I doesnt cost us a dime and its healthy for us..and we love to go fishing!

We also built our own greenhouse from mostly recycled materials! We have a flock chickens for eggs and looking into getting a couple of cows for milk and meat and a few goats for milk for us and also to use in my soaps! Yes soaps!!!

My Hubby is looking into material to make some solar panels to use while we save up to get enough panels to go completely off grid.

We quit our jobs and are now self-employed. Not letting others profit off our labor is liberating!

We live on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. I was wondering if there are any other readers around my parts. I saw BWH for the first time a few moths ago and with the self-sufficiency movement catching on…it would be a benefit and education for all who read!

We are so grateful to you for all the great info. You have been so helpful!!!!!

We look forward to many more years with you!!!

Julie & Don Goulart
Mashpee, MA

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I just got my package containing The Whole Sheebang and I’m so excited! It’s like Christmas all over again! There’s so much to read and learn, I don’t know where to begin!

I already have Jackie Clay’s book, “Starting Over” but that’s ok because now I can give it as a gift to someone. :-)

Thanks for the prompt service. You publications are definitely my favorites by far!

Now I’m going to go make myself some tea, grab an afghan and soak in all that Backwoods Home goodness starting with, “The Best of the
First Two Years”

Thanks again and take care!

Rhonda Jurgenson

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As a new subscriber to your magazine I was surprized that your humor section actually used Southerners as the butt of your humor.  I like a good joke and a laugh but I find it demeaning to use stereotypical humor with Southerners as the focus.  In some circles this could be construed as bigotry, but what the hell… nobody gets bent out of shape if a woman or a negro is the focus of humor, right?  Why should Southerners feel put off when a complete column is devoted to them.

I enjoy your magazine altogether.  The information it provides is worth the subscription rates.

Best wishes,

Mississippi Slim

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I really like the looks of your magazine, but is it really an extra $3 postage per issue to send it to Canada?  Not surprisingly that makes it way to expensive for me to consider.  I have things larger than a magazine sent to me from the US for less than $3.

Chris DeVries

Chris,

Dave

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Hi Folks,

I opened your webpage, which is indeed a masterpiece of useful information, and found a political article. I happen to be a strong supporter of President Obama and am really hoping that he will be given a chance to make some difference. I get tired of his every move, idea, thought, action, being criticized. He can’t pick his nose right.

When he came into office no one gave him a manual on how to clean up the mess he inherited. How can he be wrong on everything. The previous administration sure didn’t do everything 100% right. So I get offended when I see a magazine that promotes simple, close to the earth living going off into political commentary.

I’d like to think that I will be reading the articles on living simple. There are magazines that are specifically focused on political analysis. If I want political commentary I can subscribe to one or more of them.

I called up your website to subscribe to the Backwoods Home magazine, but first I want to know if the article I read is going to be the kind of fare I will be getting or is this just a one time editorial?

A potential subscriber

Harold Wheeler

Harold,

The articles you see on the website, which comprises hundreds of articles, some with a Libertarian viewpoint, is an accurate representation of what is contained in each issue of the magazine.

Dave

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Dear friends at Backwoods Home:

Kudos to Emily Chadwick (Call Me Plumber Jan/Feb.2010 issue).  I hope her toddler was smart enough to be impressed by Mom’s spunk and self reliance.

When I was a young lad, I accidentally dropped a quarter into the toilet after finishing my business, but before flushing.  Oh No!  25 cents was a lot of money to a young one in a poor family in the 1960’s.  My mom instantly transformed into a superhero and plunged her hand into the toilet bowl.  Feeling around under the brown floaters, she pulled the money from the drain of doom.  I could not have been more impressed by Wonder Woman charging into machine gun fire!  Washing her hands and my money, she explained that it’s not always pleasant, but we do what must be done.  It was one of many incidents proving her to be the strongest, bravest woman I knew.

I am now older than she was then.  When I need strength and courage in the face of adversity, I still look to her for inspiration.  I expect Mrs. Chadwick’s daughter will feel the same way.

Paul Miller
Hannibal, MO

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As I have my own business, I get to work with the public and that includes many officers of the law. I have taken a sort of poll. The concensus is hole up your weapons and buy as much ammo as you can afford. Store up food and be prepared. Something is in the air and it’s coming this way.

I am not one to say the sky is falling, but I have done what my senses have told me to do. I am also “networking” with reliable people whom I can trust and depend on and with. (That network is a very small one for obvious reasons)

I cannot comprehend that some people cannot comprehend that someday the store won’t be open and there won’t be any food on the shelves. What will they do?

I truly hope all this bypasses us and things get better but if not I’m ready.

One more thing…Love your mag!! I try not to read the whole thing when I get it in the mail and try to save some for late night reading, but dang!….I read it all again on the day I got it. Just will have to read it again…

[Name withheld by request]
Kirbyville, MO

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Mr. Duffy,

This year was my first year subscribing to your magazine and I just wanted to say thank you. I’m 27 now and I know that that’s not really to old or wise but I guess I have a bit of an old fashioned soul and way about looking at life. I’m not caught up in all the trendy junk pushed onto us. Nor do I buy into all the scare tactics thrown at us all over public media. I believe that people actually need to earn what they get and I don’t mind doing hard work to get it. I’ve never felt self gratitude after receiving something I didn’t really deserve. But I do take pride in the unexpected pat on the back I get from doing something right and doing it well. Not because I wanted a reward but because it needed to be done and well lets face it I trust myself (and that’s about all) to get it done.

Anyway, about the age thing. I’m currently in my 3rd year a U.S.Marine and I live in a barracks filled with stupid people. My mom and dad raised me right. Yes ma’am, no sir. You want something bad enough, you work for it. Respect your elders, and most of all respect yourself. If someone does do you a favor be honestly grateful. If you mess up, man up and accept what’s coming. Yes I’ve messed up plenty, but I also am doing what I need to make it right. However to 90% of my co-workers, the task of doing a load of laundry is overwhelming. Oh and don’t even ask them to clean up after their own messes. These guys were sheltered. Mommy and daddy handed them everything they wanted whenever they demanded. Their parents never smacked their bottoms but instead grounded them to their rooms, which of course are filled with tvs, video games and more entertainment then most small countries. Now don’t get me wrong, we work hard when we work, but when work is over (or as soon as somebody isn’t riding their asses and giving them step by step order) their brains turn off. It just amazes me how these big bad marines can be such babies. Common sense vanquished. I wonder how they will survive once they return to the civilian world and have to actually fend for themselves.

I am currently reading your “Stupid People” book and it’s one of the most honest to the point truths I’ve experienced. I only wish I could shout half of the common sense in this book to the people around me. How can the world or at least America really be so blind. I guess I’ve kinda turned this into a rant but what I’m trying to say is I appreciate your work at helping good honest hard working americans stay on the right path. I love your magazine. I feel like part of a big happy family when I’m reading it and I’m glad that real people still exist. Thank you for being real, and telling what some of us think but most of us never get say. Please pass along my sincere gratitude to everyone in and involved your magazine/website. Thank you.

Respectfully

PFC Andrew Nolen  U.S.M.C.
East Sparta, Ohio

P.S. I’ve extended my subscription for at least the next two years. I cant wait to see what’s coming next.

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Reader Jefferey Goss opines in Letters, Nov/Dec 2009 that “In America, we have so much freedom that it’s ‘coming out of our ears, so to speak. Freedom and liberty are ‘over-emphasized’ to the point of ‘ridiculosity’, he says.’ Then he opines “we don’t need ‘less government, but a more efficient one.’

Really, Mr. Goss? How much freedom and liberty do you think you really have these days? Congress and the various states pass “hate crime” laws, which do nothing more than remove our right to free speech. It is now deemed a “crime” to express a personal opinion about protected groups or individuals – the commission of an overt act, i.e. a “crime” is no longer required to prosecute you. Just the mere thought or mention can get one jailed.

That is “freedom,” sir?

A well known pastor from New York who has been virulently opposed to the present administration was recently visited by police and the Secret Service – no doubt at the behest of the Obama administration thought police – over his videos stating that Obama is no doubt an illegal alien who has not proven he is fit by statute to be President. No threats to the president involved that would trigger a visit from the SS for any other President, mind you – just expressing his alleged “freedom of speech.”

How about those freedoms, huh! There is not enough room for me to illustrate for you what other “freedoms” you apparently think you have, you don’t have at all.

I wonder what history books you have read for you to allege that the Constitution’s real purpose was to expand government. Even a casual reading of the document would prove to anyone with a semblance of intellect that time and time again exactly the OPPOSITE is true. The document clearly restricts the power of a central government, gives some to the states, and everything else TO THE PEOPLE.

May I respectfully suggest to readers Goss, Lamkin, and Murray that they might be happier subscribing to “Mother”, and leave the rest of us “keep your nose out of my personal business” readers to enjoy BWH in peace.

Oh – and Ms. Murray … the United States is NOT a “democracy” despite what the great unwashed would have you believe. The United States is and always has been (and God willing always WILL be) a “Constitutional Republic.”

Keep up the great work, Dave and John!

Bruce Emmott
Merrick, NY
NYPD retired

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