Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Animals

Good-bye old friend

Beekeeping basics

Switch your family to goat’s milk

Mountain lions — Attacks are still rare, but just in case…

Building

Install rafters alone the easy way

By Robert L. Williams Issue #35 • September/October, 1995 Anyone who has ever worked on roof framing knows that nailing up rafters is a two-man job...

Build an Old-Fashioned Hotbed and Start Your Seeds in Style

Build your own portable forge

Build a cold smoker so you can make delicious squaw candy

Here’s an Easier (and Cheaper) Way to Make Wooden Beams

Farm and Garden

Companion Planting

By Beverly Mettot Issue #81 • May/June, 2003 Companion planting is nothing new, and yet in recent years it has made an extraordinary comeback, not only...

Jackie’s Garden Primer

Your Manure Pile — For Fuel, Fertilizer, and Maybe Even Improved...

Grow Open-Pollinated Tomatoes

Leafy Green Vegetables — The Underrated Heroes of the Garden

Americana and History

Fried chicken for breakfast

By Danny Fulks Issue #88 • July/August, 2004 Danny Fulks, 71, is one of those rare writers capable of painting a vivid picture of life back...

Constitution of the united States of America

Farm baseball … with ghost runners!

James Polk — A model for modern presidents

Fly it proudly and properly

Food and recipes

Huckleberries purple gold

Tastes Just Like Chicken

Keep the Ice On

Dehydrating food

Self-reliance

Nursing: A perfect backwoods career

Winter in the High Desert — Understanding the music

Modify an E-Tool to make your own Combi-Tool

Easy-to-make reusable coffee filters

Energy

Solar-powered chicken coop

Keeping your food cold — Solutions to refrigeration when electricity is scarce

Solar charge controllers — myths, hype, and facts

Converting a Gasoline-Powered Rototiller to Electric

Guns and Hunting

Firearms handling refresher Part I: Handguns

By Massad Ayoob Website Exclusive • December, 2003 One of our readers e-mailed John Silveira to tell him that taking a handgun afield after a long...

Hiding a gun — The rules of three

The Appleseed Project

How big a gun do you need?

Catch your own bait

Science

Testing Soil

By Tom Kovach Issue #119 • September/October, 2009 Testing the soil content of a garden is very important and is quite easy to do. Soil tests...

The MTHFR mutation and why it may matter to you

Zombie Apocalypse

Gee-Whiz: Coffee

Three more ways the world can end … and I’m not...

Politics and Commentary

Finally, a disaster that is guaranteed!

Paying for social security with worthless $

Why we have no “constitutional” rights

Magnesium and the International Criminal Court

Animals

Are aliens stealing our honeybees?

By John Silveira Issue #106 • July/August, 2007 What would happen if all the honeybees disappeared? According to some pundits we'd see a collapse in much...

Bottle-raise a calf

By Jackie Clay Issue #120 • November/December, 2009 If you think milk and beef are expensive in the grocery store, then you should think about raising...

Switch your family to goat’s milk

A contrary guide to feeding animals

Chickens — The most valuable animal on the homestead

Kinder goats — A small breed for milk and meat

Self-Reliance

Commonsense preparedness just makes sense

Take care of your knife

35 country jobs — How folks make a living near my hometown

Making a great rug from the rag bag

Farm and Garden

A New Use for Old Tires: A Garden Using Tires

By Charles Sanders Issue #98 • March/April, 2006 There are mountains of old tires out there. Americans keep on rolling and tires keep on wearing out. Every year there is almost one scrap tire created for...

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Testing Soil

By Tom Kovach Issue #119 • September/October, 2009 Testing the soil content of a garden is very important and is quite easy to do. Soil tests are needed because some plants prefer slightly acidic soil, while...

Read more