Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

A house a tornado helped build

By Robert L. Williams Issue #16 • July/August, 1992 On May 5, 1989, tornadoes ripped through parts of three western North Carolina counties, including ours, and...

Eye-catching signs with mirrors

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

By Roy Martin Issue #104 • March/April, 2007 A hotbed is a miniature greenhouse that is heated to protect new seedlings from cold. The hotbed differs...

Swiss Chard — The Leaf Vegetable That Keeps on Giving!

You Can Make Your Own Fertilizers

Gee-Whiz: Presidents

By O.E. MacDougal November/December 2016, Backwoods Home I could spend all day coming up with interesting trivia about the Presidents and those who surround them —...

The Great Depression — A reminiscence

James Polk — A model for modern presidents

Homeschooling through high school

You could furnish an entire homestead at Lehman’s ‘Non-electric’ Hardware Store

Design calculations for no-head, low-head waterwheels

Canning game meat

By Linda Gabris Issue #166 • July/August, 2017 Attempting to can meat (or any other low acid food, for that matter) without the use of a...

The time for modern; the time for traditional

Gee-Whiz: Bad Fish, Big Fish

By O.E. MacDougal January/February 2015, Backwoods Home Fish were the very first vertebrates. That is, they were the first animals with backbones, the purpose of which...

The threat of electromagnetic pulse!

Understanding the gun debate, part 2

Our energy crisis Part 3 — Alternative energy resources for the nation and for the self-reliant

Forget the dog, chicken is man’s best friend

By Richard Blunt Issue #49 • January/February, 1998 The domestic chicken, or Gallus domesticus as the Romans called it, has lived with humans for centuries. It...

Beekeeping basics

Issue #88 • July/August, 2004 Bees have been managed for their honey production for about 5000 years or so. Especially for the...

Raising cattle on your own place

Build a chicken feeder on the cheep cheep cheep

Shearing, carding, spinning, weaving and creating with Margaret Boos

How to organize an outdoor canning party

An Introduction to Small-Scale Home Hydroponics

Swiss Chard — The Leaf Vegetable That Keeps on Giving!

By Raymond Nones Issue #92 • March/April, 2005 For years every spring I planted spinach in my garden. For those who have never tasted home grown spinach, there is a world of difference between its taste...

Use Plastic to Get a Head Start on Corn in the Fall

By Mark and Lynn Klammer Issue #41 • September/October, 1996 As spring approaches each year, we can hardly wait for the feel of warm earth between our fingers. And so, while most avid gardeners let Mother...