Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Build a pizza oven

By Mike Lorenzen Issue #143 • September/October, 2013 About a year ago, my wife and I traveled around Italy by car. We had lots of wood-fired...

New invention— The Fencerunner

Build your own repeating mouse trap

Tomatoes, the Essential Garden Crop

By Charles Sanders Issue #123 • May/June, 2010 Tomatoes are one of the most favored of all garden crops. They originated in South America, but in...

Vermicomposting — Raise Worms to Consume Waste, Amend Soil, and Earn...

Converting a Gasoline-Powered Rototiller to Electric

Biological and chemical weapons through history

By John Silveira Issue #81 • May/June, 2003 The weather here on the coast of Oregon is nice almost all year-round, and there almost always seems...

Presidents’ wives of the past Part 3

James Polk — A model for modern presidents

George Washington Carver — He wrote the book on self-reliance

Who were the best…and worst U.S. Presidents?

The healthy and tantalizing pomegranate

Cast iron loaf pans from breakfast to dessert

Water development for the homestead: Ponds, cisterns, and tanks

Build your own battery charging station

Water: a safe supply when you’re off the grid

Amateur Ham Radio – The Ultimate Tool for Survival Communications

Reload your own brass

By Dale Petry Issue #132 • November/December, 2011 Not long ago a friend called to say he had seen an unusual rifle at the local gun...

How to shoot a handgun accurately

Inexpensive retired Russian military rifles can be the ideal backwoods meat...

Can we make a Tyrannosaurus rex from a chicken?

By John Silveira Issue #169 • January/February, 2018 Do you have chickens, ducks, turkeys, or geese in your yard? They’re not “just birds” because scientists now...

Goodbye TV, hello constructive time

Want proof of luck, ESP, and psychic powers?

This St. Bernard backwoods hero saved old Grandma’s life

By Margaret Wright Issue #35 • September/October, 1995 When we think of a backwoods dog we generally think of a Pyrenees, German Shepherd, or other breed...

Llamas guarding sheep? — Not such a far-fetched idea

By Karen McGeorge Sanders Issue #19 • January/February, 1993 It seems that farmers always need an extra pair of hands, but finding the money to pay...

How to butcher a chicken in 20 minutes or less

Hog butchering — Using everything but the squeal

Cheaper than Store-Bought Eggs

Starting a Roadside Farm Stand

10 ways to make money on your land

By Kristina Seleshanko When we purchased our mountaintop homestead, I was excited to discover four blueberry bushes that were already established on our property. Not all of them were large, but they were an excellent...

Hügelkultur for the Homestead

By Rose Shelton Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019 Last spring, I finally completed a long-planned homestead project of constructing two hügelkultur beds. What is hügelkultur? It’s basically a method of recycling junk wood to make a...