Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Finding, buying, milking, and living with the family milk cow

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

Khaki Campbell ducks — The other egg layer

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

By Rev. J.D. Hooker Issue #43 • January/February, 1997 I know that there are a lot of really fine products available for turning logs into lumber,...

Five building tricks for super strong framing

Build an Off-Grid Root Cellar, Garage, and Bunkhouse

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...

Put Your Garden to Bed for the Winter

Cheaper than Store-Bought Eggs

The barnyard scramble

By Michelle Hampton Issue #106 • July/August, 2007 Each year during our local county fair, one of the best-attended events happens when farm animals, donated by...

Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?

Presidents’ wives of the past Part 3

Hypothermia — A real winter danger

Boost your income by adding a processing step to what you sell

Walden Pond — the solar version: Part 2

Design calculations for no-head, low-head waterwheels

Thoughts on ammunition

By Massad Ayoob Issue #108 • November/December, 2007 Ammunition is to firearms as gasoline is to automobiles. However, with guns and ammo, the fit isn't quite...

Frontier style handguns for the modern backwoods home

Hunting, processing, and serving black bear

How long should your gun’s barrel length be?

An economical battery of guns for the backwoods home

The gee-whiz! page — Cats: Why they rule our world

By O. E. MacDougal Issue #170 • March/April, 2018 House cats A recent Gallup poll showed that cat ownership is pretty much evenly distributed between men and...

Science and truth. Are they related?

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

Dark Winter — A simulated terrorist attack on three American cities using weaponized smallpox

Can America be Saved from Stupid People?

Confessions of a former liberal

Fermenting Chicken Feed

By Melissa Souza Issue #174 • November/December, 2018 On our homestead, we eat yogurt, kombucha (fermented tea), sauerkraut, and kimchi to add probiotics to our diet....

How to buy your first sheep without getting shorn

By Anita Evangelista Issue #32 • March/April, 1995 Multimillionaire J. Paul Getty was once asked the secret of becoming rich. He's reported to have said, "I...

Hog butchering — Using everything but the squeal

Broody biddies make sense on the homestead

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

Protein — The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet

The coffee mug knife sharpener

Annie on Everfree Farm, Part III

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #166 • July/August, 2017 Nearly all of us homesteaders grow tomatoes in our gardens. Tomatoes are hugely valuable as a homestead crop. After all, they give us a wide variety of products. Many...

Want More Fruit From Less Space? Espalier Your Trees!

By Rev. J.D. Hooker Issue #79 • January/February, 2003 After originating in the semi-arid regions of the middle east, espaliering (is-'pal-yer-ing) became a commonly employed fruit tree growing method of the Greco-Roman world. Later, during the...