Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Animals

Bottle-raise a calf

Raising your own beef

Home Dairying

Chickens — The most valuable animal on the homestead

Building

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

By Robert Van Putten Issue #166 • July/August, 2017 My wife and I built our homestead by hand. I’m not a professional builder, so once in...

Build a cistern out of corrugated road culvert

Install rafters alone the easy way

Making and using a solar cooker

Build a cold smoker so you can make delicious squaw candy

Farm and Garden

Use Non-Hybrid Seeds and Save Big Bucks in This Year’s Garden

By Jackie Clay Issue #51 • May/June, 1998 Every person who is striving for self-reliance should, and most do, plant a garden from which to raise...

Converting a Gasoline-Powered Rototiller to Electric

Secure and Economical Livestock Feed

Love Those Green Beans

Slug Zapper

Americana and History

Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?

By Don Lewis Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019 The year was 1834, a year that didn’t really stand out as all that particularly important in American...

the gee-whiz! page: Animals, humans, extraterrestrials, and tools

Presidents’ wives of the past Part 3

President George Washington’s Farewell Address

Presidents’ wives of the past Part 4 — Cunning, vindictive, and...

Food and recipes

Buckboard bacon

Baked Bean Soup

How to make kombucha

Earth’s greatest cookies

Self-reliance

A worthwhile journey

Clover — From Livestock Forage to Medicinal Tea, This Humble Plant is One of Nature’s Best Gifts

Fire resistant property

10 tips for selling your homemade product

Energy

Get the most out of your vehicle and your maintenance dollar

Why you need to addsolar to your emergencypower backup plans

Energy class: Part 1

Intake and exhaust upgrades for better mileage and performance

Guns and Hunting

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...

The subtleties of safe firearms handling

Canning game meat

Women and guns

Moderate power firearms

Science

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 —...

Gee-Whiz: Coffee

Can we make a Tyrannosaurus rex from a chicken?

Testing Soil

The world is ending! … Again?

Politics and Commentary

Why oil and other fossil fuels are good

What kind of Americans sit on our juries?

Against a rapist

Every group needs a black sheep

Animals

Goat birthing and raising kids

By Jackie Clay Issue #112 • July/August, 2008 Dairy goats form one of the cornerstones of our homestead. Not only do they provide milk, cheese, ice...

Protein — The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet

By Jackie Clay Issue #111 • May/June, 2008 It goes without saying that preparedness is not for "radicals" or "weirdos" anymore. I picked up a preparedness...

Raising your own beef

Chickens — The most valuable animal on the homestead

Switch your family to goat’s milk

Dorper sheep — Revolutionizing the meat sheep industry

Self-Reliance

In the classroom and at home, this system will help you grow self-reliant kids

Handy Keychain Mini-Gadgets

Clover — From Livestock Forage to Medicinal Tea, This Humble Plant is One of Nature’s Best Gifts

Cash in on your household junk

Farm and Garden

Converting a Gasoline-Powered Rototiller to Electric

By Glenn Willis, Jr. Issue #87 • May/June, 2004 Several years ago my sister and her husband had an 8-horse gas-powered rototiller that went belly up. They fussed with it a bit, but couldn't get it...

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Slug Zapper

By Joel Winters Issue #142 • July/August, 2013 I live in a small clearing in a big forest. This is on the rainy side of the mountains in the Cascade foothills. Slugs are underfoot nearly year-round...

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