Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

How to buy your first sheep without getting shorn

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

Build Your Own Hoop House

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #171 • May/June, 2018 I’ve had my own garden for more than half a century, and I have learned a few things...

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

PVC pipe in the home, garden, farm, and workshop

Clover — From Livestock Forage to Medicinal Tea, This Humble Plant...

By Eugene Mitchell Issue #130 • July/August, 2011 Whether young or old, lying in the grass and searching for four-leafed clovers is timeless fun. Sometimes they're...

Plant Your Trees in the Spring

Grandpa’s justice

By Tom Kovach Issue #65 • September/October, 2000 Having the best vegetable garden in the village might put food on the table and make some money...

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

The Great Depression — A reminiscence

Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?

I heat my house by burning corn

Grandma will love this personal ‘Helping Hands’ wall hanging

Solar Power 101 — Batteries: Part 1

Battery-Powered Tools are Changing

Just for Kids: Sun-kabobs and solar sizzle

Air power superiority

When a well-placed shot is required, when stealth and quiet are called for, an air rifle may be the best option. By Gary Lewis Issue #151 • January/February,...

Firearms and cold weather considerations

Bury a gun and ammo for 15 years

Cold weather shooting considerations

Military surplus and military “clone” rifles

Gee-Whiz: Sleep

By O.E. MacDougal November/December 2017, Backwoods Home For thousands of years, sleep has been one of life’s great mysteries. As humans, we spend about one-third of...

The tenuous hold of honesty in modern America

My View: Grand Theory vs. Stark Reality

Finding the best dog for the country life

By Anita Evangelista Issue #63 • May/June, 2000 When you're looking for a dog to fit into your country life, there are few other topics as...

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...

Khaki Campbell ducks — The other egg layer

Raising your own beef for your family

There’s no such thing as free land!

Make elderberry syrup for flu season

Advice from second-time homesteaders

Teach speed reading to your children even if you can’t speed read yourself

A Child’s Garden — More than Child’s Play

By Jackie Clay Issue #69 • May/June, 2001 There are many things parents can give their children, other than plastic toys or a few bucks to play video games at the mall. And one of the...

By Wren Everett The beans came to me as an accident. In the early spring of 2023, I was scouring The Exchange (exchange.seedsavers.org/home) — an online seed-savers trading post of sorts — looking for squash seeds....