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A Backwoods Home Anthology — The Eleventh Year
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DEPARTMENTS
6   Publisher’s Note

7   Editorial: Why not risk it all?

56   Ask Jackie: Making corn flour,
food preservation, fruit trees, more.

36   Energy Works

54   Irreverent joke page

91   BHM books

23   Ayoob on Firearms:
Bear Medicine, Lessons from the Winter Nationals

76   Letters

84   Advertiser Index

85  &nbspThe last word: Stumbling over your own stupidity

86  Classified ads (pdf)

86  Classified ad form

75  Subscription Info

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Cover 64
ABOUT THE COVER
The inspiration for the cover art comes from Ilene Duffy and a wintertime picture of a country house Dave Duffy built some years back. The scene shows the snow-covered house nestled in a forest backdrop with a creek and a meadow in the foreground. Artist John Dean has performed a summertime transformation of the picture with the addition of a swimming hole, some wild flowers, and a garden, plus a lot of sunlight.

FEATURES

Recipes

64  CHILI MANIA   By Richard Blunt

Richard Blunt discusses the history of chili con carne, a dish invented by Texans that swept out of the Lone Star State to become one of America’s great epic dishes. He concludes with a discussion of what makes a great chile—from the meat to the chilies themselves—then he offers three easy and tasty recipes you can try in your own kitchen.

28  Good homemade jerky   By Charles Sanders

Ever wonder how to make your own tasty jerky? Here are three easy recipes along with complete directions so you can make it in your own dehydrator or even in your kitchen oven. Try these and you’ll never look at store-bought jerky the same way again.

Energy Works

36  Integrated PV/roofing   By Michael Hackleman

Michael Hackleman interviews Stephen Heckeroth on the benefits of applying amorphous PV technology to standing-seam metal roofing as an alternative to standard crystaline PV with its protruding solar panels. In this new technology, the solar collector is an integral part of the roof itself and is both energy efficient and aesthetically pleasing

42  Radiant floor heating   By Michael Hackleman

In this interview Hackleman and Heckeroth explore the advantages of radiant floor heating and contrast it ro to the forced air heating typically found in American homes.

49  Tune up your water system to save energy   By Windy Dankoff

Self-sufficiency

13  How high altitudes affect home canning   By Marjorie Burris

16  Make a sure-fire live trap   By Charles Sanders

Here are construction plans for a simple, anyone-can-build live trap to catch
garden pests, garbage can raiders, pet food filchers, and furry chicken thieves.

19  A tip from Alaska on making natural dogfood   By David Sneed

30  The final act of self-reliance—caring for your own dead   By Marcella Shaffer

32  Our old icehouse — one of our most valuable buildings   By Marjorie Burris

Farm and Garden

8  Home dairying   By Marcella Shaffer

60  Summer winds down in the garden   By Alice Yeager

Remembering the old days

52  The summer of ’35   By John Graesch