Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

Are aliens stealing our honeybees?

Build a wood-fired stock tank heater

Practical Ideas for Self-Reliant Living

Woodbarrow

By Setanta O’Ceillaigh When I first abandoned a slum town and fled back to the countryside I gathered and carried firewood with a laundry basket....

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Grow some winter squash this year

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Currants and Gooseberries

By Sylvia Gist Issue #155 • September/October, 2015 Currants and gooseberries all belong to the genus Ribes (pronounced "rye-bees"). There are varieties of currants and gooseberries...

Save Time and Energy with the Fenced Chicken Coop/Garden

Elderberries — Hospitality, Health, And Beauty

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

Follow Jackie Clay-Atkinson and her husband, Will, as they homestead a 120-acre piece of northern Minnesotan woods entirely off-grid. Sharing their homestead are horses, beef cattle, a milk cow, dairy goats, chickens and turkeys.

Massad Ayoob on Guns

This blog, from a retired police captain and self-defense instructor, covers the use of different firearms, political musings, and self-defense tactics.

Building

Livestock fencing for the small homesteader, part 2

Build an attached solar greenhouse

Five building tricks for super strong framing

Build a log crib

Self-Reliance

Food security 101: part 2

Tips for finding your affordable home

By Dave Cournoyer Website Exclusive • February, 2008 If you haven't yet made the move to the country, here is helpful information about the cost and...

Turn your passion into a business

By Patrice Lewis Issue #150 • November/December, 2014 In 1993, my husband and I did something most people merely dream about: we chucked our professional nine-to-five...

Animals

The homestead cat

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson We have had at least one cat in our home ever since I was a young child. So it’s no wonder we...

Cheaper than Store-Bought Eggs

Raising your own beef

Fermenting Chicken Feed

Keeping homestead animals healthy

Science and Education

Gee-Whiz: Insects

Subduction zone tsunami — What the residents of the Pacific Northwest have to fear

A doomsday scenario to sleep on

The world is coming to an end… and this time, I’m not kidding

Energy

Solar power for farm and ranch

By Jeffrey R. Yago, P.E. It may be surprising to learn that there are now all kinds of do-it-yourself solar powered devices specifically designed to...

Power-up bag

Amateur Ham Radio – The Ultimate Tool for Survival Communications

Keep the Ice On

Power Up

Americana and History

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

Was the first government gun confiscation attempt foiled by an unsung colonial heroine?

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

The Great Depression — A reminiscence

Firearms

The subtleties of safe firearms handling

Understanding the gun debate, part 3

By Massad Ayoob Issue #163 • January/February, 2017 Click Here to read Part 1 Click Here to read Part 2 As noted in the two previous parts of...

Cold weather shooting considerations

By Massad Ayoob Issue #126 • November/December, 2010 Winter will soon be upon us. Cold weather makes a lot of things more difficult. Running. Walking. Navigating...

How big a gun do you need?

By Massad Ayoob Issue #99 • May/June, 2006 We Americans like to do things in a big way. Big houses. Big cars. Big boats. And, yes,...

Preparedness

Preparedness for travelers

Food security 101, part 3: Why I love my vacuum sealer (and more)

Power-up bag

Use solar landscape lights for emergencies

Food security 101: part 2

Commonsense preparedness just makes sense

Articles By Dave Duffy

My View: Call Me Miracle Man!

By Dave Duffy Issue #177 • July/August/September, 2019 Superheroes are the rage these days at movie theaters. Even I am fascinated by them. Old style heroes...