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Adventures with a portable sawmill

Start a Self-Sufficiency Garden Even in a Cramped Apartment

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....

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Grow some winter squash this year

Build a Keyhole Garden

By Katelynn Bond Issue #152 • March/April, 2015 One of the hazards of living on the side of a mountain in northern New Mexico is that...

By Hook or Crook: A Billhook is a Handy Homestead Tool

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

Build a Trail

Rural Building

How to maintain a dirt road

Install rafters alone the easy way

Self-Reliance

The return of home emergency shelters takes on a dual-purpose approach

Make your own firestarters

By Claire Wolfe Issue #129 • May/June, 2011 I bought an old house last summer and inherited lots of the former owners' stuff some of...

Survival firebuilding skills

By Corcceigh Green Issue #97 • January/February, 2006 Firebuilding skills are essential for those who may find themselves in survival situations. As a testimony to this...

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

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

Gee-Whiz: Presidents

Testing Soil

The world is ending! … Again?

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

The Great Depression — A reminiscence

The summer of ’35

Farm baseball … with ghost runners!

The barnyard scramble

Firearms

Choose your ammo… police style

Big boomer guns

By Massad Ayoob Issue #125 • September/October, 2010 For you long time readers, I know what you're thinkin'"Hey, isn't this the guy who within the last...

BHM hosts Appleseed marksmanship event

By Massad Ayoob Issue #139 • January/February, 2013 Long a supporter of the Appleseed concept, Backwoods Home Magazine hosted one in Gold Beach, Oregon, in second...

The subtleties of safe firearms handling

By Massad Ayoob Issue #103 • January/February, 2007 There are so many makes and models of firearms in existence that no one has ever counted them...

Preparedness

Preparing for civil unrest

Food security 101: part 2

Start your food storage on $10 a week

No dentist? Oh, no!

Prepper power! Part 2

Why you need to addsolar to your emergencypower backup plans

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...

Putting it all on the Amtrak line for Self-Reliance magazine

Finding solutions in firewood

How to fix your aching back using the McKenzie Method

Food and Recipes

Sweet Pickles

Chow-chow

Stuffed Mushrooms – Greek Style

Grape Leaves Stuffed with Chevre & Figs

The healthy and tantalizing pomegranate

Honey whole wheat bread

Fudge macaroon pie

Sweet & Sour Cabbage

About our Authors

Massad Ayoob – Lethal Force Instructor & Gun Writer

Habeeb Salloum — Poet, Traveler, Recipe Writer

Animals

Raising quail — A home grown delicacy

By Allen Easterly Issue #101 • September/October, 2006 Raising quail is inexpensive, easy, provides very healthy low-fat white meat, and supplies the fertilizer you need for...

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...

Build a poultry killing cone

Beekeeping basics

Raising your own beef for your family

Brooder in a box

Self-Reliance

Annie on Everfree Farm, Part III

Water development for the homestead: Ponds, cisterns, and tanks

A survival key ring — Your everyday tool for emergency preparedness

Buying the right emergency radio

Farm and Garden

Fruit Trees

By Alice B. Yeager Fall winds down with the ripening of a Japanese persimmon known as the Fuyugaki variety. Issue #104 • March/April, 2007 There's not one of us who...

How to become a backyard beekeeper

By Sheri Jones If you’ve been intrigued by the idea of becoming a beekeeper but think you don’t have the space, resources, or knowledge, you’re about to be pleasantly surprised. Backyard beekeeping is a lot...