Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

Make a fully functional cold storage pit/mound and enjoy your garden’s production all winter

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

By John Silveira While we are waiting for the Coronavirus pandemic to subside enough so society can get back to normal, there are powerful and...

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Grow some winter squash this year

Solar-Powered Electric Fencing

By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM Issue #147 • May/June, 2014 A new electric fence attached to older traditional wood fencing More and more people are turning to...

Plant Your Trees in the Spring

Tomatoes, the Essential Garden Crop

Swiss Chard — The Leaf Vegetable That Keeps on Giving!

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

Five building tricks for super strong framing

Build a compost tumbler

Build a Vertical Storage Rack for Cans

New invention— The Fencerunner

Self-Reliance

Brood X

Annie on Everfree Farm, Part III

By Annie Tuttle Issue #147 • May/June, 2014 Previous in Series Me with Brownie, Cupcake, Red Velvet, and Flan (mostly hidden). These were...

Raising kids simply

By Patrice Lewis Issue #131 • September/October, 2011 Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live simply? When asked what constitutes a simple...

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

Zombie Apocalypse

Three more ways the world can end … and I’m not kidding

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 summer of ’35

Former first ladies — Beautiful, brilliant, crazy

The time-travel ad

Fried chicken for breakfast

Firearms

Moderate power firearms

Centennial of the All-American .30-06

By Massad Ayoob Issue #100 • July/August, 2006 In the long love affair between America and the rifle, there has never been an interlude quite as...

Inexpensive retired Russian military rifles can be the ideal backwoods meat guns

By Rev. J.D. Hooker Issue #47 • September/October, 1997 Like many another rural person, I've often found a firearm to be my most important tool. No,...

Choose your ammo… police style

By Massad Ayoob Issue #93 • May/June, 2005 One of our greatest modern gun experts, Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper, USMC, Ret., once made the observation that...

Preparedness

Circle of friends

Use solar landscape lights for emergencies

Survival storeroom

The fire wick fire starter

Preparing for a Temporary Catastrophe

Homestead security for women

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...