Home - Backwoods Home Magazine

Start a Self-Sufficiency Garden Even in a Cramped Apartment

Frostbite — Don’t flirt with this sneaky danger

A view of self-reliance from a more timid perspective — A woman’s opinion

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....

Grow some winter squash this year

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Want More Fruit From Less Space? Espalier Your Trees!

By Rev. J.D. Hooker Issue #79 • January/February, 2003 After originating in the semi-arid regions of the middle east, espaliering (is-'pal-yer-ing) became a commonly employed fruit...

Plant Your Trees in the Spring

Green or Yellow: Grow Your Best Bush Beans Ever

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

The poor man’s ceramic knife sharpener

Build this sturdy large-capacity food dehydrator

Build a Groundhog Snare

Build your own repeating mouse trap

Self-Reliance

A worthwhile journey

Harvesting the wild: Acorns

By Jackie Clay Issue #79 • January/February, 2003 When I was just a little girl, I used to collect acorns by the boxfull as they fell...

Nursing: A perfect backwoods career

By John McLane, RN Issue #88 • July/August, 2004 For many of us, a job in the traditional economy is crucial to being able to maintain...

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: Bad Fish, Big Fish

Theories of the universe

Gee-Whiz: Insects

Gee-Whiz: Coffee

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

Quilts — Masterpieces of the heart and windows into women’s history

Declaration of Independence: The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

Presidents’ wives of the past Part 4 — Cunning, vindictive, and one may have been a murderess

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

Firearms

The Appleseed Project

Sight and sound enhancement

By Massad Ayoob Issue #71 • September/October, 2001 Enhancing vision and hearing can make you a safer, more effective shooter, and sometimes can save human lives. Captain...

Hunting, processing, and serving black bear

By Linda Gabris Issue #162 • November/December, 2016 Bear was a popular meat in our house when I was growing up in the rural woods. Black...

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...

Preparedness

Caring for wounds in the field

Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?

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

Use solar landscape lights for emergencies

Protein — The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet

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...