Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

The ‘Chocolate Tree’ Isn’t Just for Kids

Clover — From Livestock Forage to Medicinal Tea, This Humble Plant is One of Nature’s Best Gifts

Exotic Plants for the Homestead

Boost your immune system with fast and easy fish dishes

By Linda Gabris When I was growing up in the rural woods, Grandpa and I did a lot of fishing from spring through fall so...

Vitamins D and K — way more important than you thought

Grow some winter squash this year

Gardening Tips and Tricks

By Charles Sanders Issue #99 • May/June, 2006 Gardeners are an ingenious lot. Trial and error, time, study, observation, and experience all help us to come...

For Extra Production, Try Mound Gardening

Gardening in the Desert Using Only Rainwater

How to become a backyard beekeeper

Solar-Powered Electric Fencing

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 your own home in two years — Get a PhD in homebuilding

Turning a $10,000 House into a Home — Part 1: Salvaging the Wreck

Build a chicken tractor

Composite lumber helps outdoor projects resist water, weather, and sun

Self-Reliance

Circle of friends

How to Resurrect Old, Rusted Tools

By R.E. Rawlinson Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019 The homesteading lifestyle can require a number of tools to cultivate the garden, maintain the home, repair the...

There’s no such thing as free land!

(But if you're smart, you can get it cheap) By Setanta O'Ceillaigh Issue #165 • May/June, 2017 I have been a homeowner since I was 18 years...

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: Dinosaurs

A brief history of health and medicine

The MTHFR mutation and why it may matter to you

Gee-Whiz: Bad Fish, Big Fish

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 vanishing outhouse

Fly it proudly and properly

Habeeb Salloum — Poet, Traveler, Recipe Writer

From Martha and Abigail to Dolley and Louisa, America’s earliest First Ladies were fascinating

Firearms

Firearms and cold weather considerations

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...

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...

Picking a holster

By Massad Ayoob Issue #69 • May/June, 2001 One good thing about being out in the boonies by yourself is that you can carry a gun...

Preparedness

The fire wick fire starter

Prepper power! Part 1

Handy Keychain Mini-Gadgets

Wildfires: Before, During, After

With commonsense planning, you can survive hard times

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

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...