Backwoods Home Magazine - Practical Self-Reliance

A Child’s Garden — More than Child’s Play

James Polk — A model for modern presidents

Kinder goats — A small breed for milk and meat

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

Tomatoes, the Essential Garden Crop

By Charles Sanders Issue #123 • May/June, 2010 Tomatoes are one of the most favored of all garden crops. They originated in South America, but in...

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

Eye-catching signs with mirrors

Building your chicken coop

Build your own repeating mouse trap

Build a Simple, Inexpensive Greenhouse

Self-Reliance

Seed art — It’s fun to collect the seeds and create these unusual pictures

Modify an E-Tool to make your own Combi-Tool

By Dave Strom Issue #172 • July/August, 2018 Campers, soldiers, and off-roaders are familiar with military-issue Entrenching Tools, commonly called “E-Tools.” They are light, compact, and...

Homestead burnout — What it is and how to avoid it

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #134 • March/April, 2012 We've all been there: the roof is leaking on your temporary housing while you try to build a...

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 threat of electromagnetic pulse!

Gee-Whiz: Bad Fish, Big Fish

Gee-Whiz: Dinosaurs

The coming ice age

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

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

Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?

Former first ladies — Beautiful, brilliant, crazy

Remembering what grandma used

Firearms

Bury a gun and ammo for 15 years

Use the right ammunition!

By Massad Ayoob Issue #130 • July/August, 2011 The purpose of the gun is to fire ammunition. It follows that the ammunition should be the correct...

Hiding a gun — The rules of three

By Claire Wolfe Issue #140 • March/April, 2013 My friend Jack pulled the car into a grassy clearing. We donned rubber boots, fetched a metal detector...

Military surplus and military “clone” rifles

By Massad Ayoob Issue #116 • March/April, 2009 One reader writes to ask if military surplus rifles are still a good idea for hunting, recreational shooting,...

Preparedness

Avoiding heat illness

Use solar landscape lights for emergencies

Food security 101: part 2

No dentist? Oh, no!

Stashing Junk Silver for Bad Times

Survival storeroom

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...