Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

A contrary guide to feeding animals

Forget the dog, chicken is man’s best friend

Build a chicken tractor

By Connie Rabun Issue #127 • January/February, 2011 In the beginning we had chickens...and no coop! Any homesteader knows that the number one rule is to...

How safe is your electric fence?

Make your own effective fishing tackle while you save money and...

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...

Solar-Powered Electric Fencing

Garden Seeds — A Great Winter Pastime

No Worrying About Fire Blight with Orient and Kieffer Pears

President George Washington’s Farewell Address

Friends and Fellow Citizens: The period for a new election of a citizen, to administer the executive government of the United States, being not...

Presidents’ wives of the past Part 3

Constitution of the united States of America

What to do when there’s no doctor

Start your food storage on $10 a week

Self-reliance for women — Surviving a biochemical attack

Make your own biodiesel for 80¢ per gallon

Standby battery charging techniques can ensure engine startups

Build your own battery charging station

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...

Frontier style handguns for the modern backwoods home

Gee-Whiz: Insects

By O. E. MacDougal November/December 2015, Backwoods Home Some 400 million years ago, in the Devonian Period, insects evolved from crustaceans. Since that time, they have...

My View: Gaining an Appreciation for Risk

Our energy crisis Part 2 — Nuclear energy is sensible and safe

Our energy crisis Part 3 — Alternative energy resources for the nation and for the self-reliant

Broody biddies make sense on the homestead

By James Kash Issue #139 • January/February, 2013 Broodiness is an avian behavior that is frowned upon in the world of agriculture. All industrial agriculturalists cull...

Llamas guarding sheep? — Not such a far-fetched idea

By Karen McGeorge Sanders Issue #19 • January/February, 1993 It seems that farmers always need an extra pair of hands, but finding the money to pay...

Switch your family to goat’s milk

Hog butchering — Using everything but the squeal

Cheaper than Store-Bought Eggs

Preserve the harvest naturally through wild fermentation

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

A determined Rose Bley escaped the city

Build a Heated Germination Bed

By Charles Sanders Issue #92 • March/April, 2005 Many of us who garden have learned the benefits of starting our own vegetable and flower plants. There are several benefits to having a spot to start your...

Jackie’s Garden Primer

By Jackie Clay Issue #117 • May/June, 2009 The birds are singing. The sunshine makes the day feel soft and warm. The soil is mellow and damp. It makes us feel like being outdoors and doing...