Dealing with heat stress
By Joseph Alton, M.D.
Issue #154 • July/August, 2015
In the wilderness, there may not be shelter to protect you from the elements. Even on a working homestead, physical exertion in hot weather can easily lead...
Homemade Toys! — Easy to make, fun to play with, and great for gifts!
By Cynthia Andal
Issue #72 • November/December, 2001
The garden needs planting, animals need feeding, Baby needs to nurse, and that chicken coop simply has to be finished but, there are three children who want you...
Garden injuries Part 2
By Joseph Alton, M.D.
Issue #141 • May/June, 2013
In the last issue of Backwoods Home, we discussed some of the hazards encountered by the homesteading gardener. Burns, cuts, abrasions, allergic reactions, and certain insect stings...
Survival infection control
By Joseph Alton, M.D.
Issue #151 • January/February, 2015
For several months now, news regarding the devastation that the Ebola virus is causing in West Africa has been in the headlines. A disease once found only...
Essential oils
By Joseph Alton, M.D. and Amy Alton, A.R.N.P.
Issue #135 • May/June, 2012
As a medical doctor/registered nurse practitioner team, we received conventional medical training at university hospitals while getting our degrees. Since that time, however,...
Garden injuries
By Joseph Alton, M.D.
Issue #140 • March/April, 2013
Cuts and scrapes are the most likely wounds gardeners incur (hopefully, not on that green thumb of yours). In many cases, these could have been prevented by...
Medicinal uses of garlic
By Joseph Alton, M.D. and Amy Alton, A.R.N.P.
Issue #134 • March/April, 2012
One of the greatest gifts of natural medicine that can be found on this earth is garlic, or Allium sativum. It has been...
Food security 101, part 3: Why I love my vacuum sealer (and more)
By Rowena Aldridge
Issue #140 • March/April, 2013
In parts one and two (Issues #138 and #139), we covered basics and homemade convenience foods. Now that you've become so proficient at making delicious, nutritious, and economical...
Food security 101
By Rowena Aldridge
Issue #138 • November/December, 2012
These days a lot of people are concerned, and rightly so, about their family's economic stability and security. Recently I've become aware of the ways in which I,...
Food security 101: part 2
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Food security 101: part 2
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By Rowena Aldridge
Issue #139 • January/February, 2013
Last issue we talked about some things you can do to stretch your food budget and make great use of every bit of food...
Water pumping windmills
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #90 • November/December, 2004
Standing tall like a giant sunflower in a sea of undulating prairie grasses, or in any rural setting, a windmill is a thing of beauty. Not only are...
Self-reliance is a mindset — A woman’s opinion
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #94 • July/August, 2005
Self-reliance is a mindset. If you have it, you are on your way to independence. If you don't, it would be in your best interest to develop it....
A river rock shower
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #77 • September/October, 2002
The finished shower weighs a ton
and cost about $800.
Cultured stones, made of pumice and portland cement, weigh about half as much as river rocks.
Notched-trowel texturing in the mortar...
The house that Dorothy built
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The house that Dorothy built
By Dorothy Ainsworth
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By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #86 • March/April, 2004
This isn't the first time we've had an article by and about Dorothy Ainsworth. Throughout the text are editor's notes refering you...
Make a quilt out of Levis
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #77 • September/October, 2002
Back in the 80s I worked as a waitress in a busy little café where our mandatory uniform was a pair of Levis and a T-shirt. The only...
This coop is for the birds
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #71 • September/October, 2001
You can buy a dozen eggs at the supermarket for 99 cents, or you can go out to the chicken coop you built and fetch a warm egg...