Build your own home in two years — Get a PhD in homebuilding
By David Lee
Issue #115 • January/February, 2009
There is an old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." Curse or not, times are interesting. We have world crises, national troubles, state level problems, county...
Free pallet wood and birdhouses add up to big country dollars
By Rick Brentlinger
Issue #53 • September/October, 1998
If I could show you how to manufacture a product anywhere in the country and if I offered to find you the raw materials free, would you be...
Building David’s Cabin, Part One
By Jackie Clay-Atkinson
Issue #172 • July/August, 2018
Like most young folks today, our son David graduated high school, got a job, and went to college (accumulating student loans in the process). After that, he worked...
How to maintain a dirt road
By Marjorie Burris
Issue #48 • November/December, 1997
It is our job to maintain two and one half miles of dirt road if we want to get into our property. We are completely surrounded by forest...
The poor man’s ceramic knife sharpener
By Rick Brannan
Issue #87 • May/June, 2004
There are few things more frustrating and dangerous than working with a dull knife. In my quest for a sharp knife, I have purchased many different styles of...
Determined woman builds distinctive vertical log studio
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #27 • May/June, 1994
When I graduated from high school in 1960, my father wrote in my autograph book, "When you get married and have twins, don't come to me for safety...
Build an inexpensive but durable jackleg fence
By Dynah Geissal
Issue #45 • May/June, 1997
When we moved to our land in the summer of 1994, we were fortunate that open grazing exists where we live because we had to build shelters for...
Building a Ferro-Cement Shed
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By Robert Van Putten
Issue #162 • November/December, 2016
For a year and a half, we lived in an 18-foot travel trailer while building a straw bale cottage. There isn't much space in a travel trailer,...
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 always have your animal housing prepared before you invest in...
Build a Top-Bar Bee Hive
By Jereme Zimmerman
Issue #175 • January/February/March, 2019
My journey to becoming a beekeeper has been a long one, and I’m still not quite there yet. For the past five years or so, I have read...
Gabion walls for form and function
By Joe Mooney
Issue #153 • May/June, 2015
I think there has to be something ingrained in the human brain that loves things built of stone. Maybe it's our desire for strength and safety or the...
Three Raised Bed Designs
By Joe Mooney
Issue #150 • November/December, 2014
When it comes to gardening, almost anything can be used to create a raised bed. Tires, blocks, rocks, and scrap lumber are just a few of the most...
Herb Boxes from Fence Boards
By Maggie Larsen
Issue #86 • March/April, 2004
During a binge of spring cleaning, I ventured outside and began to renovate the exterior of my home, a 47-foot trailer in a mobile home park. While waiting...
A house a tornado helped build
By Robert L. Williams
Issue #16 • July/August, 1992
On May 5, 1989, tornadoes ripped through parts of three western North Carolina counties, including ours, and left piles of debris where houses, also including ours, once...
Composite lumber helps outdoor projects resist water, weather, and sun
By Steve Maxwell
How many times have you built an outdoor project out of wood, only to be disappointed by the deterioration that hit after just a few years? Solving this problem is why I...
PVC pipe in the home, garden, farm, and workshop
By Charles Sanders
Issue #94 • July/August, 2005
Perhaps one of the most important innovations in modern plumbing has been the development of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC), and related plastic pipe. These materials...
