Build an Off-Grid Root Cellar, Garage, and Bunkhouse
By Robert Van Putten
Issue #166 • July/August, 2017
My wife and I built our homestead by hand. I’m not a professional builder, so once in a while I make mistakes -- the garage we built...
Save Time and Energy with the Fenced Chicken Coop/Garden
By John Silveira
Issue #44 • March/April, 1997
My engineer father was not fond of wasting time or energy. He was always searching for a better, more efficient way to perform chores, especially chores that reoccurred...
Build a Concrete Root Cellar
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #168 • November/December, 2017
I should have been a mole — it feels so safe and cool and quiet to be underground. So when my house burned down 20 years ago and...
Build Your Own Hoop House
By Jackie Clay-Atkinson
Issue #171 • May/June, 2018
I’ve had my own garden for more than half a century, and I have learned a few things after all these years. One of the most valuable things...
Parge the ugly out of your concrete wall
By Bill Leonard
Issue #57 • May/June, 1999
You can say a great deal in favor of cement block (or, if you prefer, concrete block) building. It's fairly fast, reasonably easy, particularly in small projects, and...
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...
Build an Old-Fashioned Hotbed and Start Your Seeds in Style
By Roy Martin
Issue #104 • March/April, 2007
A hotbed is a miniature greenhouse that is heated to protect new seedlings from cold. The hotbed differs from a cold frame in that it has an internal...
From triumph to tragedy to triumph again. Dorothy Ainsworth makes her valiant comeback
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #50 Mar/Apr 1998
BHM readers are familiar with Dorothy Ainsworth, the log home-building Ashland, Oregon, waitress who spent more than six years building a beautiful log home, only to have it burn...
Build a cistern out of corrugated road culvert
By Joe Mooney
Issue #146 • March/April, 2014
Using a corrugated road culvert as a cistern is an economical way to add to your water storage. Here is the finished tank with PVC pipe directing water...
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...
Five building tricks for super strong framing
By Don Fallick
Issue #49 • January/February, 1998
I was standing on the edge of the roof overhang, holding two bundles of asphalt shingles, when my boss's son drove up. He looked at me, then took...
Rural Building
By Martin Harris
Issue #63 • May/June, 2000
From the architect's chair
Before beginning any building project, it is usually beneficial, from a time and cost perspective, to think through all the possible alternatives, weighing the pros...
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...
Trusses — Low cost marvels to roof over most large spaces
By Martin Harris
Issue #23 • September/October, 1993
When you strip away all the frills, building construction is nothing more than enclosing a volume of space to create a micro-climate for human activity. You can call...
A simple backwoods hay baler
By Rev. J.D. Hooker
Issue #82 • July/August, 2003
During the winter months, Steve and his wife Tandy feed between 120 and 150 bales of hay to a herd of pretty high-quality dairy goats on their...
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...
