Build your own log home in the woods
By Jackie Clay
(Photos by Bill Spaulding and Jackie Clay)
Issue #72 • November/December, 2001
This is the third part of a three-part series.
The first two parts appeared in issues 70 and 71.
In the last two issues...
How to build a good fence for your homestead
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How to build a good fence for your homestead
By Charles Sanders
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By Charles Sanders
Issue #103 • January/February, 2007
One of the basic fixtures on a homestead is fencing. Fences are used to keep animals in, or...
Make your own effective fishing tackle while you save money and recycle scrap
By Rev. J.D. Hooker
Issue #44 • March/April, 1997
My long time friend Hearold Ruby passed away. Death came as sort of a reprieve. He'd been terribly sick and utterly miserable for years and he was...
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...
Ambidextrous chainsaw filing
By Thomas Brewer
Issue #57 • May/June, 1999
I am not ambidextrous. My wife, Judith, uses chopsticks with either hand or even both hands at once. She is ambidextrous. I can barely write with my right...
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...
Rural Building
By Martin Harris
Issue #63 • May/June, 2000
Q. We have just purchased 15 acres, and our question is how to install our septic system, how far away from the on-site stream and can we use...
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...
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...
Make adobe bricks
By Rev. J.D. Hooker
Issue #110 • March/April, 2008
Last winter I got a phone call from an old friend in Arizona. One of his sons had fallen in love, gotten the girl in trouble, and...
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...
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 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...
Build a stone wall
By Charles Sanders
Issue #70 • July/August, 2001
The natural beauty of a stone wall has been romanticized in poem and picture for hundreds of years. There is a soothing permanence that can be seen in...
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...
Yurt Magic — Building an Enchanting Instant House
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #76 • July/August, 2002
I awoke last night to a circle of moonlight reflected on a wall. It was so vivid I could almost see the dark-and-light patterns of the moonface in...































