Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Animals

Where our farm animals come from

Dorper sheep — Revolutionizing the meat sheep industry

Broody biddies make sense on the homestead

Cheaper than Store-Bought Eggs

Building

Building a Ferro-Cement Shed

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...

Build a Composter

Build a portable woodstove for $30

The poor man’s ceramic knife sharpener

Build a lean-to greenhouse

Farm and Garden

Time to Forget About Snail and Slug Bait

By Lyle Dykes Issue #135 • May/June, 2012 Years ago when traveling on business, I looked out of the window of my motel one morning in...

Graft Your Own Designer Fruit Trees

Want More Fruit From Less Space? Espalier Your Trees!

Home-Grown Eggs

Start a Self-Sufficiency Garden Even in a Cramped Apartment

Americana and History

Feeling nostalgic? Now you’ll rave! Here’s the story of Burma Shave.

By Martin Waterman Issue #37 • January/February, 1996 I can remember taking a trip as a child and seeing my first Burma Shave signs. Technically speaking,...

Presidents’ wives of the past Part 3

Oregon Trail preparedness: What supplies did the settlers carry?

Quilts — Masterpieces of the heart and windows into women’s history

The vanishing outhouse

Food and recipes

Brining pickles by the quart or gallon

Banana-Apricot Bars

More tips and tricks for the kitchen

Tetsukabuto squash pie

Self-reliance

Tips for finding your affordable home

Roger Clark: Cane syrup maker

Cast iron

Dehydrating eggs at home

Energy

Emergency solar power for $950

Solar Power 101 — Batteries: Part 1

Solar charge controllers — myths, hype, and facts

Build your own solar-powered water pumping station

Guns and Hunting

Firearms — Tools of rural living

By Massad Ayoob Issue #91 • January/February, 2005 So, editor Dave Duffy and I got to talking about guns. We agreed that for some people they...

Of guns and snakes

The time for modern; the time for traditional

Understanding the gun debate, part 3

Catch your own bait

Science

Gee-Whiz: Sleep

By O.E. MacDougal November/December 2017, Backwoods Home For thousands of years, sleep has been one of life’s great mysteries. As humans, we spend about one-third of...