Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Dorper sheep — Revolutionizing the meat sheep industry

Chickens — The most valuable animal on the homestead

Build a wood crib with free materials

By Mark R. Roach Issue #156 • November/December, 2015 Trying to stack wood so it stays up without falling can be a challenge. Just when you...

Make your own lumber with a chainsaw mill

We built John Silveira’s chicken coop/garden

Growing the Eternal Tomato

By Leonard Trebor Issue #57 • May/June, 1999 It's an old story to longtime gardeners (and a new story to novices): each spring you buy some...

Your Manure Pile — For Fuel, Fertilizer, and Maybe Even Improved...

Build a Heated Germination Bed

Green or Yellow: Grow Your Best Bush Beans Ever

The time-travel ad

By John Silveira Issue #125 • September/October, 2010 It's become a minor Internet phenomenon. The ad reads: It's also been read by Jay Leno on his late...

The Great Depression — A reminiscence

Who were the best…and worst U.S. Presidents?

Some unusual jellies for your sweet tooth

Tomato-Avocado-Buttermilk Soup

Green tomato kosher dill pickles

Stay clear of young wild animals

Self-reliance for women — Surviving a biochemical attack

Medical kits for self-reliant families

Build a passive-solar food dehydrator

Make your own biodiesel for 80¢ per gallon

Bury a gun and ammo for 15 years

(and be assured everything still works when you dig it up) By Charles Wood Issue #115 • January/February, 2009 Back in the early 1990s the outlook for the...

Military surplus and military “clone” rifles

Answering some well asked questions about personal defense

A brief history of health and medicine

By John Silveira Issue #100 • July/August, 2006 As little as a century ago, the average life span in the United States was 49 years. Today...

Can we make a Tyrannosaurus rex from a chicken?

Gee-Whiz: From Paper to Canning

Running your own business: a mother’s perspective

Goodbye TV, hello constructive time

Getting rich through generosity

Working for a dad who works at home

Broody biddies make sense on the homestead

By James Kash Issue #139 • January/February, 2013 Broodiness is an avian behavior that is frowned upon in the world of agriculture. All industrial agriculturalists cull...

Raising quail — A home grown delicacy

By Allen Easterly Issue #101 • September/October, 2006 Raising quail is inexpensive, easy, provides very healthy low-fat white meat, and supplies the fertilizer you need for...

Where our farm animals come from

Caring for wounds in the field

The raging torrent — Respect it even when you play

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Funerals don’t have to be expensive

By Sylvia Gist Issue #155 • September/October, 2015 Currants and gooseberries all belong to the genus Ribes (pronounced "rye-bees"). There are varieties of currants and gooseberries native to Europe and North America, along with some developed...

Graft Your Own Designer Fruit Trees

By Jackie Clay Issue #121 • January/February, 2010 Although I've been homesteading for more than forty years, there's always something new to learn. (I figure that if I don't learn at least one thing every day,...