Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Animals

Redworm farming

Llamas guarding sheep? — Not such a far-fetched idea

Build a poultry killing cone

Good-bye old friend

Building

Build a barrel stove

By Nick Weston Issue #133 • January/February, 2012 This stove kept me warm and provided an excellent cooking surface for more than six months while I...

Build an inexpensive but durable jackleg fence

Build a Trapper’s Tilt

Make your own lumber with a chainsaw mill

Build a holz hausen to dry firewood

Farm and Garden

Plant Your Trees in the Spring

By Tom Kovach Issue #61 • January/February, 2000 Winter is a good time to plan your spring tree plantings, deciding what and where you want to...

Build Your Own Hoop House

For Extra Production, Try Mound Gardening

Jackie’s Garden Primer

Use Old Newspapers to Make Your Starter Pots

Americana and History

Presidents’ wives of the past Part 4 — Cunning, vindictive, and...

By John Silveira Issue #35 • September/October, 1995 (This is a four-part series. Click the links to navigate to parts one, two, three, and four.) Do you...

Catfish Biscuits

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

Biological and chemical weapons through history

the gee-whiz! page: Animals, humans, extraterrestrials, and tools

Food and recipes

Make grape juice the easy way

Salmon candy and pickles — Two unique ways to enjoy your next catch

Beans for Sarah

Ten Marinades For Summer

Self-reliance

Clover — From Livestock Forage to Medicinal Tea, This Humble Plant is One of Nature’s Best Gifts

Wash day

Pump water for free

Woodstove cooking

Energy

Water: a safe supply when you’re off the grid

Battery-Powered Tools are Changing

Phantom solar — The crucial invisible system needed before you install solar

For a truly independent energy system, your choices are solar, wind, and water

Guns and Hunting

Big boomer guns

By Massad Ayoob Issue #125 • September/October, 2010 For you long time readers, I know what you're thinkin'"Hey, isn't this the guy who within the last...

How long should your gun’s barrel length be?

Teaching a 10-year-old to shoot

Get a piece of history — An M1 Garand rifle

Centennial of the All-American .30-06

Science

Gee-Whiz: Insects

By O. E. MacDougal November/December 2015, Backwoods Home Some 400 million years ago, in the Devonian Period, insects evolved from crustaceans. Since that time, they have...

Gee-Whiz: Sleep

How big is the solar system?

Gee-Whiz: Bad Fish, Big Fish

Gee-Whiz: From Paper to Canning

Politics and Commentary

Book Review: Guns Save Lives — True Stories of Americans Defending Their Lives with Firearms

A Republic vs. A Democracy

The meltdown and the bailout: why, how, and what they mean

Perspectives on the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin shooting

Animals

This St. Bernard backwoods hero saved old Grandma’s life

By Margaret Wright Issue #35 • September/October, 1995 When we think of a backwoods dog we generally think of a Pyrenees, German Shepherd, or other breed...

Once a day milking

By Patrice Lewis Issue #99 • May/June, 2006 It sounds bucolic, doesn't it? The simple joys of milking your own cow. Fresh milk, fresh cream, homemade...

Shearing, carding, spinning, weaving and creating with Margaret Boos

Mountain lions — Attacks are still rare, but just in case…

Hog butchering — Using everything but the squeal

How to butcher a chicken in 20 minutes or less

Self-Reliance

Harvesting the wild: Acorns

Finding wealth you can wear at yard sales

10 country do’s and don’ts

Get out of debt, stay out of debt

Farm and Garden

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

By Rev. J.D. Hooker Issue #87 • May/June, 2004 It's been well over a decade now since I first heard my friend Pete voice his amazement at my practice of spreading animal manure as a fertilizer....

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Gardening with a Chicken Tractor

By Brianna Stone  Issue #161 • September/October, 2016 This spring, my parents let me enlarge my garlic business and till up three 600-square-foot beds for planting...

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