Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Animals

Finding, buying, milking, and living with the family milk cow

Beekeeping basics

Forget the dog, chicken is man’s best friend

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

Building

Build a lean-to greenhouse

By Dorothy Ainsworth Issue #154 • July/August, 2015 Just thinking about a greenhouse can stimulate the senses. In our minds' eyes, we can see the filtered...

Build a stone wall

How to Install a Steel Roof

Build an all-purpose ladder

How to build a good fence for your homestead

Farm and Garden

Plant Once Harvest for Years

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #140 • March/April, 2013 Year after year we start seeds, till the ground, plant, weed, harvest, then tear it all out at...

Mid-season planting

Okra — Not Just for the South

Currants and Gooseberries

Tracing a bean

Americana and History

Former first ladies — Beautiful, brilliant, crazy

By John Silveira Issue #30 • November/December, 1994 (This is a four-part series. Click the links to navigate to parts one, two, three, and four.) (When we...

The greatest American who was never President

Catfish Biscuits

The Great Depression — A reminiscence

Biological and chemical weapons through history

Food and recipes

These salads are hearty dishes

Pastoral bread

Gourmet nutrition with beans and rice

Indian Pudding

Self-reliance

Power your bug-out bag

Cash in on your household junk

Teach speed reading to your children even if you can’t speed read yourself

Food security 101

Energy

Design calculations for no-head, low-head waterwheels

Solar Power 101 — Solar arrays

Generators alone are not enough

Are hydrogen-fueled cars pie-in-the-sky?

Guns and Hunting

BHM hosts Appleseed marksmanship event

By Massad Ayoob Issue #139 • January/February, 2013 Long a supporter of the Appleseed concept, Backwoods Home Magazine hosted one in Gold Beach, Oregon, in second...

Get a piece of history — An M1 Garand rifle

Use the right ammunition!

A used shotgun bargain: The Browning Auto-5

Women and guns

Science

Zombie Apocalypse

By John Silveira Issue #134 • March/April, 2012 "Can you survive a zombie apocalypse?" a familiar voice asked. I turned in my seat to see O.E. MacDougal,...

Gee-Whiz: Insects

The ‘risks’ with Swine Flu

Gee-Whiz: From Paper to Canning

Avian Flu — How afraid of this

Politics and Commentary

The state of freedom in America

Cheap guns are good enough

Talking to your kids about death

Should we scrap our ‘old’ Constitution?

Animals

Where our farm animals come from

Issue #105 • May/June, 2007 We don't know how far back the domestication of animals goes. But we...

Cheaper than Store-Bought Eggs

By Kristina Seleshanko Issue #177 • July/August/September, 2019 Something we heard a lot when we first started raising chickens in the suburbs was, “For the cost...

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

Beekeeping basics

Finding the best dog for the country life

Once a day milking

Self-Reliance

Make a fully functional cold storage pit/mound and enjoy your garden’s production all winter

Paring down for off-grid living

Dollar Store to the Rescue

Shopping to beat inflation

Farm and Garden

A Small Space Yields a Big Crop of Garlic

By Howard Tuckey Issue #131 • September/October, 2011 In less than an hour last fall, I tilled up a 4x8 foot garden bed and planted 250 seed cloves of Chesnok and Russian Red garlic. I've been...

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....