Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Animals

Keeping homestead animals healthy

Cheaper than Store-Bought Eggs

How to butcher a chicken in 20 minutes or less

Animal disease traceability

Building

Build an Old-Fashioned Hotbed and Start Your Seeds in Style

By Roy Martin Issue #104 • March/April, 2007 A hotbed is a miniature greenhouse that is heated to protect new seedlings from cold. The hotbed differs...

Build your own portable forge

The poor man’s ceramic knife sharpener

Build an attached solar greenhouse

Make a Quick and Easy Tipi

Farm and Garden

Build a Keyhole Garden

By Katelynn Bond Issue #152 • March/April, 2015 One of the hazards of living on the side of a mountain in northern New Mexico is that...

Start a Self-Sufficiency Garden Even in a Cramped Apartment

Build a Heated Germination Bed

Exotic Plants for the Homestead

Garden Seeds — A Great Winter Pastime

Americana and History

Was the first government gun confiscation attempt foiled by an unsung...

By John Silveira Issue #119 • September/October, 2009 Gun control people don't seem to get just how deeply etched into the American psyche gun ownership goes...

Former first ladies — Beautiful, brilliant, crazy

Farm baseball … with ghost runners!

Gee-Whiz: Presidents

Remembering what grandma used

Food and recipes

Apple slaw

Apricot stuffed Lamb Chops

Canning meat plus how to use your canned meat

Easy homemade dairy products

Self-reliance

Avoiding heat illness

The community treasure chest

Homestead water

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

Energy

Solar-powered chicken coop

Build a simple solar-powered outdoor light

Walden Pond — the solar version: Part 2

Solar power for farm and ranch

Guns and Hunting

The M1A — A rifle that makes a statement

By Massad Ayoob Issue #45 • May/June, 1997 I take the Springfield Armory rifle out of the box, and savor it. I seldom do that with...

Understanding the gun debate, part 3

Just because

Moderate power firearms

Of guns and snakes

Science

Gee-Whiz: Dinosaurs

By O.E. MacDougal July/August 2014 Backwoods Home Biologists and paleontologists are now pretty certain that birds are part of the dinosaur lineage. Their extinct relatives include...