Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Finding the best dog for the country life

Protein — The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet

Broody biddies make sense on the homestead

Free pallet wood and birdhouses add up to big country dollars

By Rick Brentlinger Issue #53 • September/October, 1998 If I could show you how to manufacture a product anywhere in the country and if I offered...

Build a holz hausen to dry firewood

How to Resurrect Old, Rusted Tools

Grow Open Pollinated Seeds for Self-Reliant Gardening

By Jackie Clay Issue #56 In the past I've grown hybrid vegetables, mostly the varieties that have been developed to produce early yields. Because of this,...

Converting a Gasoline-Powered Rototiller to Electric

Use Plastic to Get a Head Start on Corn in the...

Plant Your Irish Potatoes This Fall or Winter

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...

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

Doesn’t anyone remember Tom Paine

The greatest American who was never President

Power Up Light, Water, Communications in Emergencies

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

Add solar power to your truck camper

Our journey to modern off-grid living

Of guns and snakes

By Massad Ayoob Issue #151 • January/February, 2015 Mas safely kills a rattlesnake in a populated area. (Note angle of gun and trajectory.) Pistol is a...

Teaching a 10-year-old to shoot

1911: The classic homeland security pistol

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,...

Armed citizens: the deterrent factor

Tackling the real problems that face us

Biological & chemical terrorism

Slaughtering and Butchering

By Dynah Geissal Issue #23 • September/October, 1993 Fall is butchering time, a period of joy in the harvest of the year's work and of sadness...

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

By Karen McGeorge Sanders Issue #19 • January/February, 1993 It seems that farmers always need an extra pair of hands, but finding the money to pay...

Goat birthing and raising kids

Finding the best dog for the country life

Switch your family to goat’s milk

Seed art — It’s fun to collect the seeds and create these unusual pictures

Here’s how to make a musical bamboo flute

A young couple moves to the country

Elderberries — Hospitality, Health, And Beauty

By Gail Butler Issue #124 • July/August, 2010 When friends stop by for a visit I like to offer them a hospitable and healthful libation of elderberry cordial. When served in a small aperitif glass or...

Hügelkultur for the Homestead

By Rose Shelton Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019 Last spring, I finally completed a long-planned homestead project of constructing two hügelkultur beds. What is hügelkultur? It’s basically a method of recycling junk wood to make a...