Articles - Backwoods Home Magazine

Animals

Redworm farming

Slaughtering and Butchering

Home Dairying

Keeping homestead animals healthy

Building

Build a cold smoker so you can make delicious squaw candy

By Jane Duquette Issue #148 • July/August, 2014 For delicious squaw candy, start with the freshest fish. One fresh July evening at our summer cabin in Soldotna,...

Build a homestead Copy Cart

The house that Dorothy built

Shake update

Radiant floor heating — Alternative to forced-air heating is solar-powered, too...

Farm and Garden

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...

Exotic Plants for the Homestead

Nut Trees on Your Homestead

Propagating Grapes

A New Use for Old Tires: A Garden Using Tires

Americana and History

Gee-Whiz: Presidents

By O.E. MacDougal November/December 2016, Backwoods Home I could spend all day coming up with interesting trivia about the Presidents and those who surround them —...

Feeling nostalgic? Now you’ll rave! Here’s the story of Burma Shave.

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

The time-travel ad

Grandpa’s justice

Food and recipes

Pickled fish and rollmops

Fresh cucumber delight

Layered Casserole & Pea Salad

Making good jerky

Self-reliance

Preparing for a Temporary Catastrophe

Build a holz hausen to dry firewood

Preparedness for travelers

New yarn from old sweaters

Energy

Handy Keychain Mini-Gadgets

Power your bug-out bag

Making and using a solar cooker

An $89 backup generator

Guns and Hunting

1911: The classic homeland security pistol

By Massad Ayoob Issue #83 • September/October, 2003 If you've read American firearms history at all, you know the lore of the .45 automatic. How during...

BHM hosts Appleseed marksmanship event

Military surplus and military “clone” rifles

Teaching a 10-year-old to shoot

Centennial of the All-American .30-06

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,...

The world is coming to an end… and this time, I’m...

Gee-Whiz: Time

The gee-whiz! page — Cats: Why they rule our world

Gee-Whiz: Bad Fish, Big Fish

Politics and Commentary

Can an understanding of math and statistics save America’s freedoms?

Concealed carry laws reduce crime

Magnesium and the International Criminal Court

Why we have no “constitutional” rights

Animals

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

By Gene Sheley Issue #50 • March/April, 1998 Near the top of North America's wildlife food chain is the mountain lion, a close second to bears...

Get to know your spiders

By Jerry Hourigan Issue #109 • January/February, 2008 Every landowner and homeowner creates the perfect environment for spiders. Not intentionally, of course, but spiders seem to...

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

How to buy your first sheep without getting shorn

Where our farm animals come from

Raising rabbits for profit

Self-Reliance

The cholesterol in your stovepipe can be fatal

I heat my house by burning corn

Pysanki — You can make those biddies pay!

Storm survivors

Farm and Garden

How to Grow Garlic

By Melissa Souza Issue #167 • September/October, 2017 Garlic is easy and rewarding to grow. I use it throughout the year, as it is extremely easy to store. Garlic is one of the most commonly used...

Use Non-Hybrid Seeds and Save Big Bucks in This Year’s Garden

By Jackie Clay Issue #51 • May/June, 1998 Every person who is striving for self-reliance should, and most do, plant a garden from which to raise a good portion of their own food. But how many...