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A Backwoods Home Anthology — The Fourteenth Year
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DEPARTMENTS
8  Publisher’s Note

9  Editorial:
Animal rights loonies save the chickens but ruin the County Fair

79  Ask Jackie:
Goats, homemade peanut butter, tipi liners, cleaning greasy messes, “old” storage food, pressure canners…and more

24  Ayoob on Firearms:
On a quiet holiday, a cop gives thanks

32  Irreverent joke page

50  Book Review Raising Pet Birds

51   Poem:Safety by John Silveira

84  Letters

90  Classified ads (pdf)

90  Classified advertising form

93   Advertiser Index

95   BHM Bookstore

96-97  Order form/Subscription Info

98-99   BHM anthologies & CD-ROMs

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Cover 84
ABOUT THE COVER
On this issue’s cover is Dave and Ilene’s son, Robby Duffy, standing amid the fixins of a pumpkin pie in Santa Paula, California, almost nine years ago, when he was not quite two-years-old. Now he and his brothers, Jacob, 12, and Sam, 8, are old enough to have grown their own pumpkins in their very own garden in Oregon. Alas, kids grow up too soon, but pumpkin pies are forever.

If you’d like to bake your own pumpkin pie, try Jackie Clay’s recipe on page 31. We guarantee you, it will be just what the holidays call for.

FEATURES

Self-reliance

28  Shaving with a straight razor   By Steve Gregg

44  Recycled bicycles   By Brad Rohdenburg

66  The joys of making soap   By Grace Brockway

69  Wind chill factor makes it colder than you think   By Tom and Joanne O’Toole

72  Hypothermia — a real winter danger   By Tom and Joanne O’Toole

Independent Energy

19  Keep those gadgets working after the power goes out   By Jeffrey R. Yago, P.E., CEM

Food and Recipes

34  Making jelly with horseradish, sassafras tea, dandelions, roses, corn cobs, and onions   By Gaynya Willis

52  Cultured milk — Food of centenarians   By Edna Manning

77  Qawarma — a food since antiquity   By Habeeb Salloum

Building and tools

31  Vise Dremel Moto Tool mount   By Dana Martin Batory

Crafts

61  Woolen winter mittens in minutes   By Anita Evangelista

Country living

10  Your wild neighbors   By Jackie Clay

36  Rattlesnake bite   By Gary F. Arnet, D.D.S.

75  Skunks   By Tom Kovach

76  From weasels to chocolate bars — it all came to naught   By Habeeb Salloum

Making a living

48  Make an income raising pet birds   By James McDonald

64  Selling sandwiches for an income   By Donn Rochlin

Small Town America

56  Thorne Bay, Alaska   By Jon Stram