My friend Erik Knutzen reviewed
Backwoods Home Magazine for
Cool Tools:
Imagine Martha Stewart as a gun-toting Libertarian and you’ll have good notion of the editorial outlook of Backwoods Home Magazine. What makes this magazine useful, regardless of your political persuasion, is the wealth of information written by practitioners in the arts of self-reliance. You’ll find articles on everything from growing vegetables to baking bread to, yes, cleaning your Glock. Even if you live in the city there’s plenty to learn in the pages of BHM, in particular from Jackie Clay, Backwoods Home’s resident advice columnist. Clay can parse out and troubleshoot what have become almost lost arts, things like food preservation, soap making and small-scale poultry keeping. The rambling, unedited reader letters and the thrift-store-painting cover art are endearing bonuses.
(Don Childers' illustration of military pig slaughter from "Preparing for Civil Unrest," by Claire Wolfe)
Backwoods Home Magazine
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See also: The Foxfire Books "9 million in print" as of 2004 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxfire_books
Amazon has a compendium for sale http://www.amazon.com/Foxfire-Book-Dressing-Building-Moonshining/dp/0385073534 There were 12 volumes published. I read 3-4 of them. They're mostly used, rare and out of print, great second hand bookstore finds!
My personal cookbook treasure is a 1975 copy of "Joy of Cooking" by Rombauer and Becker. The older the better and they go back to 1931. The recent editions don't cover the same material. See Mark's post from last September http://boingboing.net/2008/09/11/how-to-make-a-squirr.html
For similar DIY/sustainability content minus paramilitary pig-killing, try BackHome Magazine: http://www.backhomemagazine.com/
@1: "They're mostly used, rare and out of print..."
Except for the new editions of all 12 volumes from the Foxfire Fund, http://www.foxfire.org/ .
Fascinating reading.
@2
Thank you. Love the DIY, don't love paramilitary cukoos
I just imagined Martha Stewart as a gun-toting Libertarian. Then I dropped to the floor, curled up into fetal position and tried to go to my happy place.
Totally agree on foxfire, also y'all might like charles mcraven's books. I've read most of them and the man's prose is thorough and his understanding is good, if you want to know about smithing, stoneworking, etc. Highly recommend.
I scanned the site, the article on dog selection popped out. I wouldn't trade my dogs for anything. I've got 50 miles of forest in any direction you pick and companionship + more acute senses makes them worth their weight in kibble. Except for when a storm comes and they practically break my door down and I've got 125 pounds of canine trying to hide on my lap. heh...
Along the same lines, I enjoy Wilderness Way magazine, published by Christopher Nyerges:
http://www.wwmag.net/core.htm
Wait a minute, I've read some of the Kato people's stuff. Libertarians don't do or make things, they pay other people to do it for them (with pure gold).
Also, I just imagined Martha Stewart on her show making an Ayn Rand Muppet, complete with yarn comb over hair. I lol'ed... then I died a little bit inside.
Similarly, check out Dean Ing's "Rackham Files". Most of the book is about how the characters survive a nuclear war, and the subsequent fallout. The rest of the book gives instructions on how to actually DO the things that the characters did, like make an air filter out of rolls of toilet paper.
Gee, where's the Outquisition? That "non-secret society of emergency-preparedness Nice People who think that the response to catastrophe isn't lifeboat rules and militias, but humanitarian aid and kick-ass tools"?
They were going to "leave the comfy bright green cities and travel to the dead mall suburban slums, rustbelt browntowns and climate-smacked farm communities and start helping the locals get the tools they need".
A little weak on follow-through, I guess. :-)
What a difference a year makes...a year *to the day*!
http://boingboing.net/2008/07/13/postapocalypse-witho.html
Your pal, a gun-toting Libertarian
One of the great founders of this genre was the great tome "George the Housewife" He was truly a genius!
His recipe for for "sharksfin soup joesphine" "debunks" the fraudulent science behind evolution and covers in some detail the sexual proclivities of Napoleon Bonaparte.
http://stephenbodio.blogspot.com/2005/10/george-leonard-herter.html
http://www.cookbkjj.com/bookhtml/000042.html
Keep an eye out for this gold covered book of wonder. if you find one, you won't be disapointed
I'm sorry, I didn't read the article. Because, well, um... I wasn't that interested. But can someone please explain to me the significance or relevance of the illustration? I mean, why are the army-looking guys shooting at pigs with pistols?
FWIW- The paramilitary pig killing is not something Backwoods Home advocates. That cartoon is specifically in relation to a new FEDERAL LAW mandating small farmers register their animals, their animal's treatment, and even apply in advance for permission to transport an animal to a 4-H fare.
Their premise is that at some point tyrannical federal agents might put down unregistered animals.
I can see their point, and indeed why they also proudly keep their own firearms.
A man sows, a slave makes hay?
Little House on the Prairie books work for this too. I was reading them to my boys (yes, they are manly books believe it or not) and decided that I could probably survive in the event the world ever accidentally went off the grid if I had these books with me.
What do you mean, "imagine"? Martha Stewart *is* a gun-toting Libertarian.
Re: the Outquisition. That's predicted/suggested to happen after an apocalypse. The economy is bad right now, but people aren't even willing to call it a "Depression" yet. You call this an apocalypse?
Another resource is Lehman's hardware in Amish country of Ohio. They carry all sorts of books and household items that use little or no power. They have a website and a very nice catalog. If you are ever in north-central Ohio, be sure to stop in their store.
>> Their premise is that at some point tyrannical federal agents might put down unregistered animals.
Or tyrannical local agents. Real life story of people driven out of California by local officials.
"We recently left Santa Cruz County -- you might say we were driven out -- because we couldn't keep goats there. Even though we had over an acre of property and could have kept three horses, we couldn't keep even one little tiny baby goat."
http://www.goatrescue.org/politics.html
http://www.goatrescue.org/letter_to_mark_stone.html
"When we purchased our property eight years ago, there were two horses living here. Since we were looking for a place to keep goats, we checked with the Planning Department. We were told that since we were purchasing over an acre, and goats were considered "small animals", it would be OK."
"In September of 2002 we attended an Administrative Hearing with the Planning Department. Despite the acknowledged historic use of the property, they told us that the only way we could possibly come into compliance was to remove all of the goats. [Attempts at finding other homes fruitless.]"
"We had contacted County Animal Services Director Mike McFarland, who said that if we were to take our goats to them they would be destroyed. Code Compliance Officer Christine Allegretti affirmed "putting down" our goats might be the only way resolve our red-tag. Killing the goats was not an acceptable solution to us then or now."
"Thus, we were presented with the choice of destroying our goats, incurring a $2,500 per day fine, or signing a Stipulation Order"
So the cartoon is not that far-fetched.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/man-survives-300-days-with-knives-pig/story-e6frev00-1225750372418
Do you mean Sarah Palin?
PS: My captcha was "their yaks".