Subscribe Renew Subscriber Services Back Issues Article Index Contribute Advertise Home Register for Life Media Email Updates Stay informed with a free e-letter from Natural Life's publisher Life Media Marketplace Natural Life Magazine in PDF Format Individual back issues are available for sale in PDF only (see bottom of this page). And access to our complete password-protected archive is included with paid digital subscriptions. Current subscribers can click on the cover graphics and insert their password to begin the download. March/April 2012 Living without labels; Shopping mindfully to change the economic and sustainability equations; freecycling; salt-rising bread; the basics of herbal medicine; the uses of dandelions; a mother's meditation on a tick; the polyester textiles in your laundry could also be harming oceans; the dangers of dental floss; living as if school doesn't exist; retrofitting is greener than demolishing     January/February 2012 The dark side of chocolate; how to make ginger beer using fermentation; raising socially aware children; growing up in a homeschooling family; deep car culture; undriving - grassroots ways to promote alternatives to cars; four seasons on a smallholding - recipes and gardening; bokashi composting; how to avoid toxic dry cleaning; a DIY Passivhaus; food swapping, bartering, and group cooking     November/December 2011 The truth about palm oil and coconut oil; the gifts of creativity and simple living; play has little to do with purchased toys; creating natural backyard playspaces; fermenting sauerkraut in your home kitchen; building a rammed earth house; a passive solar house; keeping the family in your home business     September/October 2011 The problem with GMOs; creating wall art from recycled materials; slow learning; the joys of an only child; trusting our parenting intuition; replace your front lawn with edible landscaping; start a batch cooking group; banish depression naturally; a small and affordable Passive House     July/August 2011 Soapnuts; giving a face-lift to cast-off furniture; dealing with criticism of your natural parenting style; five way that simple, frugal living benefits kids; gathering wild plants for tea; what the word "natural" really stands for; WWOOFing; mindful mama; financing a green reno or retrofit; yummy vegan burgers.     May/June 2011 Ten ways to reduce your toddler's carbon footprint; meet the accidental beekeeper; helping a child develop a love of gardening; testing her limits with a home birth; attachment, rather than separation, leads to confidence and independence in a child; the joys of a clothesline; the dangers of food irradiation; crafting with recycled polystyrene foam; healthy, green home retrofits; the many faces of the slow living movement   March/April 2011 Seed swappng; the value of not over-programming kids; craft villages: the international recycling market; making Earth Day last all year; thrifty, greener clothes; ecological lawn care; LEED Platinum beach house; companion planting and organic pest control; getting a grasp on our personal energy demands; resources for the green home buyer January/February 2011 Natural sugar substitutes; singing to our children; craft projects that reuse plastic containers; overfed but undernourished; changing our world one step at a time; hybrid commuting with bicycle and car; living and learning far from the mainstream; gentle art of birthing at home; passive solar; cob home wins Living Building Challenge; cooking with beans and lentils November/December 2010 Are digital books greener than print?, the problem with plastic; holiday baking for a gluten-free child; finding community without living in one; co-operatives; planning a green wedding; reflections on the mall; choosing progressive educational opportunities; the little princess syndrome; helping kids manage media; cooking with kale and chard; sustainable homes; the new minimalism September/October 2010 Radon; creating useful objects with yarn from old t-shirt fabric; herbs during pregnancy and beyond; when a baby's early arrival rewrites a home birth plan, planning a Nature walk with children; rooftop solar and wind; unschooling is the CSA model of learning; yoga for eating disorders; the flip side of gratitude; the cracks in green home certification programs; preserving food and family life July/August, 2010 Cleaning up the solar industry, refashioning old t-shirts into new clothing, kids help us remember the small picture, new R-words help move us toward sustainability, birthing my garden, the new cycling revolution, small-scale aquaponics, women who are changing the way we eat, eight ways to a greener home, communicating for change, delight learning, carbon footprint measuring and green building codes, salad recipes May/June, 2010 Choosing an organic mattress, ethics of refashioning old textiles into something new, personal peacemaking, pet dogs and coyotes, hiking as a metaphor for life, sustainable urban homesteading, vermicomposting, real food for real kids, toward educative and democratic communities, parenthood's responsibilities, NaomiAldort : when your child disturbs in public, R-2000 homes, organic recipes for a crowd March/April, 2010 Buycotting and ethical consumerism, yoga in a child's life, green smoothies, small net-zero energy house, top ten green building trends, restoring a property to ecological balance, wholistic simplicity, yard sharing, helping a child manage a chronic disease, Naomi Aldort: freedom not license, greening our clothing, the Living Building Challenge, vertical farming January/February, 2010 Recycle your old cell phone, safer art and craft materials, seeking answers about breast cancer, rev up your immunity naturally, our kitchens as wellness centers, Biologic Architecture, Transition Town movement, what unschoolers can offer to public education, children and sexuality, green and healthy personal care products, Passivhaus, education should empower citizens to make our communities work November/December, 2009 Making recycled gift wrap, voluntourism, yoga and diet for dealing with PMS, one woman's path to humanism, celebrating the winter solstice, urban beekeeping, yurts, forest preschools, job sharing is good for people and the economy and the environment, what homeschooling taught a mom who wants to write, why schools are irrelevant, a week in the life of an unschooled teen, raw milk, is LEED as green as it could be?, the Zen of motherhood, vegetarian recipes from readers September/October, 2009 Retrofit your home with straw bales, make your own craft kit, the great diaper debate, Elimination Communication: going diaper-free, no baby products needed, eco-fibers: organic wool, health and environmental risks of eating fish, homeschooling heals trauma of school disease, a father's journal of unschooling and respectful parenting, Naomi Aldort: when your diaper-free baby grows into diapers, the no-dig garden, recipes of cool weather soups July/August, 2009  How dangerous is fluoride in our water?, improving indoor air quality, crafting for a greener world, developing a sustainable culture, edible weeds, transitioning to country life, the art of timber framing, the family hammock, decentralizing educational authority, synthetic eco fibers, growing a snack patch, a single mom's unschooling retrospective, why your child doesn't need preschool, how to make baby brainy, converting your family to healthy eating May/June, 2009  The truth about green jobs, journeying to a sustainable lifestyle, beyond Nature-Deficit Disorder, raising a humane child, living a gluten-free life to remedy celiac disease, LEED platinum net-zero energy home, raised bed intensive gardening, hemp fabrics, unschooling mom finds life balance, unschooling as the ultimate feminist act, yoga for kids, radical unschooling and philosophy studies, the creative garden, nutrition for eye health, gardening for biodiversity March/April, 2009 Reducing your carbon footprint; bringing Nature into your home decor; saving energy in a LEED home; turn your toddler green; super-insulated energy retrofit of an old house; preparing your organic garden; chickens in your backyard; recovering from postpartum depression; bamboo textiles; the dark side of schooling; free universities; eco-friendly moving; dealing with sibling teasing; alternative economic indicators; stretch your organic spending power January/February, 2009 Make your own household cleaners, be safe and save $; recycling in your garden; interview with natural landscape pioneer Lorrie Otto; self-propelled winter sports; involving kids in outdoor sports; greening your dog's life; a small, green and affordable home; Permaculture: living and growing with the natural world; a doctor gives bad advice about breastfeeding; creating a homeschooling community learning center; weathering winter with oriental medicine November/December, 2008 Examining grass-fed beef, cork is a sustainable interior design product, alternatives to disposable menstrual products, the problem with factory forms of education, questioning compulsory schooling, learning math from real life, straw-clay/post and beam home, organic fabrics, spacing children's births, playing in Nature September/October, 2008 Pedaling bike power, the Findhorn Garden story, starting a green home business, applying LEED principles to home design, green reno to a 19th century home, Ask NL: Air fresheners or air pollutants?, trusting children's choices, the feminine side of Bau-biologie, computers and unschooling July/August, 2008 Home birth is green, learning to be present, dome homes, eco-friendly summer sports, sustainable design for children's rooms, plant veggies where your lawn was, living with a child with food sensitivities, learning to draw by observing nature, trusting and living in the moment, green birthday parties, interview with Russell Scott about spirituality and sustainability May/June, 2008 Interview: living and working off-grid, detecting greenwashing, Ask Natural Life: plastics, when art meets ecology, sustainable housing means a sense of place, revisiting WindSong cohousing community, solar-powered car, creating a sacred garden, surviving computer addiction, beautiful broccoli, being in Nature with children March/April, 2008 Natural burials, Ask Natural Life: nanotechnology, creating an organic color scheme in your home, being rich means living sustainably, Edmonton net-zero energy duplex, the high environmental cost of playing golf, creating a song bird-friendly garden, feeding your dog raw meaty bones, protecting kids from commercialism, interview with a Burmese monk January/February, 2008    Net-zero energy home in rural Quebec, fixing and preventing mold in your home, environmentally-sound wood heat, leading edge solar homes in competition, gardening with native plants and wildflowers, environmental problems hurt kids the most, interview with an eco-friendly natural food store owner, Ask Natural Life: electromagnetic fields and health November/December, 2007 Ask Natural Life: peat moss and the ecological garden, the clothesline revolution, ecovillages reduce ecological footprints, lifecycle building creates adaptable homes, growing old with simplicity, the benefits of tea, ecologically sound hiking, avoiding giving children toxic toys, interview: living and working in an off-grid tire house September/October, 2007 Ask Natural Life: how green is my diet?, the problem with engine idling, the magic of mindfulness, culinary and health benefits of garlic, using the precautionary principle for wellness, questions to ask before your travel, an affordable carbon-neutral house, green home renovations, interview with a cosleeping expert, full life cycle extended product responsibility July/August, 2007 Our interdependent relationship with trees, counting food miles, eco-chic fashion, Ask Natural Life: is wind power safe for birds?, plant a downspout bog garden, growing and using rosemary, tree climbing as a sport, backyard tree planting with kids, interview with an urban cob builder and unschooling mother May/June, 2007 In praise of small houses for a green planet, cob house, Ask Natural Life: CFLs, planning a green vacation, sustainable action/extreme sports, public fruit crops and community food, teaching children to garden, micro-credit for African women, cell phones, interview with organic grower Janet Wallace March/April, 2007 Building with cob, Ask Natural Life: bottled water, conserving water at home, greening the grocers, buying green computers, composting how-to, building a composter, greening the Easter Bunny, interview with author and environmentalist Guy Dauncey, zero-waste business events January/February, 2007 Ask Natural Life: cardboard wine containers, sustainable seafood, greening Valentine's Day, the benefits of grapes, natural guide to intestinal health, homeschooling families work together to help Africans, why it's wrong to label children with learning disabilities, interview with a straw bale builder November/December, 2006 30th anniversary features, interview with Natural Life's publisher, college teaches sustainability by doing, living simply in the city, a Buy-Nothing Christmas, building a straw bale home, turkey-free celebrations, turning around the asthma epidemic September/October, 2006 Why and how to eat raw foods, the benefits of altruism, building green a green urban neighborhood, Ask Natural Life: ethanol, gardening to attract pollinators, organic weed control, vertical gardens for healthy environments, eco-friendly musical instruments July/August, 2006 Ask Natural Life: the dangers of fabric softeners, dangers of antidepressant drugs, menopause and self-knowledge, school nutrition, eating locally, edible flowers, designing green buildings, zero-energy homes, green roofs, companion planting May/June, 2006 Ask Natural Life: the dangerous ingredients in body care products, music as medicine, sustainable seafood, living in the moment, enviro-friendly and healthy house cleaning, interview with eco-architects, organic growing in very small spaces, creating a modern eco-hood March/April, 2006 ADHD and the environment, Earth Day feature: refusing and reusing, hemp for houses, feeding pets raw food, how religions are dealing with enviro issues, creating healthy environments for children, contradictions in how we treat animals, the Eden Project, green by design January/February, 2006 Baby massage, reflexology, Ask Natural Life: dangers of antibacterial soap, making and keeping eco-resolutions, renovating your home naturally, organic garden planning, back to Nature in Portland Oregon, starting to look back at Natural Life's 30-year legacy November/December, 2005 How to simplify the Christmas holidays, organic wine and beer, Ask Natural Life: carbon offsets, plants at work, the new nomads: green and mobile living, worm composting, eco-travel by bike through the heart of Europe, Quayside cohousing project September/October, 2005 Home water purification, prepare your garden for winter - and stay healthy, the value of eating raw seeds, learning from a Spanish farmer who traded his tractor for a mule, people- and planet-friendly housing, progressive end-of-life solutions July/August, 2005 Ask Natural Life: local versus organic food, feature: healthy and green summer vacations, Cree Village eco lodge, award-winning North American green buildings, investing in clean energy, good news about green living trends May/June, 2005 Value of natural play, Ask Natural Life: microwave ovens, growing and using melons, making green lifestyle changes, PlantWatch is citizen science for all ages, Richard Louv: the criminalization of natural play, recycling fun with junkyard sports March/April, 2005 Green kitchen renovation, the benefits of laughter yoga, knitting for a change, learning meditation, keeping your pet healthy naturally, history of Earth Day, dolphins being polluted to death, greening the hotel industry, living fully in the present January/February, 2005 Ask Natural Life: dangers and benefits of soy foods, beat the flu by boosting your immune system, planning your organic garden, why and how to save your own seeds, in praise of imperfection, Cuba's organic revolution, legislating corporate responsibility November/December, 2004 Understanding eco logos and certification programs, simplifying the Christmas traditions, helping kids understand gift giving, the benefits of honey, greening a bathroom renovation, renewable energy comes to the city, good news about sustainable living September/October, 2004 Benefits and myths about goldenrod, the balance of traditional Chinese medicine, treehouses have grown up, prairie town goes sustainable, sustainable cohousing, art for the environment, celebrating peace, helping kids interact with Nature, Raging Grannies July/August, 2004 Dressing the world organically, indigenous people using renewable energy, replanting trees to offset paper use, simple and environmentally sound summertime, tofu barbeque treats, Built Green Idea Home, sustainable wildlife rehab center May/June, 2004 Dressing yourself in organic fibers, dangers of x-rays, health secrets of native Hawaiians, environmentally-friendly spas, having a pesticide-free lawn, create a native plant landscape, sustainable housing for the homeless, childhood obesity March/April, 2004 Building an off-grid post and beam straw bale home, how alternative becomes conventional, sustainable harvesting of wild medicinal plants, survey of the state of green vehicles, gardening that lures beneficial insects, getting a good night's sleep January/February, 2004 Adding green messages to films and television shows, kids and Nature, certifying sustainable wood products, planting a garden of healing herbs, clothing that raids the junkyard, understanding macrobiotics, improving toddlers' diets November/December, 2003 Exercising for immunity, a healthy and green house in Calgary's cold climate, embracing simple living, putting our money where our principles are = LOHAS, keeping the heat indoors, celebrating winter solstice, the complex life of a hamburger September/October, 2003 Flax nutrition and quality, mulches and cover crops for your organic garden, green small businesses, recipes for enjoying the pumpkin harvest, never too late to be fit, green guide to cleaning products, solar panels for flat roofs, keeping kids out of hospitals July/August, 2003 Living well and living deeply, watermelon recipes, green is the hot color in construction, barbequing vegetarian style, talking to a daughter about the nature of life and learning, hydrogen buses on the road, lowering blood pressure without medication May/June, 2003 Illness and the search for meaning, talking to children about war, building a family and creating the future, communal food strategies, recipes for communal cooking, fung shui your way to a simpler and greener home, fair trade: shopping with a conscience March/April, 2003 Eating the weeds as well as the veggies, iridology: health in your eye, green summer power options include electric boats, beans in the garden and the kitchen, learning from Asian simplicity, green living an urban condominium, pesticides and Parkinson's January/February, 2003 Recycling computers, healthy air inside your home, talk cafes: think globally and talk locally, Jane Goodall: learning in the wild, sustainable Seattle home, recognizing and dealing with mold in your home, grow more vegetables in less space, David Suzuki's Nature Challenge, avoiding trans fats November/December, 2002 Treating autoimmune diseases, designing a right livelihood, detoxification for better health, Bioneers: making a difference, red hats and purple dresses: having fun as an "older woman", alleviating arthritis pain, eco news from around the world, the personal and eco safety of cell phones September/October, 2002 Perfumes: spraying yourself with toxic chemicals is not sexy, the growing green roofs movement, closing the loop on waste wood, the health benefits of soy, the dangers of noise pollution, hemp-powered motorcycle, benefits of green tea, environment news from around the world July/August, 2002 Taming the power of possessions, WHO creates alternative health strategy, high fiber vegan diet fights prostrate cancer, relative risk of organic produce, the wonders of castor oil, native plant gardening: work with Nature not against it, zucchini recipes, helping your kids lose mental learning blocks May/June, 2002 Fight global warming for $1 a day with solar panels, Vitamin K for bone health, is humane meat an oxymoron?, have a green family summer, is an overabundance of male trees making us allergic?, sun damage protection from the inside out, drug-free help for allergies, healthy summer recipes, sustainable seafood March/April, 2002 The romance (and health) of beeswax candles, wellness through journaling, minerals make the menopause difference, dying to lose weight, using our natural emotional healing power, growing organic tomatoes, phasing out treated wood, helping children cope with stress, international eco news January/February, 2002 Blueberries can improve your memory, soothe your sweet tooth with stevia, building consensus with emotional acceptance, retrofit your home and save money and energy, protect your eyes from age-related diseases with nutrition, the benefits of flax, helping kids deal with war and trauma, healthy bones the wise woman way, Japanese cooking comes home November/December, 2001 Creating your sacred home, Mad Cow disease, hemp oil is healthy, US bans hemp foods, tree planting in response to terrorist attacks, herbs for immunity, finding light in the darkness of terror, children's playground equipment and arsenic risk, healthy holiday baking, studying labels for GE foods September/October, 2001 Herbs for women's health, choosing healthy cookware, building a better food system, the healing power of dolphins, choosing healthy bedding, homeopathy for a polluted world, genetically engineered fish, cleaning up the cruise ship industry, energy healing July/August, 2001 Putting ethics into action, natural treatment for learning disabilities, healthy and environmentally safe cleaners, new concerns about sewage sludge disposal, natural healing: synchronicity and intuition, environmentally-based economic indicators, cranial misalignment in children with special needs May/June, 2001 Pesticides in schools, mercury and nervous system damage, using energy more efficiently at home, GE fish protests, protecting Pacific Northwest rainforests, managing household pests naturally, solar hot water heating, emotional acupressure, farmer loses to Monsanto over GE seeds, Fair Trade March/April 2001 Basil: King of the Herbs, get your lawn off pesticides, what's in commercial pet food?, tuning in to your inner wisdom, paraffin candles are a health hazard, improve your soil's pH, genetic engineering news, if you eat meat you may be taking antibiotics, breastfeeding saves lives and money Back issues of Natural Life Magazine are sold out in print and available only in PDF format. The price is $3.50 each (plus tax in Canada). To order, send an email to backissues@NaturalLifeMagazine.com with your choice of issues from the list above and we'll send you an electronic invoice that can be paid online with a credit card. Your PDF issues will be emailed upon receipt of payment. Natural Life magazine celebrated 30 years of publishing in 2006.  Although those early issues aren't available in digital form and long sold out in print, we published a retrospective throughout 2006. Here is a look back to Natural Life's roots and some of those early issues. This is the first cover from the fall of 1976. Copyright © 1976 - 2012 Life Media |  About Us  |  Contact  |  Subscribe  |  Advertise  |  Contribute  | |  Sustainability Statement  |  Ethics Statement  |  Privacy Policy  | May/June 2012 March/April 2012 January/February 2012 November/December 2011 September/October 2011 July/August 2011 May/June 2011 March/April 2011 January/February 2011 November/December 2010