Decline of Countryside Magazine

BackHome was started by the original MEN "cast" - but I don't know if
the same folks still own it. I love their articles but the issues always seem a bit skimpy for the price.

Maybe if we all picked a favorite mag and give it a surge in subscriptions, the articles would improve, as well?
My vote would go to BackHome. And only if they pledge not to sell my name and address...

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Hut on the Hill Farm
http://www.hutonthehill.org

The real audience for such magazines as countryside is people who dream of living such a life, not those who actually are experiencing it. We had subscriptions to Countryside and Harrowsmith for years before we moved to the farm. I don't think we have bought a copy in the last 25 years.

So if the magazine seems yuppy, that is because it is yuppies who are subscribing.

I just went to their website. The artical they let you read is about alpaca's. Are they not "AMWAY" for farmers? They go on and on about the fiber sales. Anyone that has really looked into it knows they are only profitable if you breed "show" quality. That is the type of article that I hate. It's about fluff and no real stuff. The artical should say to be very careful because it is a large investment with little real long term investment potential for most.

No promises, but I believe I now have Anne-marie at least considering more heavily emphazing 'how we did it'-type articles. I have also suggested she go back about ten years and find such articles and they contact the writer(s) asking them to do a ten-year update.

Seems to me the last issue had lots of articles on small stock.

As was noted in another thread they somewhat serve several masters. Experienced folks vs inexperienced and computer users vs those without Interent access. If they become too forcused on those with past experience, the novices write in to complain they need more basic stuff and vice versa. On Internet access, you can likely get as much out of this site as the publication for the most part. However, they still have to cater to those without Interent access, so it may seem too tame for those with real-time access.

The contacts section was stopped due to abuse, such as prisoners and perverts using it for new contacts. Simply become more effort than it was worth.

I don't subscribe to their other publications on dairy goats, sheep and poultry. However, I would agree they might consider publishing articles on general interest from those in Countryside also.

Hi Ken,

I don't know about the last issue, since I no longer subscribe and can no longer get the magazine at the newsstand across the street. Plus, there's no table of contents for the current issue that I could locate on the website, so I have no idea what I'm missing.

IF there were a table of contents on the site, and IF it looked as though they were getting back on track for a few issues, both of which would be really nice, I'd resubscribe.

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www.glimmercroft.com
The basic message of liberalism is simply: The true measure of a society is how it treats the weak and the needy. A simple Christian message (Matthew 25:40). -Garrison Keillor

I agree that I really like the older issues more. Used to read them cover to cover more than once. Now, I really don't find it very interesting and I am not currently living the country dream and am one of those "in the city." I think that whenever a magazine changes key personnel it's content or "flavor" will change slightly. Not every cook makes the same dish exactly like the old chef! I really enjoyed JD's articles and the "feel" he brought/gave the magazine.

I figure at the end of the day a magazine is a business.

They make a profit or they die. So they try to do as well as possible and keep the wolves away from the door. I guess that would include broadening the reader base, and sometimes neglecting the core readership...

Seems like a lot of businesses forget who got them to where they are.....

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I sent an article to Countryside several months ago. It has not yet been published. It may have gotten lost in the big move or the connection to solar. Maybe I'll re-submit it or maybe, I'll try another magazine.

I no longer subscribe to Countryside and Small Stock Journal (if it is still called that) because it has gone "beyond" me - the same way that MEN has. I loved the way it was in the '70's - it was extremely helpful and interesting. I let my subscription "lapse" abouit 3 years ago because it was no longer directed to my interests. I love the fact that such a magazine has a lot of ads - I need them as sort of a catalog - but it seems that a lot of articles are written as a focus for those products. I'm sorry that people like me are not the target any longer and I do understand that all "things" must change. Hopefully Countryside has changed for the better for the publishers. Countryside used to have the "Forum" and that is how I came to HT. All I can say is "Good Luck" to them and I do wish them well. I also look for an alternative to replace them.

Its nice to know that I am not the only person who let his subscription lapse.
When I first discovered Countryside Magazine, I devoured every page, but towards the end, I rarely found anything of interest to read. I think the problem was twofold. Many of the articles were so case specific that they had little general interest. Or they were just sort of cutesy that they conveyed no useful information. I like to hear about how people approach a specific problem or situation and how they solved it.

I think that what happened to Countryside is something that happens to many publications as they and their owners age and become more knowledgeable and sophisticated and dare I say it well off. My parents and I used to love Yankee Magazine in the 1960s and 1970s. It was full of history, local color and useful information about old life in New England. Now its become a glorified travel magazine and real estate ad. Really a shame. And look what happened to THIS OLD HOUSE. Those of us who remember the very first season with Bob Villa fell in love with this show because they took a real old wreck and transformed it into a liveable house and they showed you HOW TO DO IT step by step. Norm actually used a hammer and showed you how to do something. Now its all product placement and the houses are
ridiculous palaces. I learn more watching one of those 1/2 hour flip that house shows then I learn on TOH. Norm wouldnt know a hammer now if it bit him on the leg.

I think what many of us miss and most of the newcomers want is a real how-to magazine. One that has an article that tells you how to build a simple chicken coop and addresses the whys and wherefors. How to lay out the chicken yard and then what kinds of chickens to buy and where to buy them.
I learn more on the forum listening to some old hand answer a simple question like following your grandpa round while he worked on the farm. He told you why the chicken house had a big window on the high side. Or why he put old tires round the tomato plants. Keep it simple folks and down to earth.

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FolioMark

Mus uni non fidit antro. ~ A mouse does not rely on just one hole.----Plautus

hmmmm...wish I had known this before I sent in the money last week!!

Nuts and Volts is a really good howto magazine, however they are in the electronics field, not homesteading...

Then there are magazines that has a ad on every page, the the "reviews" are tainted to protect the sponsors!

A magazine that isn't tainted by sponsors and advertisers is very rare.

I can picture a Magazine company, "well we don't have enough subscriptions to break even, so we will sell space to advertisers."


Today there is way too many products we are PAYING FOR that are loaded with Ads.

Yankee has a new editor and is coming out with a new format in the next issue. I'm eager to see what it's going to be like now.

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Robin

They don't pay for their articles, so what do you expect?

I expect the same quality from Countryside that they managed to maintain when:

1) They were interested enough to pay attention; and
2) They didn't have four magazines competing for the same material.

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www.glimmercroft.com
The basic message of liberalism is simply: The true measure of a society is how it treats the weak and the needy. A simple Christian message (Matthew 25:40). -Garrison Keillor

SHEEPISH????? Are you the original sheepish or a new one? I thought you were gone forever!

Well, I'd submit articles....and they'd be informative enough to print...if they'd swap for a subscription, but they won't. And I'm sorry, but after the contemptuous way we were treated on the Lusenet forum, I am simply not going to give them anything at all for free. I respect J.D. and Steve, but haven't the slightest use in the world for Dave.

I have had the November/December issue of Countryside since November and had just skimmed through the pages. After reading this thread I thought about why I don't read Countryside from cover to cover like I used to do. I just sat down and looked through the magazine again and the first thing I saw that I don't like is a magazine filled with advertisements. I buy a magazine to read, not to pay for advertisements. There is also a story about putting up a windmill. It makes me wonder how many readers they think are going to go out and buy a windmill to put on their property? Are people really saving money installing a windmill on their property? In the same issue is a solar powered shower. The shower looks good for kids to have fun with but my guess is most of us adults who buy Countryside have indoor plumbing and prefer to us that. The article on building rabbit cages would come in handy for those who want to make their own.

I want to read stories about people fixing up old homesteads, gardening the way oldtimers did and raising livestock the way oldtimers did. I want to read canning articles and making use of recycled materials. I don't want to read about building a house out of tires. I don't even know that building a house out of tires would be legal in most areas.

I wouldn't mind articles about building rootcellars and how to keep them at the right temperature to keep food from going bad.

I guess I would prefer a magazine directed more at living the simple life without having to buy all the fancy gadgets to do it. If countryside concentrated on giving the readers better stories they would have to sell a magazine full of advertisements.

[QUOTE=FolioMark] He told you why the chicken house had a big window on the high side. [QUOTE]

I expeced you to day East side, or some other similar direction.
But, "high side"?

Why does the chicken house have a window on the high side?