Mother Earth News ...Wot up?

[hunter63]

I don't know how many if y'all get or read Mother Earth News....but I have been a subscriber since issue 17...(bought all the back issues)....and am still getting it.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/

This issue has plenty of garden stuff in it but was only 80 something pages?


This reminds me of the trouble years,... changed hands a couple of times...stopped publication, and restarted again.

Used to be a good Homesteader Manual, seems suburbanite lately.....

Any one else get this magazine?

[NavySEAL]

I have all the earlier issues but stopped reading when they went slick........sure was a great mag in the beginning.
NS

[hunter63]

Yeah....I agree.....sad.

I'm almost tempted to cancel the subscription.....but I have all of them....hard to just stop now.

I had an article published and a couple of "hints" published as well.

[randyt]

I think it went downhill around issue 89 or so

[Lamewolf]

Lost interest in it when it went "modern" !

My favorite was the old American Survival Guide that is no longer with us. And 73 Magazine for Amateur Radio that went by the wayside - even had an article submitted for that one and they made me an offer for the article, then went belly up. I always said the $75 they offered me for the article bankrupted them !

Backwoodsman is now my favorite !

[LowKey]

I get Mother Earth News. Was a gift. Not sure if I'll renew. There's too much "if you want to learn more go to our website address blah blah blah."
There's some interesting stuff but way too yuppified. You need quite a bit of money to do some of the stuff they talk about.
Funny thing, I had a pile of them fall over onto the floor and looking at them, the covers all looked the same. And after a year and a half they are starting to repeat articles.

I remember reading it, or something like it back in the late 70s or early 80s.

[Cold Creek April]

Yeah it's because they came out with that new mag mother earth living or something like that.. I prefer backwoods mag and the like now..

[WolfVanZandt]

Grph! When I was a kid (!! When I was a kid! @.@) You could go anywhere they sold magazines, pharmacies, bus stations, department stores, and they'd have a big section of do-it-youself and project magazines. Now you're lucky if they have two or three such magazines. Many of the old ones are still around but they've turned into consumer review magazines.

[randyt]

remember when the gun mags had DIY gunsmith projects?

[Rick]

Ah yes, back when lawyers were almost human. (sorry, ken). Today....Better Call Saul.

http://www.bettercallsaul.com/

[alaskabushman]

I buy the occasional issue off a newsstand when a certain article interests me. I like the backwoodsman better, and I also read the backwoods home, in spite of the strong political vibe.

[ElevenBravo]

American Survival Guide

I was still a "kid" when they were in publication, I used to go to the local Army Navy store and buy them all the time!

A bit dated now, but still... I *LOVE* ASG!

EB

[cabingal4]

i loved the old day mother earth news.
i had them all and then we moved to town and i never thought i would really need them again.
got rid of all of them.makes me so sick at heart i cant even say.
i saved one i really loved.its how to make a steamed bread on the stove top in bigger tin cans.
one of the recipes is for a basic dinner loaf.u make it ,u slice it and fry it.i put the slices on bread with mayo and
onions.its such a great recipe and oh i loved those early mags.just so grand to sit and read.

[Zack]

Does anybody else like American Frontiersman?

[cabingal4]

i love American Frontiersman and the backwoodsman magazines alot.

[Zack]

i love American Frontiersman and the backwoodsman magazines alot.

I've never read "Backwoodsman", but I like "American Frontiersman" a lot!

[tundrabadger]

American frontiersman is pretty good...I actually subscribe to backwoodsman. I like mother earth news, except insofar as their guide to living on less assumed that I had a lot more money than I do. What I miss, though, is Harrowsmith Country Life, which was similar to mother earth news, but Canadian, and published in Ontario...and therefore talked about things that I could actually do in this climate.

[hunter63]

Early MEN was wonderful, and fit my/our goal and beliefs at the time.....'70's-'80's.....
We really bought into the self-sufficient and do for yourself life style....still do.
Went to the MEN Eco-Village back in the '80's outside of Hendersonville, NC for a week of camping and "classes" on article published in the magazine....
Stack wood building , alcohol fuel, wood-gas, solar (make your own collector), gardening, horses, log cabin....etc.
You could go to 4 classes per day, all week...was included with your camping fees.......

Actually the place isn't in business any longer....but is located about 10 miles from the 2013 WSF Jamboree camp-out.

Area sure has changed since '82 (I think).......when we were there and attended the Knoxville World Fair as part of the trip.


Sadly, The magazine went thru a couple of owners, and is kinda a Yuppie, hobby farm, wantabe, Martha Stewart Magazine these days it seems.

Read one article about a guy had moved his family back to the land....had been a big city wall street kinda guy....bought a farm in the area of our cabin.....
Was revisited a couple of years later....DW had moved back to the city, with one child that was seriously ill......
He had commented that he "only lost $250,000" the first year....LOL

WE have a neighbor down the road form us could be that guy/wife.....but a lot newer.....he is there most of the time....does his business on the internet...I guess.
DW spend most week ends there.

The days of moving to an old family farm and start up may not be over.......but really difficult with out money.

[Rick]

People forget that a good chunk of the private land in the U.S. was actually homesteaded and passed down from one generation to the next. Someone's great, great, whatever grandfather simply had to apply for the land, meet the requirements of the time and take ownership. That's vastly different than today trying to pay $3k (or a whole lot more) per acre and trying to farm it. Most of the descendants today are finding that house seed is a whole lot more profitable than grain seed.

[hunter63]

On that note...Today local paper was discussing the sale of another tract of 400 acres for development.
Land that had been in the same family since land patents....(grants?).
Family has moved on.

BTW I was looking at the MEN site...that pop up ad is a PITA....but couldn't fine the "old issue archive section"....just references' to the Back issue DVD and such.
So I called (yeah old fashion) to ask where it went...Lady says "This is the (publishing company), Which magazine do you want info for."....

So I got switched over....and another lady confirmed that it was no longer available as a "Look up" reference.
Then asked if I wanted to buy the DVD/CD Blah, blah blah.....

So finding an old article is now harder, making it harder to post a reference.....to an article.

Too bad....