Magazine Resources

I’m pondering what things I can add to this section; insects that I love and bugs that get on my nerves, garden feedback, garden harvests, fresh ideas…I think it’s necessary to have a section entirely for gardening that’s separate from our Sustainability section-hover over Urban Homestead Projects, you can see some of our garden projects there. So I’m just going to wedge it out now. However some things that you may already find useful would be my info regarding online seed companies and topics in Our Blog.

There are numerous websites that offer endless advice on ways to gem up your living spaces. As an avid magazine goer, I have had the opportunity to stumble on some fantastic reads for you! 

Green Magazines for You

Mother Earth News-been around FOREVER and if you are down with homesteading and becoming more sustainable in life, subscribe, you can also get a cd of the past 40+years of their publications. I still have old copies when Paul Newman and his wife were on the the cover; that was in the 90’s I think, of useful information. The subjects seem to recycle themselves but always offer the latest news on topics and environmental policies, etc. that are impacting us. You will learn a lot from this publication and find yourself immersed in dirt after reading. Recipes on making your own cheese, bread, etc.

Mother Earth Living-pretty sure this magazine is sister to Mother Earth News, I got both issues from the past month and they covered similar topics, so now I’m trying to decide which one would be better for me. I got a free issue or two of this last year and was compelled to start my own natural product line from some of the recipes they used in the publication. I’ve tweeked my recipes a bit but have come up with some amazing products and from that I believe this is a great useful DIY magazine much like Mother Earth News is. I think it’s more feminine than Mother Earth News, so perhaps it may appeal to women more, and the like the opposite, but that’s just a speculation. They are both spectacular, helpful resources to help you live a healther and greener life.

Organic Gardening–I received a few free mags last year. There was some decent information in these reads; written in plain english for the beginner for sure.

Sunset–This magazine has been in publication for decades too only I recently stumbled upon it last year when trying to use up my frequent flyer miles. This was one of my free mags that I chose and I’m glad that I did. It focuses on the Pacific Northwest; California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada from what I could tell. I highly recommend getting this magazine if you live in one of these states. It’s SOO COOL! It gives you local food, travel, adventure recommendations. It also tells you what to be planting during different seasons and what varieties of succulents or landscape plants are good for your location; among other useful, crafty and unique gardening tricks. One of them was painting flowerpots with chalk paint to write on for seed starts. Probably the over rave at this point but at the time I thought it was ingenious. There are flashback articles from different eras the magazine published and recipes too. Retrochic, ultrafabulous. Even though I don’t live in one of those states, I learned many creative design ideas, and tried some new recipes from a non cooking magazine; I’ve got my share of collections…if I lived closer, this one would be a keeper for sure.

Farmers Almanac–How cool is this! I usually get online to check the planting by the moon gardening calender but my mom sent me this copy for Christmas this year and boy was I missing out. Love the whole publication! Great read and intersting topics. It’s very useful for weather predictions by region, best days to do different things, fun stories, easy to read planting guide, astronomy, astrology, and more!

Edible Austin–This paper publication can actually be find worldwide! Check to see if you have one in your city. I just noticed that they are offered in different areas. The great thing about this magazine is that it’s free and locally based. Articles are based upon people in the city we live in and ways they are impacting change, food, gardening, wine, beer, chocolate, lemonade, etc. There is a lot of local advertising especially on various people who do organic food deliveries, organic farm CSA’s to choose from, places to stay, grocery stores with nitches and there’s basically wholesome goodness in every copy. I love the fact that they also sneak in season recipes as well. I keep these on hand with all my cooking magazines that I cant fathom getting rid of! Yes, call me a particular pack rat.

***Take advantage of the online bloggers, web publications, and local newspapers in your area. Many of them will send you monthly newsletters.