Countryside Magazine and Small Stock Journal is a publication that features wide variety of subjects in the realm of self-reliance and homesteading such as gardening, animal husbandry, food preparation and preservation, resource conservation, frugality, alternative energy, traditional skills, small business strategies, and much more. The articles are not written by paid author but rather by other homesteaders.

The journal is the result of the merger in 1973 of Small Stock Magazine which was founded in 1917 by Wallace Blair and Countryside which was founded in 1969 by Jerry (Jd) Belanger. It is published 6 times a year.

They are published by Countryside Publications, Ltd. which also publishes Backyard Poultry Magazine, Dairy Goat Journal, and sheep! magazine.

It is possible to subscribe here.

What do people think of Countryside Magazine?

We got Countryside a couple of years ago. I still have the back issues that we keep for reference. I liked it a lot. Most of the articles were contributed by readers, so there were a variety of submissions. The ones I liked the best were the DIY type ones.

Personally I don't think I will ever subscribe to a magazine again. Forums, this one in particular, are far more beneficial to me. I can easily search through to find a topic I have a question about.

For those of you that might look into countryside magazine this month, you can see my ants and aphids article massaged into print by suzy bean.

im a fan. i have the subscription.  a great mag.  its a toss up between COUNTRYSIDE and MOTHER EARTH.  i believe if i could only have one, id stay with MOTHEREARTH.

love it

I love it as well, have been reading many years. My wife is bad about stealing it and reading it before I can get my hands on it, but then she is the one that renews my subscription every year as a Christmas present.

I was delighted to see the article in my Country Side magazine just today..as I was catching up on My reading. In my efforts to find info about gardening (and such) on the internet I crossed Permies path. Since I am in the NW I was glad to see some local individuals and local subjects......Thanks to Permies I have become totally inspired....as I realized I was half way there to embracing permiculture.
I too Have had an article published in Country Side and I was just thinking that I should submit something about permiculture as I think this has not been recogonized nearly enough in the Mag.....and then I see Paul Wheaton and Suzy Bean! Great Story, What A Small World.
Thanks for the inspiration!

Ogden Publications are all very similar.  I have been a Mother Earth subscribers since 1970.  I read Grit too but only because a friend subscribes and we swap after reading it.  It is my opinion that they are becoming less of a publisher for homesteaders and moving in the direction of "hobby farmers."  Don't get me wrong because anybody that wants to grow more plants is a good thing.  We were once a well educated agrarian society and hopefully we are moving back in that direction. 

id like to see more articles on permaculture in the magazines.  the term and whole idea was foreign to me till a few months back.  so im sure there are many others that have never heard of it either and that would grab on to the ideas if it was introduced to them.  anything written on the idea is a great help to me.

My favorite magazine is Acres USA as far as ecologically sound agriculture goes but permaculture is beyond what they cover.  Lots of useful information though.

I had countryside magazine for over 20 years and founds many good topics in them but I also found topics that just didnt relate to what I like. I suppose it is a toss up between them and some other magazines. I really think backwoods magazine is pretty good and motherearth news.  It also depends on what your looking for.  Everyone has their own idea what is good information.  I do keep almost all of these kind of magazines for reference but now days you can get on line and get about anything for free.  However, it is nice to keep and have those magazines in case something happens.

The issues from 1985 to 2002 were worth their weight in gold for a homesteader. But I don't think I would bother with a subscription now.

Today I was in the marketing director's office where I work and this magazine caught my eye.  I have never read an article of this magazine before.  Later I found out that this magazine has been around for quite some time.

I picked up the magazine with a shade of ambivalence and was curious how they were defining "Modern Homesteading" as implied in the cover page's heading.  I thought I am a homesteader, I know other homesteaders, hmm, let's take a look.

The article written by Jerri L Cook is in support of GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) biotechnology and mocked those cynically who are not.  The author basically called us who are not bioengineers as stupid and not able to comprehend anything of this science.  Since this has passed the editor's eye I probably won't be subscribing to this modern method of homesteading.