My Time With The Old HARROWSMITH Magazine And The New One

If you’re interested in learning more about successful rural or semi-rural living, then I have a story to tell and something specific to recommend.

My Favourite Magazine

It was the late 1970s when I first got interested in learning how to live in the country. I was a teenager then, growing up in the suburbs of Toronto – Canada’s largest city. The only physical connection to rural living I had back then was the grain fields across the four-lane blacktop in front of my house. Manicured lawns, backyard pools and white picket fences on my side of the road, tractors and grain fields and the odd male pheasant calling in the spring on the other side. It was a stark difference and my heart was clearly on the other side of the road.

The first tangible move I made towards rural life, the one I’ve been living for the last 35+ years, was to sign up for a subscription to a magazine called Harrowsmith. It’s impossible to love a magazine more than I loved Harrowsmith. It became my source of information, inspiration and reference material. Information was much more scarce back then before the internet, so I kept each issue until I had large stacks of them under my bed. I knew each article and advertisement like I’d written them myself.

I was closely connected to the tone and topics covered by Harrowsmith, and though I never met the founder of the magazine, James Lawrence, I know exactly what kind of man he must have been. He understood the beauty, the feelings and the practical side of real rural living. He also understood what a precious trust our rural lands are. Mr. Lawrence also understood that the countryside wasn’t just something to be looked at and admired from afar, but something we have a legitimate responsibility to partner with in a hands-on way.

By 1989 I’d started my rural adventures on Bailey Line Road, Manitoulin Island, and I remember opening a fresh issue of Harrowsmith in November of that year and being horrified by very questionable advertisements. This sort of thing had never happened before in the Harrowsmith I knew. It should never have happen. Something had clearly changed in my beloved magazine. It was a black day and it was just the beginning.

I didn’t know the details at the time, but Harrowsmith had been sold to a big publishing company and they’d started milking the magazine for all the advertising dollars they could get. It broke my heart to see the publication prostituted like this with a noticeable change in focus, and it was the beginning of the end for the Harrowsmith I loved. A lot of other people must have felt the same way. The reputation of the title remained for years, but the soul was gone, at least for a while. The lights finally flickered and went out on Harrowsmith in 2011, but they didn’t stay out.

Fast forward to today, and the old soul of Harrowsmith is back. This wouldn’t be noteworthy if Harrowsmith was just another country living magazine, but it’s not. The publisher in charge now is more than committed to the original vision of James Lawrence. Her name is Yolanda Thornton and she’s poured everything she’s got into making Harrowsmith the publication it was in the good old days. The heart and soul of the old Harrowsmith is here again in a way that can only happen when a passionate person grabs the helm. No big corporation here.

I was so impressed with all this that I ended up contributing to the new Harrowsmith as a writer, 30+ years after being a reader only. That was an interesting full-circle kind of experience for me, and though I’ve had to pull back on this recently because of other commitments, I still think the magazine is great. Earlier this week I noticed that Harrowsmith if offering a subscription special. I have no reason to recommend this, except that I think you’ll get valuable information and inspiration from it. Click below for details.

If you’re interested in sustainable, rural living, like I am, you won’t be disappointed. Harrowsmith is online, too. Visit harrowsmithmag.com to see for yourself.

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– Steve Maxwell