I just found out today that my subscription to Organic Magazine had been canceled and switched to Organic Style Magazine! I had been busy these last couple months so I hadn't noticed that Organic Gardening Magazine wasn't coming, till today when I was looking for the current issue in my magazine stack. I called the company and they told me that they had switched the subscription for me. I told them that I don't remember receiving any letter about the magazine stopping and she said they sent out one. I think that was very rude of them to switch my subscription to Organic Style which is nothing like Organic Gardening! The lady told me that she'll switch my subscription to the new OG magazine to see if I like it. The thing about it is that I had just renewed the magazine for 2 years because I figured that the magazine will never go out of business. Any other comments on the bad treatment of us faithful subscribers?

Sweet-pea

Sweet Pea, there was great furor over this back in September. The "letter" was on an attached cover that came with your first involuntary issue of Organic Style. The was much ranting and raving with letters to the editors, Better Business Bureau, etc. and some lame responses from management.

The new OG I found to be too skimpy.

Adriana, thank you for the info. I know now what happened to my letter. I don't care for the magazine Orgainc Style so when the magazine came I threw it away without even looking at it or seeing the letter.

Sweet-pea

A terrific magazine died. I will not be getting the new one. I will not be back here either. I would like to thank all of you who have helped me with all my garden problems, and I hope some day there will be another magazine the way OG was 10 years ago. Today I feel like I lost a dear friend. Good Bye.

Hi, I feel a lot in the same way, I too feel like I lost a good friend, and I have told them so repeatedly, I had heard rumor that they were actually going to quit publishing OG mag. I too raised a "fuss" when the new mag. came out, I made it very clear how I felt. I still have a ways to go on my subscription, when renewal comes up we shall wait and see.....
Angelswings

PS, some help is better than none!

I feel like you do, Angelswing. I'm bummed out about not having the familiar OG magazine...it was so great. But I also know that publishing a magazine is a business, and if the profits aren't there, then you can't continue. Obviously if it were a money maker, they would have continued publishing it just like it was. I've never been a magazine saver, but for some reason I never threw out my old OG magazines...now I'm so glad! I feel like I have a little treasure!

I am glad that there is at least something still being published...even if it isn't as good as the old magazine. Maybe given time, the Organic Style magazine will prove to be unprofitable and we will get our old magazine back? Who knows? But in the meantime, I am so grateful for this message board. We have our own bunch of 'experts' right here ... so many people who are willing to share their experiences, and in my opinion that is worth just as much as a box of magazines that you have to sift through to find an answer! This is a great place, and regardless what happens with OG and Organic Style Magazines, I'm hooked on this message board and won't be going anywhere...you guys are my friends!
Janet

Yeah, just tonight I was looking through my back issues of organic gardening and I noticed really how skimpy and thin OG was compared to them. I would consider cancelling my subscription when it comes up for renewal if they do not change it back. Did it split into two so the company can make more money? That is about all I can think of. At least loweer the price for OG if nothing else.

You will get a surprise when you see the price for your renewal. It has gone way up...I chose not renew mine.

Still sad :>(...

Welcome to the club.
I too was switched to that glossy piece of fluff last fall. After numerous requests, they have failed to switch me back.
I got really ticked off when I was reading through some back issues. I always take reading material with me -- Sept 11 found left me stranded in Germany. Desperate for English reading material, i read my issue cover to cover, including some of the useless blurbs I usually skip over. What do I find -- an ad for Organic Style. Obviously I didn't show any interest in Organic Style last year when they put the add out. Why in the world would they switch me (without permission) later on?

It's been months now -- no OG -- no OS (thank GOD on the 2nd half -- it's a waste of paper -- not to mention all of the chemicals they use to make those pages so glossy) -- no refund. After subscribing for 15 years, I find that I don't really miss OG, which was previously my favorite magazine. In fact, I am happy to be rid of it. With McGrath's departure, the magazine had turned to sound bites of anti-chemical, anti-genetic rhetoric which had no substance. These blurbs resort to mocking the folks who use chemicals, or plant star-link corn and provide no real information. I have read far more informative articals in non-organgic, non-gardening magazines. If OG wants us to believe genetically altered crops are bad, they should give us a well written, well argued artical telling us why rather than just making a 2-line joke of people that disagree. The OG readership is not a bunch of brainless bimbos who accept without thinking. And even a blonde woman like myself is able to tell the difference between a gardening and a style magazine.

i just got my 1st mag of my subscription. i was sooooo disappointed!!! 48 pages, 20+ of which was advertisement. they could cut productin costs by dropping the high gloss paper w/ the varnish coat. put it on news print like roberts rodale's mag was. i'm not impressed by shiny things & think that most OG readers are the same.... substance over form.
or better yet, as i've said, make it online & cut the printing(/environmental) costs altogether.... igve me my copy online. i'll take the advertisements as well, it helps pay the bills, but there's nothing to pollute.

Hey you guys---there IS another choice: MOTHER EARTH NEWS. If you haven't seen it lately, you're really missing out. Cheryl Long is the Editor in Chief now; she was an editor for OG when Mike McGrath was at the helm (remember---when OG was worth the subscription price). Yeah, there are still some "unusual" articles in Mother Earth News, but there are also a LOT of great Organic gardening articles. The most recent (June/July 2002) issue has articles on growing okra, another on edamame (edible green soybeans), one on beneficial insects, one on using wire mesh for garden trellises, etc., and a section called "homefood: Celebrating the pleasures of local, seasonal eating". Dollar for dollar, there is more organic gardening information in Mother than there is in the "new" OG.

I am another disappointed organic gardener who has been a subscriber to the old OG mag for over thirty years. Being male, I was not automatically switched over to the new Style rag; however, I was sent numerous notices to renew my OG subscription even though I had renewed for three years a while back.

There is hardly value in the magazine now. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would suggest that the publisher has tried her best to subvert the magazine and drive off traditional organic gardeners so as to claim lack of readership and support. Bye bye OG.

i hope OG listens. it would be such a shame for the mag that started it all to go under.
but it does sound like what you listed would fill the pages of this new shiny little thing i got w/ the OG name on the front cover. my subscription budget is spent for the yr. i pray that OG can change by the time my renewal comes up.

I just hopped over to the Mother Earth News website to check it out. I'm not quite sure how to say this without sounding like a snob, but it seems pretty "country" (which isn't a bad thing, considering we are gardeners.) I'm seeing things like building smoke houses, growing potatos in tires, and building wind generators. Unfortunately, I'm a city slicker with a teeny weeny little yard. Of course, everything but the dogs' play area is dug up into veggi and flower beds -- I even stash some of my prettier veggies (like peppers, lettuce, and an occasional eggplant) in the front yard. If I don't keep the veggi garden looking half-way decent, the neighbors would have a fit. (I already live in fear that the city will discover my compost pile hidden behind the garage -- they are a no-no here.)

Anyhow, I was wondering if the Mother Earth News mag has things that would be of interested to a slightly foo-foo gardener like myself. The things about old OG I loved was new seed evaluations, good-bug bad-bug articals, how-to's on caring for different types of plants, not to mention how-to's on getting rid of pests without chems. (I'm still looking for the solution for grubs and vine borers.) Does Mother Earth News provide this sort of info?

i think i'll start dropping by the library to read MEN & compare w/ the OG i subscribe to. when it's time to renew OG i'll decide. maybe i'll be able to afford both. i just hope OG is listening. get rid of the fancy, glossy, expensive printing, give us substance not form. we need content not printers varnish.