Maybe we can put together a list of suggestions for improvements to OG. OG is now thinner than ever, published less frequently, and is more expensive. I worry about the future of this magazine. While it isn't what it used to be, I'd still like to have it around. Rather than continue to complain about their switch, or pine away over OG's better days, I think we need to give some constructive criticism and useful suggestions. Let's all give some. A few from me are:
1. Don't worry about repetitiveness. I can read about soil improvement until the cows come home. How they do it in every zone, in every size garden, every aged gardener. I can read about tomatoes over and over again just like I grow them over and over again.
2. Longer articles. The new OG has very short articles and feels too flimsy. I want pages and pages on each article. I want substance and depth and I want to feel like the author of the article is an expert on the subject, not some reporter. OG should be a manual, not an hour of light reading.
3. Thicker magazine. If it's fewer pages than all the others, then it's giving me less than all the others. Charging more is fine if you give more. Charging more for less is a bad and unsustainable business model.

4. Hold a focus group consisting of your loyal readers. I don't want to write an entire essay here but I can't tell you how much I love to read about different fruits, vegetables, and herbs and how more experienced gardeners are growing healthy produce. It's not like there is a shortage of stuff to write about. Which leads me into...
5. Invest in your product. I looked at the list of writers for the chicken issue, it was pretty short. The less money and fewer writers you put into your magazine, the less circulation you will ultimately get. A thinner, less frequently published and more expensive magazine does not keep past readers and attract new ones. That just doesn't make any sense. Put more into OG, not less.
-That's enough from me. All useful suggestions for the future of OG are welcome here. John, I hope you're still reading.

Here's my two cents:
1. Enough already with the pictures of "cutesy" deformed veggies. They are a waste of space---I'm sure Rodale has gotten more interesting mail in recent days.
2. Please publish more info on what may be "bugging" our plants---and how to fend them off organically.
3. Kiss---(Keep it simple, stupid!)---what are some real low-cost,LOW-TECH ways of dealing with garden problems?
4. Lighten up. No one expects you guys to be rocket scientists. While we DO want well-researched, informative articles, please remember that gardening is a HOBBY for most of us and we want to read about gardening because it's FUN. I know you're sick of hearing how much everyone misses Mike McGrath, but maybe you could pick up his "lighter" style.
5. Do your research! In the latest issue, in the "My Dumbest Mistake" column, the contibutor's husband sowed "thistle birdseed" instead of grass. Her final line was, "It grew, although...". This is impossible. Niger, or "thistle" seed used to feed birds is not grown commercially in this country. By law it is STERILIZED before being imported into the US. It CANNOT sprout!

Here's one more:
Keep the articles TIMELY. Why are we reading about starting spinach in SEPTEMBER (to overwinter) in the NOV/DEC magazine???!!! Wouldn't that have been better suited to the September issue? By contrast, in the latest issue of Mother Earth News there is a great article on planting garlic---something we can do NOW.

Bring back some of the regular features that made you special, like the Compost Corner.

If you run out of material investigate organic practices in other parts of the world.

See what you can do to get the cost down, the price on my renewal notice, combined with the thinness of the magazine and hard feelings over the "switch" is very hard to swallow.

John,
I'm a Creative Director and a gardener. I have mixed feelings about the recent overhaul of the mag. From the design perspective, I appreciate the redesign of the pub--nicely spaced, interesting fonts. However, as a reader, I feel a bit cheated. I read my OG cover to cover and it's quite sparse compared to earlier issues. I don't feel I'm getting my money's worth. I'm still a loyal subscriber, but like others, worry if the pub will wither away to nothing.
I like the watchdog articles. I miss Mike and the recipes.

Used to be, I looked forward to a couple of hours of education, light-hearted goofs and resolves, low cost simple solutions, and, of course, humor in Q&A section. I always did this the day the magazine came and would savor every section. Little by little, the magazine has changed. While I still look forward to the magazine (as most of us are always hungry for new ideas and solutions and will read anything we can get our hands on!-even details in the seed catalogs), I find less and less meat and substance to the stories and articles, very little humor, and can run through the magazine in about an hour, always left feeling like I wish there was more. Please take the time to review your magazines from a few years back and pay attention to the differences that drew us to the magazine to start with. I have been a subscriber for many years.
Thank you.
A Hoffman
CT

I've got some suggestions, too.

1) How about a "spotlight on the editors" section, where the staff writers showcase their own gardens. I work full time and have a five acre vegetable and flower garden and that has a lot to offer for almost the entire year! If my humble subscription is going to pay editors' wages, they better have cuticles at least as dirty as mine!

2) Reprints from ealier (say 30 years earlier) articles that are just as timely now as they were then. Organic gardening is way older than the chemical propaganda that we get now and a lot of those articles are very interesting.

3) "Best of the list serve!" Yay! Maybe articles from the more interesting gardeners (I pick Roborganic, he's right on!) on the list. Since the real "science" of organic farming is in observation and experimentation, people that may not think they have a lot to say sould be the best
journalists.

4) Bring back Seed Savers Exchange!
5) Bring Back Mike McG's observation page.

Donna R

I agree that there are MANY home gardeners that have done some pretty impressive research or have perfected some pretty darn creative techniques that I'd love to read about. I love to read first-hand accounts of stuff regular folks are doing that I may never have tried. That's the appeal of these internet communities. & that appeal could be duplicated in the magazine.

Some of the above suggestions made their way to the current issue (except no McG).

Get ahead of the curve & turn OG into an E-Zine.

You are off to a great start already.

I've seen huge message boards (not gardening) with 30,000 subscribers, where a question would be answered by another subscriber in moments, with subscribers meeting each other in conventions. It could be huge & fun & profitable.
Check your calendar. 2001 & counting.
Dave

I agree. & really, I know of NO organic gardening on-line community that has large numbers of regular posters where you can get a large response to a posted query & the kind of debate on specific gardening questions that really opens your eyes to all kinds of new ideas. There's some really good folks who post here & I'm happy to have found my way here, but I'd sure love to see 20 or 30 responses to each question from organic gardeners from all over the world with things I've never heard of to try. Dave, if YOU start that E-zine, you let us know & I'll subscribe!! (You too, John Grogan!)

All I have to say is"where is the beef?"(sorry you non-meat eatters). I think you all get my drift.

Tana your message could of not been more well timed. I JUST sent an e-mail to the editors about how much more informative and entertaining the magazine was when McG and Maria were at the helm (even though Maria is still the boss).

Your words are so eloquently spoken and echo my thoughts.

I believe if the magazine would go back to doing indepth atricles and quit trying to be a hard core publication but one that does informative pieces from the people that read the magazine and those that are in the gardening/farming/research profession they would be back on track to being a great magazine again.

I have been reading my back issues of OG (1995- on)and I do find those early issues to be more valuable beause they contain more information stated in todays words and at level that beginner or intermediate and even an advanced gardener can understand and use.

Tana keep on writing them, you do such a better job than I in pointing out thier short commings.

David Adams

It would be nice if they started adding a few articles directed at those of us who run CSA's or sell at farmers markets. It is almost impossible to find that kind of info around.
People keep pointing to the growth of organic sales in food stuffs, but those of us who do produce these items are hard pressed to find info in new practices or studies. In fact most of us if we go to our county extension agents get bizarre looks from them as if we are from another planet for even asking for non-conventional farming info.

1. Make it quarterly. This will give it some heft and eliminate the horrible sense of "is that all there is?" which is associated with the current versions. The would have the added benefits of reducing your production and distribution costs.

2. Since you say that magazine size is related to advertising, do some serious investigation into why OG can't seem to sell advertising while Mother Earth can. Obviously you market to similar audiences. Where is the problem? Do they have a larger subscriuber base? Or is their sales organization more effective for some reason?