Polly I saw your post over at A Village Commons and I thought that I'd bring the question up here as well. Did anyone else get a copy of a magazine called "Organic Style" in the mail this month? It's put out by the "Organic Gardening" folks. I didn't order it, my question is are they sending this out to OG subscribers in addition to OG or in place of OG? I am way too disorganized to ever become an organic Martha Stewart!

-- Anonymous, August 27, 2001

Answers

I finally called customer service today. The lady on the phone said that ALL Organic Gardening customers got Organic Style instead this month. I was very polite and told her that OS was about as far from MY style as it would be possible to get; and that I would prefer to receive the magazine that I subscribed to; and that I would really like a copy of it this month. She switched me back over to what she called OG; she slipped and corrected herself a couple of times when she called it Organic Gardening; so I am currently in a wait and see mode. I haven't been too impressed with Organic Gardening the past few months - it appears to be shrinking, among other things; so I'm not too sure that I won't cancel my subscription all together. I'm paid up on it to Mar of '04.

Did any of the rest of you get OS this month - Joy, I think I saw you put in something about it somewhere. Expenive make-up ad; expensive cologne ad with semi-naked male; expensive clothes ad; more make-up; and SAV (surburban assault vehicle!)er...SUV ad; hair coloring; more clothes; more make-up, expensive vacation; prescription drug ad - Oh wow, look - FINALLY some actual content!! The new editor telling us how she's hanging on to her New York apartment; and her friends and family are SHOCKED that she's working for OS. Oh well, now the picture is getting clearer - the environmental movement is becoming chic, but us caftan wearing and bean curd eating (to steal her words) people just really need some help with our style, you know. Still contemplating a e-mail to customer service about it!

I also quote from the front cover letter from Maria Rodale: "When he coined the phrase "organic gardening" 60 years ago, my grandfather, J.I. Rodale , could never have predicted how the idea of "organic" would evolve and grow!" Hmmm, from what I recall of J.I.'s columns and ideals; I think he would be spinning in his grave! Evolve? Let's try "mutated" maybe. Hey! Maybe this is kind of like Star Link corn - a big genetically engineered malfunction! Okay, rant over - still sad and annoyed though.

I sure wish I could find some other good magazines to subscribe to - more of them like Countryside, or what Organic Gardening used to be - back when it was Organic Gardening and Farming. Sojo had a list of mags that Gene Logsdon will be writing for - did you see them? I got a free issue of Acres USA and it didn't really interest me that much; but I;m open to ideas. I think I may have subscribed to a gardening mag today - I remember the lady calling me and asking me to subscribe to a mag - when I asked if they had gardening ones she offered me OS; I remember describing it to her in unflattering terms! I think I took another one; but I don't remember what it was for sure! Let you know next month!

-- Anonymous, August 27, 2001

Yeah, there was a thread about this on CS, and I posted there. Yes, I got Organic Style. I didn't understand if they were sending me this in addition to OG or had switched me, so I inquired by e-mail. I was told I had been switched to this (Wretched) new magazine, so I told them to switch me back. I wasn't rude about it, but I did tell them that I found it to be an appalling substitute for OG. I don't care if they want to "expand" the definition of organic and write articles about sheets made from organic cotton (too bad the articles aren't even THAT pertinent) -- I just don't want them deciding I should get THAT instead of OG.

I think it had switched to being 'just' OG by the time I started reading it. But just a few years ago it was MUCH, MUCH better than what it is now. I almost posted something about that last time I got an issue of OG -- very skinny, and I hardly recognize it. None of the articles I used to enjoy -- has stuff about how to start a lawn, and not very in depth at that! I have appreciated the addition of the political stuff, like what Monsanto is up to now, and action you can take, etc. But how about articles on tomatoes again? Where did all their writers go?

I, too, have wondered if I should cancel my subscription (not too long ago, I signed up for their automatic renewal, which means I have to tell them I want it stopped). What I really think is that we should rouse the troops at all these forums and write, e-mail, or call OG and tell them that we want it to go back to what it WAS. Sure, you can "vote" with cancelling your subscription, but it leaves them in doubt -- did you lose interest in gardening, did you die, do you hate the magazine, etc. If we tell them, they will have no doubt! It may do no good, but it isn't going to hurt us either!

I wonder if Back Home (the split-off magazine from Mother Earth News, many years ago, not to be confused with Backwoods Home) would like to get more "into" organic gardening . . . . . .

-- Anonymous, August 27, 2001

Just spent some time wandering around gardenweb and the garden to garden board at Rodale's site. My, oh my but there are some po'd folks out there! The Customer Service lady told me that all subscribers got an ish of OS; now I find out that females and new subscribers got OS; while men and older subscribers (serious gardeners!) got OG.

How about another sexist slap in the face? I then read that Organic Gardenings demographics show their ave. reader is a 39 year old white female, college educated with a $62,000/year household income. So since I resemble that profile; and of course, subscribe to Organic Gardening; I should sit back and accept this rag they send me? I think NOT!

I keep reading other people to are comparing OS to Martha Stewart's mag besides you Sherri. I'd rather read Martha (not that I would ever admit to such a thing!) At least Martha's products are sold through K-Mart where folks might hope to afford them!

-- Anonymous, August 27, 2001

I don't want to instigate a round of Martha-bashing, so I'll just say that there's something about her that rubs me the wrong way and leave it at that. I called the phone number on the Organic Style mag last night and got switched back to Organic Gardening. After I got off the phone I was wishing that I had thought to ask what the OS selection criteria was, now that I know I'm even more cranky.

I agree with Joy that a letter writing campaign is in order. The last issue of OG was puny, I almost lost it in the junk mail. How long do you think it's going to take before they kill it and "generously" offer to finish out our subscriptions with Organic Style instead?

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Naw, I don't care much for Martha's mag or some of her ideas myself, Sherri; all I wanted to point out was that at least common folks can afford some of her stuff since she sells through K-Mart rather than upscale stores. I bought a quilted comforter and sheets with her label on them - decent quality merchandise for the $$$. Heck, Jessie even likes some of her stuff and I've bought some to put in her hope chest! Although, she keeps pointing things out to me that she plans to take with her when she leaves home - MY things!! And most of the things she likes came from auction - one of those 50 cents for a box of stuff bids! Must be hereditary!

Organic Gardening; or rather Rodale, has a web site where you can e- mail to let them know how you feel - don't quite have the hang of their forum yet myself. That; and the fact that I haven't been able to tone down my missive yet - started out something like "Which one of you pea brained morons decided.......!! As soon as I can tone it down to "I am very disappointed that you chose to apply gender bias and designated me as a fluff brained, make-up wearing lip-service giving.... (giggle!)

Now, since I've had some sleep and a lovely morning so far; I'm going to adopt a wait and see attitude and give OG a chance - after all, it has an article by Gene Logsdon in it, which is a step in the right direction! I still will let Rodale know what I thought of the switch and their basis for deciding who got what.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

You're a better woman than I am Polly. I just sent off a flaming email demanding that they send me the September issue of Organic Gardening immediately and that I'd better receive credit on my subscription for that tree-murdering piece of fluff they sent me instead! I also said that I was contacting the Better Business Bureau. "Slamming" is illegal for the phone company, why should a magazine be able to get away with it?

I haven't quite figured out their message board system either, but there are some posts from folks who were told by customer service that "OG" is no longer going to be about organic methods, that's why the name change. I just sent for a trial issue of "Acres USA", they may be getting my money instead of Rodale.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

. . . . there are some posts from folks who were told by customer service that "OG" is no longer going to be about organic methods, that's why the name change.

This just gets worse and worse! Of course, that may be just rumor . . . >:-(]

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Below find the letter that I sent off to Rodale today - pretty long, I apologize in advance. Joy - it's still going to be organic; John Grogan, OG editor, wrote " the rep, who is a low-level employee, simply mispoke." Was the "low-level" remark REALLY neccasary?!

To the editors of the magazine formerly known as Organic Gardening:

What on Earth were you thinking?! I am but one of the many female subscribers to Organic Gardening who happened to get switched over to Organic Style magazine - without my knowledge and certainly without my consent. The fact that you would switch me without my consent truly annoys me, I consider this action on your part to be a breach of contract and a breach of trust. The fact that you - in this day and age - chose to decide who was a serious gardener and who wasn’t, based solely on gender astounds and appalls me. Where have you folks been for the past eighty years while women have been fighting the battle for equality - including the right to be taken seriously?! The fact that you appear to believe that simply because I happen to be female that I would be interested in this drivel infuriates me! Why do you suppose I subscribed to Organic Gardening in the first place, if not to read about gardening?!

I am thrilled to hear that Sarah Gray Miller, editor of the new Organic Style magazine, has chosen to hold on to her Harlem apartment - if she believes that this magazine is what the female readers of Organic Gardening want; she will need her apartment to return to. Does she honestly have NO inkling of how insulting her editor’s letter was to those of us who have been practicing organic living since before she was born? Crunchy? Exclusive? Holier-than- thou? Organic do-gooder? These are compliments to those of us who have gotten the organic movement to this point? And I quote her statement in the AM Magazine article “ This is for really smart women, those who can care about nail polish and care about the environmental issues.” Please tell me she isn’t trying to say that it is as important to care about something so abysmally frivolous as nail polish; as it is to care about environmental issues - like clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and pesticide free food to eat . And is she saying that I’m stupid because I don’t care about nail polish at all?! And please, who’s logic was it to put someone at the helm of a so called organic magazine who believes that she is treading lightly on the Earth because she opens her window instead of running the air conditioner and wears vintage clothing - this is totally unbelievable.

Scott Meyer wrote on the Gardener to Gardener board of the Organic Gardening website “ for the masses of people who live in the cities and suburbs, who buy their food pre-made, who drive to the gym to get exercise, who never venture outside a temperature-controlled environment, the journey back to the soil can begin with a lipstick made without petroleum.” Good grief! Now you’re an environmentalist if you use a lipstick made without petroleum as you drive your SAV (suburban assault vehicle) to the air conditioned gym to power walk?! Give me a break! Here’s a clue from those of us who’ve been doing this for a while. If you don’t like petroleum in your lipstick - THEN DON’T WEAR LIPSTICK AT ALL!

As for Maria Rodale, she should be ashamed of herself. I predict she will be the recipient of a great many more “your Grandfather J.I. Rodale is probably rolling over in his grave” letters. As a subscriber who can remember when J.I. Rodale was editor of Organic Gardening; I have to agree with the letter writers. For Maria to say, as she did on the outer cover of Organic Style, “When he coined the phrase “organic gardening” 60 years ago, my grandfather, J.I. Rodale, could never have predicted how the idea of “organic” would evolve and grow!” Evolve?! This is not evolution - this is re- engineering worthy of the worst of the bio-engineers - Organic Style is the Star-Link corn of the organic movement!

Did it ever occur to any of you that the reason that Organic Gardening was having trouble remaining viable is because it has moved so far away from it’s roots? I’ve dropped my subscription 3 times now: when Farming was dropped from the title of the magazine; when that Stevie person took over as editor with her mysticism and spiritualism; and when Mike McGrath was let go as editor. The ONLY reason that I switched my subscription over to OG rather than cancel the subscription in it’s entirety is because of the article in the September issue of OG by Gene Logsdon. I well remember Gene’s articles from the issues of Organic Gardening of the 70’s; and will enjoy reading new material by him as I have nearly worn out the books authored by him that I own. However, if the rest of the magazine isn’t up to par; I’m done. I’ve already subscribed to a new gardening magazine today called Practical Gardener - it may not be organic, but I can ignore chemical ads a lot easier than I can ignore the drivel in Organic Style.

With deep reservations,

Ellen Gano

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2001

Organic Style is the Star-Link corn of the organic movement!

ROFLMAO! Go get 'em Polly!

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2001

Pol, you REALLY do have a way with words! Man oh man, they've stepped in the chicken poop with this fiasco, haven't they!

Posters on the Gardener to Gardener forum at OG are clamoring for an official apology for all the insults to women -- gender stereotyping and stuff like you mentioned -- the granola-crunching sort of thing. Hey, did you notice, once again, we're in an elitist group!

Several folks have opined that OS had promised their advertisers 400,000 subscribers from the get go. To accomplish that, we were "slammed" to OS. And there have been reports of staffers telling complaining subscribers that Organic Gardening no longer exists, it's defunct, and now there are two DIFFERENT magazines, Organic Style and OG. Some wits were crankin' on that -- Oh right, and just WHAT does OG stand for? Outdoor Gardening?

Here's what I think: They wanted to spin off this Organic Style (Maria Rodale is quoted from somewhere, possibly the pages of Organic Style, as saying that SHE wanted this magazine) magazine. But they discovered that it wasn't getting the necessary positive reception (some folks report having gotten a trial issue some time back), so they came up with this "brilliant" idea to boost their subscription numbers. In order for it "not" to be a "bait and switch", they "ended" Organic Gardening and came up with a "new" magazine, OG - - as if we haven't all been calling it OG for years. If Organic Gardening no longer exists, they can't be held liable for switching all of us -- just fulfilling our subscriptions with a "new" magazine.

Apparently, they've never heard the phrase "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" -- or else never realized that the scorn didn't have to involve love! Others were mentioning how interesting it was that neither website -- Organic Gardening (yes, it STILL has that name) or Organic Style -- had any announcement of this debacle. As of yesterday, they still didn't.

I gotta get a letter written too. I think I'll send it to both editors, or maybe slightly different versions! It also appears that OG is not going to have any of the environmental alerts stuff -- though I might be wrong about that. I am REALLY, REALLY sorry that I didn't write to Organic Gardening back when so many were complaining about Mike McGrath. I found him silly at worst, and hilarious at best. BTW, Mike McG posted on GardenWeb that he has written his last column for OG.

I too want to read Gene L's article. I have a whole box of '70's OG that I got off of eBay awhile back, and he has bunches of articles in them. Reading some of them last night, I was struck how like CS the letters were -- the "We Made It to the Country!" type letters.

I think it's a worthwhile endeavor to get people thinking about "greener" products, but why inflict it on the rest of us. As far as style, I hope Julie will chime in with some of her comments about the skinny girl in the mail sack . . . .

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2001

I"ve been trying to think of story ideas for Organic Style, tell me what you think of these:

Preventing Air Pollution: How to convince the domestic staff to walk to the market rather than driving the Lexus SUV.

10 Exciting New Spotted Owl Recipes

Worried About Chemicals in your Drinking Water? Drink Dom Perignon instead!

Mad as a Cow? Our Special Spa issue will calm you down in no time!

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2001

Oh Sherri- Your ideas for "articles" had me LOL! Very good. I think you should send it to them. Unfortunately the numbnuts might think your serious!

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2001

*snort!*

I'm not quite sure that they'd go so far as to have Spotted Owl recipes (that's in Lumbering Today -- Hell With Tomorrow! magazine, I believe)-- but they MIGHT devolve (as opposed to their idea that they have Evolved) into 'Tasty imported organic caviar and endive hors d'oerves to serve at your next Spotted Owl Sighting Party!!!'

I did dutifully fill out the responder's card, and penned in my own comment that I wouldn't pay money for it. I MIGHT read it if I was trapped at the dentist's waiting room with nothing but People and Guns and Ammo on the table to look at. I really fail to see WHY we would be interested in an architect's dream home design (it was graceless, but more to the point, where are some useful ideas and resource addresses for the common organic (wo)man?

Are we supposed to care deeply about some quasi-famous (i.e. therefore we should be impressed) people being organic? I might have been more interested if they had gotten someone like Dennis Weaver, or what's his name? The tall lanky blond fella...Ed Begley Jr. Yeah, him. But I suspect that the problem is, they are not perceived as 'chic' and 'fresh' (by gods how I did HATE that section about what was Fresh and what was Stale!!!! That made me want to chew tacks and spit rust.). Dennis Weaver is probably getting grey and craggy looking, not dewy-skinned and vapid, er, I mean, dewy-brained and torpid....wait, wait! I'll get it right yet...

So the new Organic Woman doesn't eat granola (notice the recipe for grilled salmon? Thank you, I know how to grill a fish, but how about locally caught panfish instead of ones trucked or flown across the country? Hm?), and she doesn't wear hemp caftans. No, she wears a mail sack, because she is so Fresh!! I'd like to see her digging potatoes in that. Maybe she can take it off and sack the spuds up in it, now that would make it useful.

I'm just venting a bit here. I have only subscribed recently to Organic Gardening mag for about the last 4 years or so after a hiatus due to my own circumstances, but cleaning out the garage, I've found my old copies of it back when it was the little black and white half- book size, with articles on working your own draft teams to plow with. I also recall an article 'way back when' (maybe someone else here will too) from a man whose three year old (or 4) daughter who lived on a homestead had adopted one of their broccoli plants as her best friend. She would take it little gifts, and sit and talk to it, and run to greet it every morning. They noticed that this plant was half again as big as any of the others, and the edible buds proportionately so. They decided to start talking kindly to ALL their veggies thereafter, and would give them little 'gifts' as well, even if it was something like a marble.

Does anyone else remember that story? This was like back in the late 70's that it was printed, maybe early 80's. It annoys me that the current readership denegrates Organic Gardening for an article being 'pop culture, New Age stuff' when they can't remember an article like that over 20 years ago.

Oh yeah. And remember how they said that it wasn't just the women and new subscribers being slammed over to OS? They sent me a more PC generic letter when I complained and said that I darn well expected that my copy of Organic Gardening was on it's way. They gave me the song and dance that it was based on my purchases in the past. Bull Compost!!! When I write off for information on hoop houses, Earth Boxes, plants, hand tools, and buy books on increasing my vegetable yield, organic bug war, and composting? How does THIS equate to nail polish?? Maybe we are supposed to want to lacquer our manure forks with Passionfruit Pazzazz nail polish or something. How about on your goat's hooves? Then perhaps your neighbors won't complain about how tacky you are.

I actually DID buy a copy of Martha Stewart's magazine just recently!! There was (one) article that I could use, and I was in a weak moment, so I bought it. I can't envisage how weak I would have to be to have picked up this copy of Organic Style and purchase it. It was way too much like picking up any of those women's magazines that you see by the check out at grocery stores (well, maybe some of you on this board don't even GO to a grocery store to see them...oh come on, you MUST have been in a grocery store at SOME point in your life, like when you were buying some rock salt to make ice cream to go with your chunky granola...). You know, Women's Life, Better Homes and Gardens, the ones that have really shallow little articles that don't tell you a lot about the HOW, just show you the finished product. They're the ones with the headlines that say "Take off 20 Lbs. by Thanksgiving!" and have a little inset picture below of a luscious chocolate gooey thing that says "101 Chocolate Recipes to Pack On Your Hips!!! Cheesecake Nirvana!!"

Where was I? Yeah, Organic Style is like those, except that, like Crackerjack, it comes with a small prize inside. In the case of OS, the prize is that, oh, yeah, well, it's organic! But it's still a cheap snack.

How do I compost this thing?

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2001