Mother Earth News: History, Ogden Publications Profile, Content and Staff
Profile updated November 2026
Mother Earth News began on a kitchen table in Ohio in January 1970 with $1,500 and a belief that ordinary people could live more self-reliantly. More than five decades later it calls itself the most popular and longest-running sustainable-lifestyle magazine, published from Topeka, Kansas.
| First issue | January 1970, Madison, Ohio |
|---|---|
| Founders | John and Jane Shuttleworth |
| Publisher | Ogden Publications, Topeka, Kansas, a unit of Ogden Newspapers |
| Acquired by Ogden | February 2001, from Sussex Publishers |
| Frequency | Bimonthly |
| Events | Mother Earth News Fairs, in person and online |
| Official website | MotherEarthNews.com |
History of Mother Earth News
John and Jane Shuttleworth started Mother Earth News on a shoestring in 1970, printing on cheap newsprint and filling it with practical how-to stories for people heading back to the land. John described himself and Jane as introverted farm people, and the magazine's voice reflected it. The Plowboy Interview became its signature format, and early issues promoted wind power and alternative energy years before the mainstream did.
The magazine moved to Hendersonville, North Carolina, ran an eco-village research site and seminars, and by the early 1980s reported readership above one million. In late 1978 the burned-out founder handed editorial leadership to Bruce Woods, and in 1979 Woods and two colleagues bought the magazine. It later passed to New American, which sold its magazines to Sussex Publishers of New York in 1991.
Ogden Publications, founded in Topeka in 1996 by the family-owned Ogden Newspapers of Wheeling, West Virginia, acquired Mother Earth News in 2001. Topeka has been its home ever since, the longest it has settled anywhere. John Shuttleworth died in Evergreen, Colorado, in 2009.
Mother Earth News Today
Mother Earth News is the flagship of Ogden's rural-lifestyle group, which also includes Grit, Capper's Farmer, Countryside, Goat Journal, Backyard Poultry and Farm Collector. The bimonthly magazine is supported by a large website, newsletters, books and the Mother Earth News Fair events, which Ogden took online during 2020.
Its editorial mission, in its own words, approaches sustainable issues from a down-to-earth, practical, how-to standpoint.
What Mother Earth News Is Publishing Now
Homesteading and livestock
Small-scale poultry, goats, pigs, beekeeping, fencing and pasture management for homesteaders and small farmers.
Gardening and food
Organic gardening, seed saving, food preservation and home canning, such as keeping stock of home-canned food.
Energy and building
Renewable energy, off-grid systems, natural building and green homes, plus natural health and herbalism.
Mother Earth News Editors and Staff
The magazine's About page introduces its team. Named staff include:
- Ana Skemp - Editor-in-Chief
- Darby Stipe - Contributor, environmental news and natural health
- Tonya Olson - Search and content strategy, Ogden sites
Skemp is a farmer and maker at Deep Roots Community Farm in Wisconsin, where she raises grass-fed beef, KuneKune pigs, Icelandic cross sheep, fiber goats and poultry. Previous editors include Cheryl Long, who retired in 2016, and Hank Will, Ogden's longtime editorial director.
Who Reads Mother Earth News
Readers range from suburban gardeners to full-time homesteaders. The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 116,617 farms selling directly to consumers, with $3.3 billion in sales, and that is the small-farm, direct-market world Mother Earth News has championed since 1970.
Homesteaders tend to have the best stories because something is always escaping, freezing or eating the garden. When you need a laugh between canning batches, farm.FM offers farm satire and farm humor drawn from the same small-farm chaos, with ranch humor mixed in. Its farm jokes about goats would be funnier if they were exaggerated, but anyone who reads Mother Earth News knows they are not.
For context, farm.FM is the nation's first satirical farm site and the home of Tractor Tunes, country music for farmers. Its contributors each keep an archive, and this one is a good sampler of ranch humor and farm jokes.
Mother Earth News Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Wikipedia: Mother Earth News - an overview of founding, ownership and circulation.
- Ogden Publications: Company history - milestones including the 2001 acquisition.
- Mother Earth News: About us - the editor-in-chief's biography.
- USDA NASS: 2022 Census of Agriculture - direct-to-consumer farm sales data.
- ATTRA (NCAT): Census insight for sustainable farms - analysis from the National Center for Appropriate Technology.
Mother Earth News FAQ
Who started Mother Earth News?
John and Jane Shuttleworth started it in Ohio in January 1970 with about $1,500.
Who publishes Mother Earth News now?
Ogden Publications in Topeka, Kansas, owned by Ogden Newspapers, has published it since 2001.
Who is the editor of Mother Earth News?
Ana Skemp is Editor-in-Chief.
How often does Mother Earth News come out?
The magazine is published every other month.
From Plowboy Interviews to online fairs, Mother Earth News has spent more than 55 years teaching people how to grow, build and fix things themselves, and its Topeka team is still at it.