About Us

Welcome to the Countryside Network!

Pioneering the Simple Life

Everyone on the Countryside team — from our editors to our advertising managers to our digital gurus — believes that tending our gardens, managing our homesteads, raising our livestock and poultry humanely, eating whole food and living sustainably are all worthy pursuits. We believe in the fruits of those labors — unconditional love and a balanced lifestyle. And we are committed to helping anyone learn how to live simply by providing the information you seek quickly and easily — so that you can spend more of your time doing what you love.

Our Work

It’s not a single idea, but many ideas and attitudes, including a reverence for nature and a preference for country life; a desire for maximum personal self-reliance and creative leisure; a concern for family nurture and community cohesion; a belief that the primary reward of work should be well-being rather than money; a certain nostalgia for the supposed simplicities of the past and an anxiety about the technological and bureaucratic complexities of the present and the future; and a taste for the plain and functional.

Here at Countryside, you’ll find how-to’s, guides, stories, videos and testimonials specifically targeted at those wanting to learn more about simple, self-reliant living. Our audience of thousands reaches us daily through our print and digital resources, including magazines, websites, books and mobile, and through our offices in Wisconsin and Colorado.

We also connect our audience with businesses who sell products and services aimed at helping them achieve their dreams of living simply, homesteading, raising livestock and poultry, and enjoying the countryside lifestyle. We produce high-quality and effective print, online, mobile, social media and video advertising opportunities aimed at a growing audience who are passionate about living simply and sustainably.

Our Roots

Small Stock Magazine was founded in 1917 by Wallace Blair (actually, we can claim an even earlier beginning, because Countryside also contains Journal of Outdoor Enterprises which was begun in Kansas City in 1916.), Countryside was founded in 1969 by Jerry (Jd) Belanger, author of Raising Milk Goats the Modern Way, Homesteader’s Handbook to Raising Small Livestock, Raising the Homestead Hog, Country Living, Soil Fertility, and The Place Called Attar. The two merged in 1973 to become Countryside & Small Stock Journal, usually shortened to Countryside. Countryside is now a print and digital media company owned by Swift Communications.

EDITORIAL

Contact: Editorial

General Manager: Mike Campbell

Director of Content: Steph Merkle

Editor (Countryside): Ann Tom

Editor (Sheep!): Nathan Griffith

Editor (Goat Journal & Backyard Poultry): Marissa Ames

Editorial Assistants: Sam Ingersoll

DESIGN

Art Direction and Design: Sara Heideman and Traci Laurie

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Contact: Customer Service

Marketing Director: Ellen Grunseth

Fulfillment Support: Michelle Scott

ADVERTISING

Contact: Advertising

Advertising Director: Alicia Soper

Sales Associates: Kelly Weiler, Sue Lapcewich

Countryside & Small Stock Journal, Backyard Poultry, Goat Journal, and sheep! are published by Fence Post Co, a subsidiary of Swift Communications, Inc.