''Hobby Farms'' is a bimonthly

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

, devoted to the life of hobby farmers, homesteaders and small producers. Its editorial offices are based in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

. ''Hobby Farms'' magazine's tagline is "Rural Living for Pleasure and Profit". The magazine is known for its award-winning design and photography.

History

The magazine was the brainchild of Norman Ridker, founder and chairman of BowTie Inc. In 1999, he was visiting a friend and business associate in upstate New York who enjoyed making maple syrup on his farm in his spare time. Looking around at the farm and his friend's life — a working professional who enjoyed farming as a hobby — he realized that no magazine existed that served him and others like him. He enlisted editors to begin researching "hobby farmers" and the seeming groundswell of urban professionals moving to the country seeking a more meaningful existence and with a desire to farm in their spare time. Finding that a very real need existed for education and basic information about farming for such individuals, BowTie trademarked the term "

hobby farm A hobby farm (also called a lifestyle block in New Zealand, or acreage living or rural residential in Australia) is a smallholding or small farm that is maintained without expectation of being a primary source of income. Some are held merely to ...

", and launched ''Hobby Farms'' magazine in the spring of 2001. In 2004 ''Hobby Farms'' editorial office moved from

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...

, to

. The magazine helps small producers in the United States and around the world turn their hobby into a viable business. Focused on the modern "

back-to-the-land movement A back-to-the-land movement is any of various agrarian movements across different historical periods. The common thread is a call for people to take up smallholding and to grow food from the land with an emphasis on a greater degree of self-suffi ...

", the magazine is designed to appeal to older

Gen X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western demographic cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years and the late 1970s to early 1980s as ...

ers,

Baby Boomers Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. Th ...

and the growing population in between who are in tune with organic growing methods and lifestyle. ''Hobby Farms'' features articles on raising livestock humanely,

sustainable agriculture Sustainable agriculture is farming in sustainable ways meeting society's present food and textile needs, without compromising the ability for current or future generations to meet their needs. It can be based on an understanding of ecosystem ser ...

, marketing a small farm,

self sufficiency Self-sustainability and self-sufficiency are overlapping states of being in which a person or organization needs little or no help from, or interaction with, others. Self-sufficiency entails the self being enough (to fulfill needs), and a self-s ...

, history and preservation, and the dangers of

factory farms Intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production, also known by its opponents as factory farming and macro-farms, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production, while ...

. Columns cover farm equipment and tools, cooking, buying land, and agricultural news and trends. The magazine thrived in 2006, and was the fastest-growing farm publication in the country. In 2013 the magazine was acquired by I-5 Publishing LLC.

Notes

External links

Official Hobby Farms Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobby Farms (magazine) Bimonthly magazines published in the United States Lifestyle magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 2001 Magazines published in California Magazines published in Kentucky Mass media in Lexington, Kentucky