We were lucky to catch up with Marissa Ames recently and have shared our conversation below.

Marissa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Looking back at internships and apprenticeships can be interesting, because there is so much variety in people’s experiences – and often those experiences inform our own leadership style. Do you have an interesting story from that stage of your career that you can share with us?

My childhood set me up for this job, though I didn’t realize it until much later. Since age 8, I wanted to be a writer. And, since age 12, my parents insisted I help raise the food, bring in the firewood, and help with overall sustainability.

Twenty years later, I found myself broke, though I worked three part-time jobs and my husband worked full-time. It was during the Great Recession, and it seemed nobody thrived, especially those trying to feed their two children. Since we lived in a small rental house with a tiny garden, I returned to what my mother taught me: growing food, preserving it, and using every space. I even purchased chickens to raise for eggs. All those skills came back fast. As I shared my projects with friends, I realized that few people knew how to produce or preserve their food! This was also during the “blogging boom,” where writers became celebrities simply because of their knowledge, exposure, and internet connections. I started blogging as “Ames Family Farm,” mostly to secure the name in case I wanted to use it later for a plant nursery or community gardening endeavor. At the same time, I produced a few fantasy novels and hoped to publish them.

Backyard Poultry magazine reached out to my farm’s Facebook page and asked me to blog for them, but they stated that it was only for “exposure” and not for pay. I considered it, Then, I decided that, since I wasn’t getting paid for my writing anyway, I might as well go for it. I put as much energy into blogging as I could afford to, between my efforts to keep the family fed and out of debt. Then, it all got to be too much. I stopped doing what didn’t pay.

Soon, Backyard Poultry messaged me. They loved my writing and wanted me to come back, this time for pay.

At that point, I found a new focus. I developed a great relationship with the editors, who also published Countryside & Small Stock Journal and Dairy Goat Journal. I committed to refining my homesteading skills and learning new ones, so I could write about them for that paycheck. This helped me grow as a writer and also honed my sustainability skills, with my family as the beneficiaries of both. I had a good thing going!

About two years later, the company asked if I would like to take over as editor for Dairy Goat Journal, but rebranded as Goat Journal to cover “all things goat,” not just dairy animals. I jumped at the chance, while still homesteading and retaining my full-time job as a massage therapist. My kids, finally teenagers, didn’t need me as much, so I could spend more time building my career.

One year after that, I also took over editing Backyard Poultry magazine. And the next year, I moved up to Senior Editor over all three magazines.

It seems things happen year-by-year because, one year after that, Ogden Publications bought our magazines. I sat in shock as I learned that my magazines would join the family that included Mother Earth News and Grit. At the same time, the directors at Ogden Publications learned that they had just acquired editors with vast practical farm knowledge. They offered the position of Editorial Director over all their magazines. And, a year after that, my family gave 2/3 of our farm away to families who needed a boost in their sustainability efforts. We moved from Nevada to Kansas to begin a new life.

I love telling this story because it’s a true rags-to-[being able to pay the bills] tale. I started as an unpaid writer, trying to improve myself despite having no monetary rewards. My husband believed in me and encouraged me every step. With each promotion, he also received less stress because he didn’t have to work as hard to keep us afloat. Now, I’m planning for his retirement. The kids are grown and no longer depend on our homesteading efforts, though I will keep raising that food and making my products because I love it and because it supports my career.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Ogden Publications produces magazines focusing on do-it-yourself and sustainability topics, including gardening, homesteading, food preservation, and natural energy/building. We support diverse “can-do” communities by telling their stories and providing information so they can take the next step toward independence. Our most popular magazine, Mother Earth News, began in 1970 with the same focus, but three other magazines have been around over a century: Grit, Goat Journal, and Countryside & Small Stock Journal.

Many competitors have published their own homesteading magazines recently, all of which contain good information. But each brand has a different focus, whether rural faith-based practices, starting with little knowledge, or the philosophies behind why people homestead. Ogden Publications stands for diversity, multiple voices, and a global focus. We love that our readers have very different lives, situations, and locations, and we support them all, working to provide the information they need to forge their paths. We also love sharing their stories so others can learn from them. Also, most of the other magazine competitors don’t focus on renewable energy and green building; both have been part of Mother Earth News since the beginning. Grit focuses on the “grittier” side of rural living, including hunting, prepping and survival, and getting your hands dirty to make money off your farm. Countryside & Small Stock Journal embraces family; we homestead and raise our food to raise our families as we feel is best. It’s the only one of our publications that offers information on homeschooling. And, of course, Goat Journal and Backyard Poultry cover specific species and help readers learn about health, husbandry, and fun projects for their animals.

In addition to print and online publications, we offer podcasts, audio articles, videos, live Q&A sessions, and in-person events so people can obtain information in the different ways they may learn.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Always evolve, always progress. Make a commitment not to stay stagnant. Then, even if times get tough and you stumble, it’s a natural part of progression into a better lifestyle, career, or mindset.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I started writing in the 80s and 90s, when print publications were king and writers only showed their faces on book covers. Now, the information age involves only a small percentage of print and relies on social media, audio and visual formats, and a person standing up as the “face” of the publication. I was raised modestly, told that caring too much about my appearance meant I was vain. I’m of the generation that was told not to take selfies – even before “selfie” became a concept. But in the 202os, publication means putting on a confident face for readers and demonstrating a knowledge of the subject matter. I had to evolve from the “faceless” writer to someone who must constantly be aware of appearances and opportunities for public interaction. It means learning how people find their information these days, from HTML to SEO to PDF.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.motherearthnews.com
• Instagram: @motherearthnewsmag @amesfamilyfarm
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/motherearthnewsmag
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/ogden-publications
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MotherEarthNewsMag