"With products grown at the doors of the city . . ."

The phrase used as the title of this post comes from the description of Hudson that appeared in the 1921 Industrial Directory and Shippers' Guide that Gossips quoted earlier this week. Now as then, although perhaps in a different way, a great factor in the appeal of Hudson is its proximity to working farms.

This conjunction of our little urban island and the rural landscape that surrounds it is manifest in the new magazine Modern Farmer and ModernFarmer.com, "a multi-platform media brand for people who have the desire to be closer to—and more educated about—the food on their plates." Modern Farmer Media is headquartered right here in Hudson, on the second floor of 403 Warren Street.

The print version of Modern Farmer is to be published quarterly, and the premiere issue will appear on newsstands on April 16. There is also a companion website offering news about a range of contemporary farming topics and an expansive online marketplace. Of interest to all those advocates for backyard chicken raising in Hudson, the first issue includes an article entitled "Which chicken is right to you?" 

Modern Farmer Media was founded by Ann Marie Gardner, former New York Times journalist and Monocle magazine editor, and its publisher is Ellen Carucci, a veteran of thirty years' working for Conde Nast Publications. Gardner, who began formulating the concept for Modern Farmer two years ago, said of the project: "People today genuinely want to talk about where their food is coming from, who grows it, and how that affects their personal health and the environment. We all want to get closer to nature and animals and to learn the skills that come so natural for people who live in the country. Modern Farmer is going to be the first consumer-focused agriculture brand to lead this conversation and lifestyle choice."

The press release announcing the launch explains that "Modern Farmer will also be the first magazine to be available via Community-Supported Agricultural networks (CSAs) and organic home delivery services." Discovering the nature of those "organic home delivery services" may itself be an incentive to subscribe.