About Us

GRIT is a bi-monthly magazine distributed throughout the United States and Canada that celebrates country lifestyles of all kinds, while emphasizing the importance of community and stewardship. As North America’s premier rural lifestyle title, GRIT publishes feature-length articles on a broad range of topics that appeal to those already living in the country and those who aspire to get there. Our readers are well-educated, successful and choose to live on the land for many reasons. Most do not depend on their soil for significant income – some choose not to work their land (in the conventional sense) at all. But all share an appreciation for life out where the pavement ends.

GRIT offers practical advice, product reviews, livestock guides, gardening, cooking and other do-it-yourself information, humor and the inspirational stories of folks who moved to the country and love it. Each issue covers topics related to country living, land management, wildlife, gardening, livestock or pets, skills and techniques, seasonal food, community, machinery or tools, and lifestyle events.

How Does GRIT Today Compare with GRIT of Old?

Today’s GRIT is an upbeat rural title just as it has been since 1882. The magazine is more focused now than before, without being the news piece it once was and that many folks warmly remember. GRIT has evolved from that venerable and respected newspaper to a sophisticated full-color magazine. We still have the same values: Community, Family, Positive Outlook and Sharing. Several departments from the original GRIT have been retained, and, in its new form, the magazine is the perfect companion for folks looking to get the most out of country living.

For a little history read “As American as Mom, Apple Pie & Grit.”

Meet the Editors:

Karmin Garrison, Senior Editor

An avid gamer, word nerd, herbalist, “accidental gardener,” and DIYer, Karmin lives on a one-acre almost-homestead in East Texas in a perpetual state of “almost having goats,” and raising heritage chickens, guinea fowl, gardens, and various fish. When not magicking up words or chasing after kids, she can be found wandering the woods, building something new, fishing, beading and sewing, convincing plants to grow, making everything she possibly can from scratch, or with her nose in a book. Sometimes she sleeps, but that’s usually on accident.

Josh Wilder, Content Director

Josh Wilder has spent over a decade as a professional in the media industry creating engaging user experiences through publication design, events, and video. In his current role at Ogden Publications as the Content Director, he’s responsible for overseeing content from concept development to execution. His projects include editorial oversight, educational workshop video production, and participation in partner events. He’s committed to making the highest quality of experiences that support and celebrate all life on Mother Earth.

Josh is a graduate of Ohio University with a degree in Graphic Design, but more importantly, has spent his lifetime learning from a variety of growers and makers who thrive within DIY communities across the Midwest. He endeavors to share those problem-solving skills to everyone interested in finding solutions. Ultimately, he hopes to spend his twilight years tending to a pumpkin patch.

Amanda Sorell, Senior Copy Editor

Amanda is the senior copy editor for Ogden Publications. At work, she values clarity and connection over upholding rigid grammatical standards. She lives in Seattle with a lively collection of houseplants and cats. She enjoys brewing herbal potions, cooking, learning, making DIY beauty products, and reading and writing about health, literature, and sustainability.

Jessica Anderson, Associate Editor

Jessica joined the editorial staff in 2017 and loves editing articles for the magazines as well overseeing the “Mother Earth News and Friends” podcast. She moved from Pennsylvania, her lifelong home, to Kansas, and quickly fell in love with the small towns, rolling prairies, and open skies. Outside of editing, Jessica enjoys reading and writing, hiking the Kansas trails, baking bread, and perfecting her process of brewing her favorite teas and coffees.

Ingrid Butler, Associate Editor

Ingrid Butler has a BA in English from the University of California, Davis, and an MPhil in Children’s Literature from the University of Cambridge, UK. She enjoys gardening, pickling vegetables, fiber arts, and reading. She is passionate about trap-neuter-return for humanely dealing with feral cats, and loves to grow pollinator plants for the local bees.

Kale Roberts, Associate Editor

Kale has contributed to Grit and its companion Ogden Publications titles since 2012, specializing in renewable energy, natural building and green homes, and community-scale resilience. In his professional life, he helps city governments develop sustainability plans at national nonprofit ICLEI, advocates for local communities within the United Nations climate negotiations, and teaches at the Bard College Center for Environmental Policy. He has worked with the UN Development Programme across Asia-Pacific and served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand. At home, Kale gardens, practices herbalism recipes, and keeps chickens in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Audra Trosper, Associate Editor

A coffee-loving squirrel brain whose superpower is forgetting where she put her phone while it’s in her hand, Audra is the Lead Editor of Goat Journal and a published author and avid gamer.

She has an itsy-bitsy, in-town hobby homestead (tiny town but still a town), where she raised dairy goats for over a decade, has maintained a flock of backyard chickens for 20 years, grows a vegetable garden, and cans the produce from it. When she isn’t wording (in one way or another), gaming, or caring for critters, she is thinking up some new project for her husband to build.

Ana Skemp, Audience Engagement Specialist

Ana Skemp is a mother, a farmer, and a maker at Deep Roots Community Farm in Wisconsin. She raises grass-fed beef, KuneKune pigs, Icelandic Cross sheep, Pygora fiber goats, ducks, geese, and chickens. In the summer, the farm is opened up to local school kids for educational programming. Her family recently became the next generation to tend the family apple orchard.

Connect With Us!

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GRIT is published by Ogden Publications, Inc. in Topeka, Kansas. Ogden Publications, Inc. is the leading information resource serving the sustainable living, rural lifestyle, farm memorabilia and classic motorcycle communities. Learn more about Employment Opportunities, our Diversity Commitment and our Green Initiatives.