Talking Leaves was born in 1989, when Carolyn Moran and friends decided to start a Eugene-based monthly tabloid focusing on deep ecology and spiritual activism. Five years later, it shed its skin, becoming a quarterly (or, more accurately, "try-quarterly") magazine printed on tree-free paper. Three years later, having become immersed in care of her newly-hatched tree-free paper business, Carolyn turned Talking Leaves over to Lost Valley Educational Center, where it became a three-or-four-times a year "journal of our evolving ecological culture" in magazine format.
Now, it is time for Talking Leaves to shed its skin once again. The strictly scheduled print magazine format we have been following is no longer viable for us either personally or economically. (Read on to learn why.) As always, we invite reader feedback and offers of support in TL's process of evolution, which, as of press time, looks like this:
Starting after our Summer/Fall 2005 issue, Talking Leaves will cut back on its print editions, most likely publishing one larger annual journal in the wintertime (when the editor has time to work on it), and occasional shorter newsletters. Talking Leaves will simultaneously expand its web presence, doing more of its publishing online--probably with quite frequent additions and updates Please check out www.talkingleaves.org for details as they become available. We will honor all existing and new subscriptions with materials in the new formats, and will continue to seek new readers and supporters. Our winter journal will complete this year's cycle of issues (serving as Volume 15, Number 4), after which we will continue to send print materials whenever we produce them to supporting members of Lost Valley Educational Center/Talking Leaves. Because we will no longer be a print magazine per se, we will not accept new or renewal library subscriptions through EBSCO or similar services, but only directly from librarians who understand that the format and schedule will now be different. Talking Leaves will no longer appear on newsstands, although we will continue to make it available here at Lost Valley and at various conferences, events, and alternative venues.
To put it in a nutshell, we're abandoning the "magazine business," and focusing on what we do best, which is to document our explorations in ecological culture and to help inspire others to follow those voices of inner and outer nature as well. We will still consider materials that are sent to us by freelance writers for possible occasional inclusion in Talking Leaves, but expect that most of the material in the new Talking Leaves will be "homegrown," related to our and others' experiences here at Lost Valley Educational Center or to people, projects, and places we have influenced or been influenced by. A number of articles in the Summer/Fall issue foreshadow this adjustment in our approach, particularly the interviews with workshop presenters John Seed and Dave Jacke and the articles following John's interview.
For those who may be disappointed that we are not continuing in the same form, and will not be available on newsstands, please be assured that we have not made these decisions lightly. The economics of the magazine business have driven many small magazines out of business, and they have affected us as well. Subscription revenue is down, advertising revenue is almost nonexistent, and newsstand sales have dropped (along with wholesale distributors going out of business and/or stopping paying their small suppliers, like us). At present, given current expenses and income, we cannot afford to produce TL as a regular print magazine. Just as important in our decision, I have realized that, as the coordinator of our organic vegetable gardens as well as Talking Leaves' sole staff person, I am overcommitted, particularly during the spring-through-fall growing season. I have developed other passions, and I don't want to spend all my evenings and weekends working on the magazine because I was not able to work on it during weekday gardening times. Most of the time until now, TL has been a labor of love. In the new format, I believe it will continue to be, because online postings and less ambitious print publishing will make the work load manageable, while allowing me to spend more time doing other things I love as well. Any other choice at this point would be unsustainable.
Thank you for your understanding and support, and remember to stay tuned to www.talkingleaves.org for details on our new format. As mentioned above, we welcome your creative ideas about our publishing future, as well as practical aid in helping us reach that future. We are also considering more major potential publishing projects, perhaps in conjunction with the new journal format. Books that have been on the "back burner" for a while include a Lost Valley cookbook, a history of Lost Valley, a Lost Valley community guidebook, a Lost Valley sustainability primer, and a Lost Valley natural history field guide. If you'd like to help fund or support any of these projects, please let us know. Your input is vital to us, now more than ever.
We look forward to continuing to evolve with our readers. Please enjoy this issue,
Chris Roth
(c)2005 Talking Leaves
Summer/Fall 2005
Volume 15, Numbers 2 & 3
Deep Ecology, Permaculture, & Peace