Harrowsmith was founded in 1976 by James M. Lawrence, who produced the first issues in his home in
Camden East Ontario and named it after the nearby town of
Harrowsmith. It was a platform for environmental topics and a back-to-the-land ethos, a concept that was both unique and popular—within two years, the magazine had 100,000 subscribers. Lawrence’s
Camden House Publishing also published books, and launched
Equinox: The Magazine of Canadian Discovery. In 1988, Lawrence sold both magazines to the Canadian media company
Telemedia, which launched an American addition of
Harrowsmith and added the words "Country Life" to its title. The American edition reached a paid circulation of 225,000 and, in 1995, Telemedia launched a complementary television show. In 1996, Telemedia folded the American edition and sold
Harrowsmith Country Life, and
Equinox, to Montreal’s Malcolm Publishing. In 2000, Malcolm folded
Equinox and sold its mailing list to
Canadian Geographic. In 2009,
Harrowsmith Country Life had a circulation of 125,00 and revenues of $3.2 million. In 2012, Yolanda Thornton, a former Malcolm employee, obtained the rights to the magazine and revived
Harrowsmith Magazine, with its original title, beginning with ''Harrowsmith's Truly Canadian Almanac
for 2013. Thornton’s company, Moongate Inc. of Toronto, continues as the publisher of Harrowsmith''. Supplemental issues of Harrowsmith have also been published, i.e.
Harrowsmith’s Gardening Digest (2013), ''Harrowsmith's My Kind of Town
(2015), Harrowsmith's Homes
(2015) and the now-annual Harrowsmith’s Almanac''. As of 2025, the magazine’s print and digital per-issue readership was 350,000. ==References==