HOW MANY WAYS are there to say goodbye? Plain English seems insufficient. There are some nuanced words in other languages that almost fit the situation at hand. The Hawaiian aloha means hello, goodbye, and I love you. Ciao originally signified "I'm at your service" in Italian, but it has now been adopted as a salutation and farewell in English, too. Similarly, the Hebrew word, shalom, implies "Peace be with you," as well as a greeting or goodbye. Readers, I want to say all of these things. Without any further rummaging through the linguistic cedar chest, I must tell you that this, our 19th issue, is our last. At Western Producer Publications, we are proud to have achieved many of the goals we set when we launched Acreage Life early in 2005. We wanted to create a magazine filled with engaging and informative stories aimed at people working in cities and commuting to their dream homes in the country. We could see the non-farm country homes popping up like mushrooms around every major city, and we knew there were particular needs emerging with these communities. Many people new to country living had pressing questions. How do I care for horses? What sort of fencing do I need? How do I attract birds and butterflies? Discourage skunks? Test my well water? Get into solar energy? We covered these topics and so many more, and presented interviews and gorgeous photos of acreages from Salt Spring Island to the Bay of Fundy. We reflected the experiences of some celebrity acreage owners, including artist Robert Bateman, NHL legend Wendel Clark, and Nickelback rocker Chad Kroeger. We had regular features on country cooking, humour, collecting antiques, gardening and appreciating nature. We developed a conversation with you, and you told us when we missed the mark, and when we were on your wavelength. But we struggled with several challenges. The first is a distribution matter. Although we highly value our subscribers, our business plan has focused on delivering Acreage Life free to targeted rural areas. This strategy has depended upon the time-honoured rural routes, the very ones Canada Post has begun to dismantle in favour of standardized urban addresses. It's hard to hit a target when you can't find it. We appreciate the support of our advertisers, many of which have been with us from the start. Yet it's been difficult to secure the necessary volume of ads to offset ever-increasing production and distribution expenses. The magazine industry is a fascinating, crazy and highly competitive one, and now the interwoven North American economies are taking us all for a wild ride. This climate, together with the other difficulties, spelled the end of our magazine. We've already received many expressions of support and disappointment from readers and from our talented freelance contributors. Thank you. It's good to know you've enjoyed Acreage Life as much as we have enjoyed presenting it to you. Aloha. Ciao. Shalom. Send your notes to: Acreage Life Editorial, P.O. Box 2500, 2310 Millar Avenue, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 2C4 or email us: acreagelife.editors@producer.com. And don't forget to check out Sheila's latest blog entries, here.