Our newest publication will hit the streets next week, and we think you’re going to like it.

Farmville the Magazine is a publication for and about the people of Farmville, Prince Edward County and the Heart of Virginia. It is, at its core, leisure reading designed to make you smile — to remind transplants like me why we moved here and to remind natives why you never left.

In each issue, you’ll find feature articles about the people, places and institutions that make our region special; recipes and gardening tips from area experts; and lots of pictures from recent social gatherings.

It is not a news magazine. We have plenty of pages in this newspaper twice a week and bandwidth on our website to inform you of the latest government, crime, political and economic news. We remain as committed as ever to doing so. Farmville the Magazine won’t distract us from that mission.

The magazine will publish eight times a year and be distributed free at some 50 locations throughout The Herald’s readership area: restaurants, retail shops, hotels and professional offices.

For those willing to pay for the convenience, we are happy to mail the magazine to your home for $30 annually to cover postage and handling. If you’d rather pick it up free at one of our distribution points, that’s fine too.

Planning for the content of our fall issues is under way, and we welcome your input. To subscribe, to pass along a story idea, to send us photographs from a recent party, or to suggest a new distribution point, send an e-mail to info@ farmvillethemag.com or call us at (434) 392-4151. We’ll work hard to make subsequent issues even better than the first.

STEVE STEWART is publisher of The Farmville Herald and Farmville the Magazine. His e-mail address is steve.stewart@farmvillethemag.com.