Makes sense, we’re all Poor Richard in this economy.
Is there a list out there somewhere comparing historical weather stats against the farmers almanac? I’d love to see how close the yearly predictions were compared to what actually happened.
It was 52% accurate. Or, you could make the same prediction accuracy by flipping a coin.
Except the weather is a dice not a coin. Being Right 52% of the time on a d100 roll is really good.
There seems to be some confusion, and rightly so.
This is “Farmer’s Almanac” which, yeah, started in 1818 and is 207 years old.
But “The Old Farmer’s Almanac” started in 1792 and is generally ‘the one’ you think of when you hear ‘Farmer’s Almanac’. That one is still running:
https://www.almanac.com/about-us
Interesting history here:
https://www.almanac.com/history-old-farmers-almanac
Edit Used to sell both and man people would get PISSED if they asked for “the farmers almanac” and you grabbed the wrong one!
I am so glad because I use The Old Farmers Almanac website all the time. They have the best gardening advice. Bullet dodged
Barnes and Noble? Cause I feel you
30+ years ago, man I could tell you stories… 😉
Closing in on 20 for me, I still have flashbacks about being asked “I’m looking for a book, I don’t know the title or author, but I know it’s blue and was on the table by the cafe last Christmas, do you know that one?” And then hating myself for knowing exactly what they meant half the time
I would show up to b&n with a list of isbn Numbers ao i would get exactly what i wanted
True story:
Dead Wednesday. I was working the front by myself.
“I don’t know why I’m here, you can’t help me.”
“Well, I know a lot, and I have a computer for our inventory and one for our distributor, if you can remember 1 or 2 words, we have a good shot.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know the author, you can’t help me.”
We went round and round like that for 10 minutes, finally dragged it out of him and found it in the distributor system:
“How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People”.
“Ordinarily it would take a couple of days to get this, let me expedite that for you, it will be here tomorrow.”
He never picked it up. 😟
I don’t even belive in god but bless you, your local bookseller is infinitely grateful to you even if they don’t say it.
“It’s that book with the picture of the woman on the front.”
“The Stories of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende?”
“Yeah…”
Co-worker: “How did you do that?”
“Every time I walked by it I thought ‘oh, hey, it’s that book with the picture of the woman on the front’.”
It was “The Art of Racing in the Rain” for a solid 7 months
settles in for story time
I don’t know why but retail horror stories are some of my favoritesOne year, right around Black Friday, I was working registers and we had a line of people out the door… we were all just trying to get people rung up as quickly as possible.
I’m in the middle of helping someone when this woman jumps the line, interrupts me while I helping another customer, and goes “Excuse me, I just have a question?”
So I turn to my first customer, “Do you mind? She just has a question?”
Ok, fine, what’s the question?
“Where are your etiquette books?”
ಠ_ಠ
“They… they’re on the reference wall. Right hand side, about 1/2 way down.”
That night, cleaning up the store, I found a pile of 20 etiquette books just sitting on the floor.
That’s a bit sad … I used to pick up a copy every second year whenever I remembered it. It was always one of those things that was just always there and something that you thought would be around forever … at least during your own lifetime.
I remember my old neighbours talking about it, referencing it and reading it. I remember old farmers swearing by it. I remember old time hunters and trappers using it as a guide for weather … whether it worked for anyone or not, it was a mainstay that a lot of old time folks enjoyed.
It feels like the passing of another thing from our past.
My grandparents on both sides of my family were farmers, so I grew up reading it. Every now and then I would buy or gift a copy to someone. I have even referenced it for weather while planning vacations in the past.
So yeah, i am sad to see it go as well.
It also never seemed to matter if the predictions worked, were accurate or even came to be … it was just another farmer thing … a farmer thing to talk about it. Everyone I knew who read it or referenced it, either swore by it or said it was no good … and those same people would turn around and say the opposite the next time.
The best part of it all was just that it was there and always there.
I often looked at their planting tables and long term forecasts, but I’ve never seen any retrospective analysis of their accuracy.
I was on the website a few weeks ago considering whether to do an outdoor kids bday party. It’s silly and barely a part of my decades on earth but these bits of institutions and normalcy chipping away is sad. I also thought that the other day that this is always in flux and nothing is forever so enjoy and move on. 🤷 Life
fuck when do I plant my turnips?
Most seed companies have planting charts. Fedco Seeds has a good one that includes a guide to seed saving.
On the ides of the month of the first blue moon after the vernal equinox, obviously
I had to check the acurssed interwebs to find out that you are refering to 2026-05-15 or 2026-05-16
But of our party had a druid (Or an annual publication written by and for druids), then they would have just been able to tell us.
/c/theydidthemath
June 13, 2026? That’s rather specific. Turnips are pretty frost tolerant so you could plant them much sooner or later if you wanted.
But something else is going to happen? I’m sure they’ve been losing money for years, so I’m guessing they’ve sold the brand. Rip.
Does anyone read the almanac? Just curious if there’s still anything worth reading in there anymore.
I liked it for entertainment. It was always there in the outhouse.
It used to have instructions for hypnotizing chickens.
So that’s where the POTUS learned that trick from! 🇺🇸 😵💫🐔
Seems to have worked on at least 51% of the country.
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I’m suprised they haven’t used it as a basis for new NOAA regulations under Trump. Maybe it’s too scientific?
Oh no, now where are people going to get their season horoscopes?
Ah yes, where I always go to find out what the opposite of my weather will be.
I mean, it’s only wrong 50% of the time.
With the cuts to NOAA I’ll take it.
