The Old Farmers Almanac

A Tiny Homestead

Today I'm talking with Carol at The Old Farmers Almanac about gardening by the phases of the moon, frost dates, and the history of the almanac. You can follow on Facebook, as well.

00:00
This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. Today I'm talking with Carol at the Old Farmer's Almanac. Hi, Carol. How are you doing today? I'm good. How are you doing, Mary? I'm great. Thank you for being here. Tell me about yourself and about what the Old Farmer's Almanac is.

00:23
Well, the Almanac is ultimately really a calendar and a calendar of the heavens. And so, you know, old farmers or new farmers tend to need calendars because we like to know what's going on and what we need to be planning ahead for. But yeah, the greatest thing about the Almanac, I think, is that it's 232 going on 233 years old. So I'm the newest editor. I'm the 14th editor. I'm the second female editor.

00:51
of the almanac in all those years. So it's quite an honor and a responsibility. But I think we just see that there's such a resurgence and an interest in all of the things that the almanac is about, whether it's gardening and farming or astronomy or folklore or home remedies, those sorts of things. People are really paying more attention to those. So it's a great place to be.

01:18
Yankee Publishing is our home publisher and I worked here 20 years ago on a different publication for Yankee Magazine. So it's a bit of a homecoming for me. I've always been a fan of the Almanac. So it's great to be here. Very nice. So can you tell me where the Almanacs, actually before we even get there, there are two farmers' Almanacs. The old farmers' Almanac is the original? Yes.

01:45
So who puts out the other one? Not that I want to give them any press, but I don't know. We don't know a lot about them either, honestly. They are out of Maine. We are out of Dublin, New Hampshire. And the farmer, not the old farmers, the other one is, I think it started in the 80s or 90s. It's not that old. I think distribution-wise, they are pretty much in New England, whereas we are...

02:13
you know, all of North America. And I think they sell about, maybe their publication is about 300,000, you know, and we sell almost 3 million. So it's a little different, you know, I think, but again, like almanacs, when we started our almanac, there was many almanacs and really ours just kind of, well, we know that the weather was more accurate and we know that we were more entertaining. That's why we stuck around. So.

02:42
Honestly, there was always almanacs. So it's really kind of great that there are more than less, because some are regional, some are really specific to a certain aspect of almanacs typically. So good competition to have, I guess. So you guys are the old farmer's almanac, and you've been around for over 200 years, you said? Yes, 1792, first year. All right. So I have a little tiny story to share about your publication.

03:12
I think that the old farmer's almanac was probably one of the first things I read when I was six years old. I think. Cool. So, yeah, my dad bought it every year because he grew a garden and he needed to know when the safe time to plant was and when the full moon was going to be and all those things that are in there. You mentioned weather.

03:40
the coming weather is going to be. Are you at liberty to share that? Of course. And so yes, that's really what has been, I think, anybody who plants things in the ground, we're always pretty obsessed with the weather. What's it going to do? And so that's true for since, really, if you think back, people that are now homesteaders like yourself or farmers or if they aren't, it's only a couple of generations back that all of us were farmers.

04:10
The weather is of key importance. And as we have weirder weather too, we get a lot of more interest in it. And so from the beginning, it's been about data. It's been about this special formula. And so our founder, Robert B. Thomas, whose birthday is coming up, he really believed in and studied astronomy and planet science and pinned his algorithms and his data.

04:40
data at that time, of course, what he had to three sciences. And sunspot, sun science, sunspot activity is really the one that I think sets us apart in terms of our long range forecasting. We also use climate science and meteorology, but it's really that idea of layering the data that we have in those three science areas, one on top of each other and looking at patterns across...

05:08
that very large data set. And of course, in those days, we do have Robert B. Thomas' hand calculations. And these days we can crunch even more data, even more data is available. But to be more nuanced about it, for sun science, the sun is in its 25th cycle that it's been recorded and these cycles are 12, 13.

05:35
more, sometimes years old, years. And so this worth the very end of the 25th cycle, and it's quite a crazy cycle. It's been tons of sunspot activity, which does impact our weather. And so yeah, that's from the, from time beginning, that's how it's been done. And now we, we work with, you know, premier weather forecasters who use our same formula from the beginning. But of course, like I said, so much more data to go by.

06:04
At the same time, we are finding lots of aberrations. There was three La Niña years and now we're in El Niño. And because they don't typically come that many in a row, that's had some differences and not as predictable, I think. So we've had to do some art and science. Yeah, this winter in Minnesota,

06:32
was the strangest winter I have ever seen. Tell me what happened. Nothing. Nothing happened. Basically, last winter, we got piled with snow. Two winters ago. This winter, I think if we got a foot of snow, we were lucky. And it rained like crazy yesterday. Yesterday, the winds were almost tornado.

07:01
number wind gusts and it poured all day. It would have been two and a half feet of snow if it had been snow. It's just been the craziest, weirdest winter of my entire life. And I grew up in Maine. I've lived in Minnesota for over 25 years now. And there were some crazy winters in Maine, but this was not the winter we were expecting this 23, 24.

07:29
It's same here. We thought it was, we had, we probably predicted the right amount of precipitation. Um, I'm guessing in a lot of places this year, but not the right kind of precipitation. It was definitely less cold than we predicted. And so, um, many places where we predicted, you know, crazy white outs, it was really a wet out. The idea being, and you know, a lot of that is that, that the jet stream is when it's slow, it does, it does kind of crazy things.

07:59
And that's what we're seeing. It's been a slower, wavier jet stream for a while. And so that affects different, different teleconnections is the word. Yeah. And you can't win them all. It's a prediction. It's not set in stone. So I appreciate what you guys try to do. And when you get it dead on, that's awesome. Yeah. But what's the prediction for the summer? Do you know that off the top of your head? Because I haven't actually looked yet.

08:29
Um, for Minnesota. Sure. Um, and I kind of think of you, let me just look at my farmers. I'm like, well, I have it because I was on the phone with Canada and really you, you're kind of, it depends on where you are in Minnesota. Are you, I was trying to figure out if you're in Northern Minnesota? No, we are about an hour Southwest of the twin cities. So you're not quite in the prairies, I guess I would say. And it's, it's pretty flat and there's a lot of cornfields. So my, my idea of a prairie, it fits it pretty well.

08:59
So I'm going to, I think what you're describing is what we are seeing, especially even in Southern Canada, which is, you know, just really north of you and also where you are, is that it's a bit of an aberration. So that there's kind of what our weather forecasters have been talking to us about our winter and fall hangovers. So winter's hanging on a little bit more where you are and going a little bit later, whether that's rain or snow. And then you're getting a drier, warmer fall.

09:29
Okay. So that's what we're predicting for that area. And then, you know, like everywhere, probably a little bit warmer than average temperatures this summer. Great. I'm very excited about this. Last summer, we had rain from mid-May until I think the end of June. How did your garden grow? Our garden did okay.

09:57
Our potatoes did not do great because we had them in raised beds. And I don't know what you know about gardening, but when you have raised beds, sometimes they don't get watered as often as say the big old open garden does. And it was very, very dry from the end of June until September. So our potatoes did not do well, but the rest of the garden did pretty good.

10:27
I just was trying to figure out what we're looking at for this year because I have tomato babies on my kitchen table right now. I have basil babies on my kitchen table right now. And my husband is just dying to get things in the ground. And I told him, I said, it's only April 17th, hun. I said, we never plant anything until at least May 15th, so just relax. And you know, at almanac.com, you can just...

10:53
punch in your zip code and then it'll tell you by plant, you know, what is your frost date and your best moon by the moon planting date. Yeah. And what does the moon have to do with all of this? Because I figure that's a good question that most people won't know about. It's my favorite topic. What's the moon got to do with it? It's got everything to do with it though. We were just...

11:17
talking among the editors yesterday and how there was a new study that also shows that Mars affects our tides, but I can't tell you about that just yet. Okay. But the moon, so you live in the landlocked area, so you don't maybe see it as much, but if you're on the coast, a tide is going to be higher during the full moon. And so-

11:41
what moon gardening or gardening by the phases of the moon takes into account is saying the water that the moon moves, just like it moves the ocean, water is in the ground. We are, what are we, 60, 70 percent water? Plants are 90 percent water. And so it's this idea that there is a tide, you know, even the earth and the water underneath the earth.

12:10
is subject to being influenced by the moon's effect. And so how that operates is it's saying that when the moon is waxing, when the moon is growing in its light in the sky, that water is drawn up and out. And so that's a time to plant certain crops. You know, it's a time to plant things that you want to grow up and out. So, but we would say then during a waning phase,

12:39
as the light is retreating, that means the water is also being drawn back into the earth. So root crops would be the best thing to be planted at that time to just take advantage of that natural essentially tide that's in all water. So that's a very basic way of thinking about it. And then there are, in terms of astronomically...

13:07
you know, the zodiac has an astronomical as well as a, um, astrology component, but the astronomical one is also something that people tend to layer over, um, this idea of the moon phases and get even more intricate with their, with their planting. But that's the idea. And it's also, you know, applies to kind of the tasks of gardening is where, you know, those first two weeks of a new moon, um, it's a time to be planting and starting. And then as the new, as the full moon passes.

13:37
That's a time to be cleaning up and revisiting that cycle. So it's really just about that cycle. Does that kind of make sense? Yeah. So it's no different really than the whole planning for the seasons. You're planning for the moon cycle as well. Yes. Okay. Cool. So is the Old Farmer's Almanac still in print? Because I think I saw it for sale at Fleet Farm a couple years ago.

14:05
But I haven't actually noticed lately because I've been busy doing other things and my husband will look things up online instead of going and buying a copy because we're terrible people. So, is it still in print? Yes, we print almost three million copies a year. Yes, it's about 10 bucks, so it's still a great bargain. But it's great. You can find awesome information on almanac.com. And we have hundreds and hundreds and thousands of pages. And really for...

14:35
particular plants. If it's like, okay, I want to plant hydrangea. Okay, I want hot peppers. We have just wonderful grow guides for each and every vegetable and flower that we have up there. So great resource. We don't duplicate much online that we have in the issue. We don't give away our whole forecast, for instance, online. We have people buy that and there's reference sections that you could find in different places, but wouldn't be sort of

15:04
There's a whole set of features that doesn't go online. And I'm trying to think what other pieces of it. Oh, the farmer's calendars and the calendar itself, you know, so that piece isn't online. But lots of the growing resources are and a lot of sky-watching resources and planetary resources are online. Okay. The reason I asked is because there's so many print publications that have gone...

15:32
away from print, but you can find them online instead. And I love that you guys still have one you can actually hold in your hand and flip the pages with your fingers. Yeah, totally. People love it. And you know, it's, the newsstand has gone away, just to speak a little bit about the business. You know, it's like if you go to your grocery store, say, you know, there's very few magazines or there's not maybe even like a periodical section anymore. So we've done a lot of creative things.

15:59
and to be in different marketplaces. And it's really been a success that way so that people can find us in a lot of different spots. Yeah, I'm gonna go out on a little bit of a limb again. I try not to go too far out because I don't wanna make anybody really angry, but I was late to the e-reader.

16:21
I really did not want to read things on a tablet or on a computer screen. I loved books. I loved libraries. I loved bookstores. And ever since I finally caved and bought my first Nook e-reader, and I don't even know if Barnes & Noble is still doing that, but I don't spend a lot of time with an actual book or magazine or newspaper in my hand anymore because I just read it on my tablet.

16:51
I feel like a traitor because I really did love hard copy words. So I guess it's okay because it doesn't necessarily matter how you're getting the words into your brain to get the ideas flowing. But I kind of miss the smell of a good library and a good bookstore. That's funny. I used to work at a library before this job, so I get your drift. Yeah.

17:20
But we do offer an e-version for your Nook or your Kindle. So that's definitely doable for people. But yeah, lots of people really like the print. I think that we've been thinking about the newer audience and younger readers and thinking about it'd be kind of fun to do a little video. I think we'll do one in the fall about how to use the Almanac because it's got some really quirky stuff in it that you don't find online. That's just pretty neat. How you...

17:49
kind of walk through the days of the year and what symbols and stuff we have. So we've been thinking about that just to refresh, you know. That would be fun. Yeah. So, okay, so do you, are you familiar with the beginning history of the old farmer's almanac? Yes. I mean, pretty much so, you know, I can tell you what I know. How did it start?

18:17
Robert B. Thomas was our founder. In fact, I was just reading about him the other day. He's an interesting fellow. He was really self, well, the time, you know, in 1780s, 1770, I think he started the Almanac, well, he started in 1792, and I wanna say he was maybe 25. He was the editor for 40-something more years, which he lived a good long life for those times. And so his father, he wrote that his father,

18:46
really was their main educator and that he was very educated and that they were lucky in that they had a lot of books in their home. Back in those days, you might have the Bible and an almanac, maybe one of the earliest ones, but Benjamin Franklin was an almanac editor slash creator. So at the time, this was the next piece of information that people really needed after the

19:16
You know, as Robert B. Thomas was gaining his own education, he was fascinated by astronomy. And he kept seeing, if you read his writing, he'd see these almanacs and he's like, I can do better. You know, I can do better. And so he was really quite a go-getter. And so he did. He got his almanac off the ground. And as I said, I think really, when we look back, he committed himself to that science about the long range forecasting.

19:45
And he did have a lot of successes and a lot of right things that happened. But also he wanted his Almanac to be entertaining because, okay, you know, it's an early, it's an early homestead. And, you know, this book gives you something to look at every single day of the year. There's information, many pieces of it really. So, so he was really an innovator.

20:13
I think when it came to Almanacs, there were Almanacs, but he committed himself to his being really great and different. So those are the beginnings. It's fun. I don't think that we're really, we're not doing pictures, but we have the old Almanacs here in the office and it's just so interesting to me how some of the same things, like we've done green manure stories since the beginning. And how to grow. Of course, we started as a New England.

20:42
product and your main person from your origins, but the idea of growing wheat or hay in New England, how to do it, who had to feed their livestock. So yeah, I think it's kind of interesting to me when I even go back 200 years, 150 years, how relevant that information is still. It's amazing. Yeah, absolutely. It's... Okay.

21:08
Again, I'm going to say something that people are probably going to get yelled at about. If you're doing it the way that it was done 200 years ago, it's probably good.

21:20
Yeah, I don't know if you know, I think permaculture is a word we use these days. And to me, you know, having experience with biodynamic farming and organic farming and these different ideas, permaculture really describes to me what was happening here, you know, when people became and came to settle this country. So yeah, that idea of

21:46
having things locally available and sharing knowledge with your neighbors is really, it's really, it's something that hasn't grown old. No, it's where it's at, as my daughter would say jokingly because she thinks that's a very old fashioned phrase. Okay, so in the Old Farmer's Almanac, it's about the phases of the moon and how to...

22:14
use those to plant. It's about growing things. It's about weather. Are there any like stories in it at all? Totally. Totally. Yes? Okay. So this year we've got, well it's the year of the grain. And so we talk about how to grow grains. So you know there's that. We do farmer profiles all over North America. So we talk to farmers whether they're date farmers or dairy farmers or small

22:43
We really have a smattering across Canada and the US. So those are really interesting to see again, how farming at different levels is taking old ways and refreshing them. We always have a ton of food stories. So we've got a great pancake story in the 2024 issue. And fishing is another area where we have a big following. And so we have a cool story on just...

23:11
having a fun fishing outing. We always have our maps and our calendars. This year we had a great story on leap day because it was a leap year and the eclipse because of the eclipse. And then, you know, sometimes you'll just see, like I said, okay, green manure. Well, this, we always have tons of growing stories, but we do, we have like the perfect seed germination recipe because we all know if you don't get that right, you're really in trouble. You never do enough tomatoes. Like we don't, you know, we...

23:41
We have a great story on toast, how to make the best bread for toast. But I think tomatoes is almost something you'll find always in our issue, either that or the garden guide. So people always want homegrown tomatoes, so there's always tips there. And then we have recipe and essay contests. So we have reader recipes and essays, and those are really fun and usually delicious recipes. Cool. Yeah. The germination thing. My kid wanted to do.

24:11
the baby lettuces, because he likes to eat them when they're just a little tiny. And he got a flat bucket. I think it was probably supposed to be a cat litter box, but it's clean. So he threw some compost from our compost pile in there and he spread the lettuce seeds in and he got one lettuce plant out of like 40 seeds. And I think that it was probably a package of seeds from four or five years ago. And maybe it's just not good.

24:41
So I asked him the other day if he wanted to replant them and he was like, nah, he said, I was waiting until dad plants the garden. I was to get him out of the garden. I was like, okay, that's fine. And the kid is 22. It's not like he's five. It wasn't like this was a new concept to him. He was like, I'm going to try to grow some. I was like, you do that. That's fine. So yeah. It's the first step and it's the hardest sometimes. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

25:11
my husband put in the tomato seeds and basil seeds. The basil seeds took like two and a half weeks to pop up. I was like, they're supposed to be up at 10 days. And he says, I don't know what's going on. And now they're basil. You know, I could kill the baby plants by pulling the two leaves off of every one, but I'm not gonna do that. But they look like basil plants, so. Did you do, do you have any grow lights? Or are you using like a just sunny window?

25:40
Oh no, we have a grow light. We have a long grow light that's hung from the kitchen light fixture above the table and everything's coming in great. Tomatoes are like five inches tall and they've only been in for three weeks. So, they're doing great. And boy, life really, really changed the game. Even the small one, like I've been seeing them for sale, you know, whatever, discounters and you know, for people that...

26:07
It's just such a jump on the season. It's just, and it's also, I feel like having that light on and around and seeing little baby things grow is just the perfect antidote to a late spring. Yeah, it saves us from our winter depression because by the end of February in Minnesota, we're like, oh my God, I need green plants. This is terrible help. So we just put them in and they grow. It's amazing.

26:31
Okay, so I have one more thing that I would like to share from our experience. And you can tell me what you think about it. When we bought this place back in 2020, we moved in August. So it was way too late to start a garden. And that does not mean that my husband did not start prepping for the following spring. He's the gardener. He loves it. But, uh,

26:56
It was really hard because there was nothing here. It was a blank slate. So that was great because we could make it we wanted it to be. But that first spring was rough because there were no flowers coming up because the person that owned it before wasn't a flower gardener and it killed me. Cause I had flowers at the old place like crazy and having nothing coming up in May was heartbreaking. So, so I guess.

27:25
As someone who's very steeped in all of this, if someone was looking for, I don't know, a bigger property, like say, going from a tenth of an acre to an acre, going from five acres to 10 or 20, when is a good time to make that jump during the year? Because I think we did it right because we moved in August, we knew the first year was going to be building it up.

27:55
And so August seemed like a good timeframe, not that we planned it that way. But do you have any suggestions? Oh gosh. And I mean, in this market, it's kind of like, can you pick when you do anything? Well, the planning part. Yeah. Well, yeah, that's such an interesting question. I guess because you don't know what's there. You know, I actually, the last place I've been, I'm moving to be closer to my job, which is great, but.

28:24
I also purchased in August and so I could see that some things were coming up or had been up earlier in the year, but it really wasn't until the following spring that I got a good sense of what was there and was able to plan. So the biggest plan I could really make was for a vegetable garden because there hadn't been one. So that from scratch gave me time, which was nice. There was an herb garden and an herb space there, so I was able to do that right away.

28:52
but I did take the time to really think about and plan my vegetable garden and get it set up well. So that was one, I think, advantage to having it from scratch. But yeah, it's so many factors, Mary. Like I think like if you're gonna add a greenhouse, like, you know, needing to plan and really wanting to know where does the shade fall all year long before I put up a structure? Yeah. You know, so I think there's a lot of factors that go into it.

29:20
I guess ideally my feeling would be January's when we all start to really want to plan. So it'd be nice to move in the late fall or winter, even though it's not a great place, time to move, but then have all that time to settle in and plan so that at least your house on the inside is okay so when you're ready to step out.

29:44
Yeah, yeah, that too. Our realtor is actually a family friend now. We love her. She told me back years ago that September is the most popular month for people to be moving into a new place because the school year is starting in September. Right. And I feel like it's not just the school year. I feel like it's the time where

30:12
where summer's pretty much over and you're getting into your fall routine and then the holiday routine and then January hits and you have time to breathe again. Yes. So, maybe we did it at exactly the right time because it worked out perfectly. We had all the time in the world to get everything moved in, to get things put away, to get through the holiday season. And then January hit and my husband said, so.

30:40
we now have room for a humongous garden. What are we going to do? I was like, I think you're going to garden. He said, yes, I understand that. And this is a relationship we have. He does not call me a smart ass when I say things like that. And when he asks me obvious questions, I don't say, thank you Captain Obvious. So, but we think it real loud. It's very funny. But he had time, and I had time to sit down.

31:04
and draw up the plan and figure out what we wanted to grow and what we needed to do to get those things started. One other thing that might be nice about that time of year too is if you do know or there aren't flowers, you can put in bulbs. So you have something when the spring wakes up. Yeah, we did not do that. We actually put in bulbs the following fall, I think.

31:32
No, maybe we did. Maybe we put in tulips that first fall because I knew it was going to destroy me come spring when there were no peonies. But yeah, right now we've got daffodils blooming and we've got tulips that should be blooming in a week and we have many, many peonies that will be coming in June. I'm very excited about my peonies because we had tons where we used to live and now we don't have tons, we have many.

32:02
Well, I bet with the lack of flowers when you first got there, it really makes a difference for the pollinators. I think I've been to lots of places that are food focused and I think, oh, just put in some butterfly bush or some echinacea or coneflower, get some pollinators. Yeah. We tried putting in echinacea and prairie fireweed or whatever it is that grows native to Minnesota and flots.

32:32
and some other things. And then the drought hit and because we put them where they weren't obvious, they didn't get watered. So we spent probably $120 on native plants and they all died. I was so sad. Those expensive lessons. Yeah, we're not going to do that again. Next time I'm going to be like, okay, so we're putting them where we remember where they are so we remember to water them. But

32:58
There is a man who lives a mile and a half away, maybe two miles away, who keeps honeybees. So we are never without honeybees, which is wonderful. It's good to know your neighbors and then you know what resources they're gonna share by accident. But yeah, it's, I don't know. The reason I asked about the when is the best time of year to make the jump is because

33:26
We had already been gardening at our old place. We had already been making things from scratch. We had already been freezing produce, and now we can produce, because we can, can produce. And we knew enough that it wasn't that hard to shift from a 10th of an acre lot in town to a three acre lot five miles outside of town. It was a natural progression for us. But...

33:52
I feel like there's probably people who are watching this homesteading movement that started back when COVID happened, who don't necessarily have the experience where it would be a natural progression for them to make the jump. So I was hoping that maybe by saying, is there a good time for that jump, that that would help them.

34:18
Well, that is a great time, as you know, as you described. And, but I also think, like I see, like you said, this, this movement, I see, I see a lot more people just adding raised beds in their yard for starters. Like when I drive around, I see that. And are we just, um, we just, uh, issued our third book in our handbook series, the container gardeners handbook and that, and container gardening is really. Just soaring because people can do that anywhere on a patio or on a balcony, you know, but there's this.

34:47
just really desire to be growing our own food and herbs and things like that. So, so, you know, yes, I think that it's wonderful for people to think now if they want to make that leap, you know, now's the time to plan that for the fall. But there's also opportunities, you know, all around the year for people that, that want to, you know, that don't have the means, more the desire to move that can still have things at their fingertips, you know, that we know that it's just not, it's beyond.

35:16
It's beyond growing your own food. We know that, you know, touching the earth is like an antidepressant and flowers and scents and tastes are as well. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. You don't have to live. You don't have to live in a certain place to grow things. You can grow things on your kitchen window sill if you want to. Absolutely. So. All right. Well, um.

35:43
I tell me the old farmers almanac website address, please. Yes, it's simply almanac.com. Nice, simple, really simple. Good. All right. And are you guys on Facebook? Do you have a Facebook page or group or something? Yes, we're on Instagram and we're on Pinterest and Facebook as the old farmers almanac and did I say Instagram and YouTube also we have a wonderful grow veg is our partner in our garden planner. And there's

36:12
great videos, growing videos that are also on almanac.com. Fantastic. All right, Carol, thank you so much for talking with me today. I really wanted to talk to someone at your place about this, because my podcast is called A Tiny Homestead, and I knew about the almanac. And I was like, not everybody knows about the almanac. I need to get somebody from them to talk to me about it. Thanks for having me, Mary. You're welcome. Have a great day. You too.

36:41
Alright, bye.