Gardening: Farmer’s Almanac keeps up with modern times

This week’s column was a little difficult to write, I kept getting lost in the rabbit holes one can find reading the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Who wouldn’t want to know when the planets will be visible in the night sky. Or whether August will be hot. Or find a recipe for beet borsch. The odder the question, the better the chance that the almanac has the answer with a little humor thrown in for good measure.

An almanac is defined as a calendar of the heavens. As such, it predicts and announces events in the year; sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset, length of day, astronomical events such as conjunction of planets and other celestial bodies, meteor showers and bright stars. Before the invention of weather forecasting and technology, the almanac was a critical source of knowledge on all kinds of weather information for farmers. Our agrarian society of the time needed to know the best days to slaughter their animals or put up a fence, start seeds, set out plants and harvest.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac was first published in 1792 in New England by Robert B. Thomas. Over the years, Thomas developed a secret formula that allowed him to calculate all kinds of weather and astrological information. It involved a study of sunspots, past weather history, observations of environmental events and a lot of local folklore.

Today with modern science and technology, the almanac has refined its process that uses “three scientific disciplines to make our long-range predictions: solar science, the study of sunspots and other solar activity; climatology, the study of prevailing weather patterns and meteorology, the study of the atmosphere.” All that said, the exact formula is safely locked up in a safe and known to only a few people.

While the almanac was originally published for the New England area, it now features regional forecasts and information for the U.S. and Canada. We are in the Intermountain region. One critic of the almanac’s information said that because of our rough topography here, the predictions may not be as accurate. The almanac’s editors say they are 80% right.

So, what is the 2023 Old Farmer’s Almanac forecast for our region? Feb. 1-9 are snowy and cold, 10-17 are sunny and mild and 18-28 are mild with rain and snow. For March in general it is a mix of rain and snow and both cool and warm weather. April into June will see cooler temperatures and average rainfall. The forecast for the summer is for cooler temperatures and a mixed bag of rainfall. September through October, the end of the almanac’s calendar cycle, starts with cooler temperatures and below average rain and ends with a mixture of temperatures and rain. I’ll check back on this later in the year.

The almanac is available in print and digitally at www.almanac.com. Check out what the puzzle for the day is, what are the best tasks to do today and activities for kids.