Old Farmer's Almanac at 225: 'It doesn't look that much different'

Not too many publications last 25 years, let alone 225, but that's the birthday being celebrated this year by the Old Farmer's Almanac.

There are still many that swear by it for its annual insights into the coming seasons and weather patterns.

And there's even an Islander involved, Peter Rukavina, who turned what he thought would be a short-term job into two decades of work.

As he told Island Morning's Matt Rainnie, he was asked to help with the publication's then-new digital companion, almanac.com.

"I had some experience with webby stuff, so I said yes, fully expecting this to be a month-long project, and 20 years later I'm still here," said Rukavina.

He's part of a great tradition which still sees some 4,000,000 copies distributed annually.

"It's odd to think that I am part of a line of people that have been involved in making this book come to life every year for 225 years," said Rukavina. "Robert B. Thomas was 26 years old in 1792 when he founded it. He was born 200 years to the month before me."

Part of what Rukavina likes is that, the digital site aside, not that much has changed in those many years.

"It doesn't look that much different," he said. "The calendar pages have the sunrise and the sunset and the tide times, and there's long-range weather information, and to think that has been happening every year in an unbroken line for 225 years, and I've sort of dropped in after year 205."

Almanac survives digital age

In these internet days, much of what the Almanac has offered over the years is simply a click away.

That is, if you can click. If not, you can always trust the Almanac.

"At it's very heart, the Almanac is a calendar, and sort of a user's manual to the world around us," he said. "If the internet shut off, if we lost electricity, and you had a copy of the Old Farmer's Almanac, you could do pretty well to understand the cycles of the natural world. You would know when the sun is going to rise and the sun is going to set. You would be able to understand the connection between lunar cycles and the tides. You would be able to know when to plant your garden and what the frost stages are."

As for its famous predictions, there are still many who swear by them, over the word of any weather service or online forecast.

Brace for a rough winter, said Rukavina. "The short version of the story is a cold, snowy winter," he said. "It's going to be colder than normal, it's going to be snowier than normal, and that's how the Almanac talks about the weather when it's predicting it for the long range."

The Almanac claims to have about an 80 per cent accuracy rate, he said. And they do have a lot more experience that the internet.

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