To Patrons

A Time Capsule of the Years

Someday the Almanac that you now hold in your hands will be a collector's item of inestimable value. In a few years, perhaps decades, long after this edition has outlived its primary purpose, someone will happen upon it and delight in his good fortune.

It happens all the time.

Throughout the year, we hear from people who have discovered old editions of this Almanac. With a mix of excitement, awe, and anticipation, they share the details of their finds:

• “I was cleaning out my grandmother’s attic, and there in the drawer of an old bureau was a bunch of Old Farmer’s Almanacs.”
• “I got some really old Almanacs at a garage sale.”
• “In an old icehouse, we found five Old Farmer’s Almanacs, dogeared and faded, hanging on a nail.”
• “I picked up an 1862 edition at a used-book store.”

A few of them want to sell us their old copies (thanks, but we have all we need). A few more want to sell their finds to anybody and ask us to assign a dollar value—sight unseen, no less. We leave that task to usedbook dealers and the like. The vast majority of Almanac finders are keepers. and we are grateful for that. To them (and us) the old editions are priceless time capsules, offering a glimpse into another era, a different way of life.

For example, where but in our Almanac would you learn these things (all true, by the way; if you would like to know more, click on the links below):

• the recipe for “easy and safe puke” (it’s an antidote to poisoning), 1830
• how to make butter by wrapping cream in a napkin or clean cloth and burying it a foot or so deep in the earth for 12 to 24 hours, 1889
• about the Chrysler Bell Victory Siren, which made “the loudest continuous noise ever created by mechanical means—a noise equal to the shouting potential of 4,000 million ordinary men,” 1964
• advice on when to shop for what to save money (watches in February, canned goods in August), 1977
• the pencil test to see how many children you’ll have, 1989
• when 99.3% of college students bathe (men on Saturday, women on Tuesday, neither on Sunday), 1995
• the way to “iron” your face to prevent wrinkles, 2001

Even the advertisements mark time. These actually appeared:

• “Tombstones direct to you, $9.95,” 1948
• “100-Year-Old Gypsy Bait Oil Makes Fish Bite: Catch 300 big fish or money back,”1958
• “Eyeglasses by mail, limited to folks 40 years or older,” 1971
• “Rooster Pills, for men who feel run down, worn out, and just plain uninterested,” 1979

Speaking of great finds, some of you may have discovered the all-new Old Farmer’s Almanac for Kids, Volume 2. It began appearing in book and specialty stores in July. (Can’t find it? Go to shop.Almanac.com.) In addition to fun facts and stories about nature, gardening, sports, astronomy, weather, and more, Volume 2 has kids’ calendar pages, with trivia and timeless wisdom for every day of every year. Plus, our Web site Almanac4kids.com has an all new, fun—and free!— Activity Guide designed so that kids, parents, grandparents, and teachers can make the most of the Almanac for Kids itself. (To so many of you who helped to make Volume 1 a huge success: Thank you!)

Finally, we have an all-new Almanac experience for traditional Almanac users: a new face and new features at Almanac.com. Check it out and tell us what you think.

Read, use, and enjoy this Almanac. When the year is done, put it somewhere safe but out of sight so that, in a few years, it can be discovered and appreciated all over again.-J. S., June 2006

However, it is by our works and not our words that we would be judged. These, we hope, will sustain us in the humble though proud station we have so long held in the name of Your obedient servant, Robt. B. Thomas.