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Ancient almanac preaches going back to basics
Source: Agencies |
September 14, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
ONE reader suggests recycling saved greeting cards by adding new messages. Another advises cutting single ripped legs off of two pairs of pantyhose and layering them to create one pair that's good as new.
The tips may sound old-school, but the editor of this year's edition of "The Old Farmer's Almanac" hopes they'll resonate with people looking to save money and pare down their lives in tough economic times.
"We've been real simple before Real Simple was real," Editor Janice Stillman said in Dublin, in the US State of New Hampshire, where the almanac is compiled. The 2012 edition came out yesterday.
The 220-year-old book, believed to be the oldest continuously published periodical in North America, has tried to help readers be resourceful by providing home remedies, weather predictions and even the best days to quit smoking and plant crops based on the moon's position.
"The Old Farmer's Almanac" is 26 years older than its closest competitor, "The Farmers' Almanac," published out of Maine. This year's edition focuses on returning to a simpler lifestyle - cooking at home, growing vegetables indoors and picking up "lost" kitchen arts such as sausage making and pickling. In the words of founder Robert B Thomas in 1792, the almanac's goal is to be "useful, with a pleasant degree of humor."
The "2012 at a glance" section predicts the growing popularity of simple entertainment such as Sunday dinners and parlor games, along with sharing or renting furniture, clothing and cars. Submissions came pouring in for this year's essay contest, for which readers were asked to write about their best original money-saving habits. "This was on people's minds," Stillman said.
First place went to Elizabeth Gortemoller, 82, of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, who had the idea of reusing greeting cards her family had saved because they were meaningful.
Third-place winner Regi Johnson's money-saving tip was in response to an office policy that didn't allow women to show bare legs when wearing a dress. She often found that she never had a good pair of panty hose because they always had runs or holes. But the 52-year-old insurance agent from Manhattan, Montana, had several pairs that had one good leg, and since she always bought the same brand and color, she cut the bad leg off each pair and slipped on both of the good pairs.
The tips may sound old-school, but the editor of this year's edition of "The Old Farmer's Almanac" hopes they'll resonate with people looking to save money and pare down their lives in tough economic times.
"We've been real simple before Real Simple was real," Editor Janice Stillman said in Dublin, in the US State of New Hampshire, where the almanac is compiled. The 2012 edition came out yesterday.
The 220-year-old book, believed to be the oldest continuously published periodical in North America, has tried to help readers be resourceful by providing home remedies, weather predictions and even the best days to quit smoking and plant crops based on the moon's position.
"The Old Farmer's Almanac" is 26 years older than its closest competitor, "The Farmers' Almanac," published out of Maine. This year's edition focuses on returning to a simpler lifestyle - cooking at home, growing vegetables indoors and picking up "lost" kitchen arts such as sausage making and pickling. In the words of founder Robert B Thomas in 1792, the almanac's goal is to be "useful, with a pleasant degree of humor."
The "2012 at a glance" section predicts the growing popularity of simple entertainment such as Sunday dinners and parlor games, along with sharing or renting furniture, clothing and cars. Submissions came pouring in for this year's essay contest, for which readers were asked to write about their best original money-saving habits. "This was on people's minds," Stillman said.
First place went to Elizabeth Gortemoller, 82, of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, who had the idea of reusing greeting cards her family had saved because they were meaningful.
Third-place winner Regi Johnson's money-saving tip was in response to an office policy that didn't allow women to show bare legs when wearing a dress. She often found that she never had a good pair of panty hose because they always had runs or holes. But the 52-year-old insurance agent from Manhattan, Montana, had several pairs that had one good leg, and since she always bought the same brand and color, she cut the bad leg off each pair and slipped on both of the good pairs.
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