The Cunning Farmer with Todd Elliott

About this episode

The episode explores the cultural significance and hidden wisdom of the Old Farmer's Almanac as a blend of tradition and folk magic.

If I go to my rural grocery store today, amongst the tabloids, gossip rags, and boomer nostalgia slop in the magazine section, a strange artifact awaits. There, as it likely has been since the place was built in the fifties, is a row of Old Farmer's Almanacs. Ostensibly a relic of homespun wisdom and a tangible reminder of an agrarian lifestyle that a few generations ago would have been intrinsic to survival, but is now merely a hobby. The Farmer's Almanac can seem like an object of tradition more than function, like Coke in a glass bottle or cowboy boots: a tool to embody and experience the past. Less remarked on, though, is how the Old Farmer's Almanac is essentially a grimoire of agricultural folk magic that is somehow as ubiquitous as the TV Guide. In the Old Farmer's Almanac, you'll essentially find half the categories of the New Age section in the bookstore: weather predictions, astrological timing, home remedies, and a lunar cycle planting guide, and somehow it still manages to feel as kitschy as a Norman Rockwell painting. What this apparent dichotomy between content and presentation reveals to me is just how old most of what gets called "new age" actually is…

People in this episode

Host: Chad Andro

Guest: Todd Elliott

Topics covered

• agriculture
• folk magic
• self-care
• tradition
• cosmic influences

Keywords

• Old Farmer's Almanac
• agricultural folk magic
• self-care
• lunar cycle
• weather predictions

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Old Farmer's Almanac, New Age

Books & works: Norman Rockwell painting

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