The Old Farmers Almanac

Dear Reader:

When I got back from the Turners – yesterday afternoon-celebrating Mandy’s birthday …I checked the mail and there was a copy of the history behind the creation of the Old Farmers Almanac and fun facts about folklore and traditions we all recognize!!! ( Honey had sent it and knew I would enjoy the folktales inside… and I do!!!) Thank you Honey!!!

As I read how one Robert Thomas ( bookseller, schoolteacher, and amateur astronomer) published his first Farmers Almanac in 1792… it brought back memories of Granddaddy Wilson -he was always checking the Old Farmers Almanac – calendar – hanging on the kitchen wall -before planting day… he swore by it as a cotton farmer and read me fun weather facts and animal behavior when predicting the weather.

Out of curiosity-I turned to 2022 September predictions and had to laugh when I read:” If St Michael’s brings many acorns, Christmas will cover the fields with snow.” ( Most Southerners secretly hope each year for a white Christmas!)

But I was slightly confused… where I live St Michael’s is a famous, historical church located in the center of downtown Charleston… what does acorns have to do with a church?

So I googled it and discovered the author was referring to St Michael’s Day ( September 29) or more popularly called Michaelmas for Michael the archangel and Saint.

Since Michaelmas arrives a week after the Fall Equinox the days are getting shorter and the nights longer and darker. This used to be the deadline for completing the Harvest -ending one season of farming and starting another cycle of renewing the fields for future farming crops!!!

It also was the time to hire new laborers and servants, exchange plots of land and repay debts. Communities also elected their leaders or magistrates and September 29 became the start for the beginning of university terms in Europe and later in our early colleges and universities.

So until tomorrow…Hmmmmm… maybe I can persuade the congregation at St Michael’s church to organize wheelbarrows of acorns to be scattered around the premises ( on St Michael’s Day) in hopes of a white Christmas???? Time will tell!

Today is my favorite day -Winnie the Pooh

After John took Mandy out for dinnerFriday evening- Eva Cate ( definitely an acorn fallen from her talented artistic mother) started decorating!!!

Saturday Mandy opened her presents after a gourmet breakfast-we went for a wonderful golf cart ride around the neighborhood-so fun. I also took pictures of Mandy’s flowers…

When I got home… my tulips welcomed me with open smiles!

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”

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