BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 4, 2021
Since 1818, the Farmers’ Almanac has served as an annual reference for farmers and homesteaders, predicting everything for the year from weather to fashion trends. The guide, which is published out of Lewiston, claims 80 to 85 percent accuracy, though most scientific analyses estimate the guide is right about half of the time, at least when it comes to weather forecasts. That didn’t stop Tammy Ouellette of Fort Kent from taking the Farmers’ Almanac’s every word as gospel. For 2021, Ouellette found a new project: she would live every day by the Farmers’ Almanac for the rest of the year. She would not only plant the crops in her seven raised beds that she uses to feed her family fresh produce when the guide demanded, but cut her hair when it said so, clean her windows on the prescribed dates and mow her lawn according to the calendar. She said she’s seen good results in the garden.