Jan. 12, 2004 issue
Almanacs long a part of American Anabaptist culture
By Robert Rhodes Mennonite Weekly ReviewPage:
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Before lifestyle changes took many Mennonites off the farm and into town during the 20th century, a variety of farm- and church-related almanacs were part of U.S. Anabaptist culture.
Baer’s Agricultural Almanac
The longest-lived of these is Baer’s Agricultural Almanac, now in its 179th year from John Baer’s Sons in Lancaster, Pa.
Gerald S. Lestz, longtime editor of Baer’s Almanac, bought the almanac business from the descendants of John Baer in 1948. With the 1949 edition, he became the almanac’s editor.
“People who do moon farming and gardening like it,” said Lestz, 89.
Though determining when to plant and harvest by moon phases and signs of the zodiac is often viewed with derision by modern-minded cultivators, Lestz said “more than you think” still swear by the age-old ways.
“This is sort of laughed at by the scientists … but it recurs all the time,” Lestz said.
Though moon gardeners remain a big part of the Baer’s readership, Lestz said it is still the almanac’s forecasts that drive sales.
“More and more the weather forecasts are becoming primary,” he said, noting that Baer’s claims an 85 percent accuracy for its weather predictions, which are provided by a forecast service and enhanced by “other secret matters we cannot reveal,” Lestz said. “We do miss, but so do the official services. But for $3, you can’t beat ours.”
While the Amish-published Raber’s Almanac retains its modest plainness, Baer’s is far more modern and conventional, with a slick color cover and illustrations reminiscent of the popular Old Farmer’s Almanac and its crop of homespun look-alikes.
Raber’s, in fact, is a look-alike of Baer’s, Lestz said, having adopted its cover logo from the discontinued Baer’s German edition.
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