Farmers’ Almanac Printed a Funeral, Then a 210th Edition

The 2027 Farmers’ Almanac is on sale as the title’s 210th edition, months after editors called the 2026 book their last. Sandi Duncan and Peter Geiger locked the website to a goodbye letter, sold out the store copies, and told members to check their inboxes. A Brooklyn outdoor publisher then bought the 208-year-old book and put it back in print with no ads.

The older yellow rival never closed. It spent the winter telling readers it was still alive, and it sold a lot of copies doing that.

The November Letter Locked the Site to a Goodbye

On November 6, 2025, Duncan, the editor, and Geiger, the editor emeritus, posted a note titled “A Fond Farewell.” They wrote that after more than 200 years of weather, wit, and wisdom, they had decided to close the historical publication. The letter said the 2026 Farmers’ Almanac will be our last edition.

So go ahead, plant your peas when the daffodils bloom. Watch for a red sky at night. Tell the kids how granddad always swore by the Almanac. That’s how our story stays alive.

Sandi Duncan and Peter Geiger, Editor and Editor Emeritus, Farmers’ Almanac farewell letter

The postscript was practical. The 2026 book was already sold out in the FA Store, though grocery and bookstore racks might still have copies. Beginning December 1, 2025, the website would be restricted to that single page. Members were told to watch their email. The November farewell that ended a 208-year run read like a completed burial, not a pause.

Comments under the letter asked the staff to sell the title or keep the site alive on ads. Gardeners wanted to know who would keep the moon-phase planting dates. One thread of that worry was blunt: if the book died, how would anyone know when to plant? The letter did not say the Geiger family was shopping for a buyer. It said the story would live on in people who still watched a red sky at night.

The Almanac Inside a Promotional Products Company

Farmers’ Almanac was never a standalone magazine company in its later decades. It sat inside Geiger, a Lewiston, Maine, promotional-products distributor whose main trade is branded merchandise. David Geiger, president of Geiger and a fifth-generation family owner, said the decision came from shifting reader habits and the path of newsstand sales. He called the choice heartbreaking. He also said the Almanac was a small part of the overall business.

That mix explains the math better than nostalgia does. For years the book doubled as a giveaway. Banks, feed stores, and hardware counters ordered custom covers and handed copies to customers. Ray Geiger, the sixth editor, took over in 1933, and the family obtained the rights in 1949. The Almanac’s own history pages credit him with growing copies from 85,000 to more than 6.5 million, many of them those branded extras. He even kept editing while serving in World War II, a point Duncan later used to show how long the streak had run.

Peter Geiger became editor in 1994 and hired Duncan as managing editor the same year. She became the first woman to hold the editor’s chair. The pair built a website and a large Facebook following, but the newsstand line kept sliding. Duncan said readers now get answers elsewhere, and that the cost of producing and distributing the book in a chaotic media market forced the close. Geiger’s 2026 full-color promotional listing was later marked discontinued. The family still had a products company. It no longer had a reason to print an annual of moon phases and Best Days charts.

Why the Yellow Cover Had to Speak Up

The name problem arrived in hours. Farmers’ Almanac, founded in 1818, is the orange book that started in Morristown, New Jersey, and later worked out of Lewiston. The Old Farmer’s Almanac, founded in 1792 during George Washington’s presidency, is the yellow book from Dublin, New Hampshire, published by Yankee Publishing. They are not affiliates. They do not share a forecast formula. They have spent two centuries being mixed up at checkout.

Catherine Boeckmann, executive digital editor and master gardener at the New Hampshire title, had to tell readers the obvious. The Old Farmer’s Almanac remains in continuous publication, in print and online, and continues to grow. Yankee’s 2027 edition, billed as 235 years and still going strong, was set to arrive on Tuesday, September 1, 2026. The company also publishes a Garden Guide, a Kids Almanac, and calendars, so the yellow brand is a stack of products, not one booklet.

Confusion helped the survivor. Yankee Publishing said the 2026 yellow almanac sold more than 2.3 million copies and went into a second printing after the Maine title’s shutdown news, on a circulation the company puts at more than 2.5 million. Some readers hung a copy on a kitchen nail with twine and thought that ritual was ending. It was not. They had the other book.

Tim Konrad Bought a Title That Had Already Said Goodbye

On January 28, 2026, a statement dated Brooklyn Heights, New York, said the historic Farmers’ Almanac had been acquired under new ownership. The deal created Farmers’ Almanac LLC, led by Tim Konrad, founder and publisher of Unofficial Networks, a family outdoor-media company known for skiing and mountain coverage. Konrad started that firm in 2006 with his brother John and also co-founded the maritime news site gCaptain. Terms were not disclosed.

The Unofficial Networks team acquired the Almanac after Konrad saw the closure notice. He said it felt wrong to stand by while an irreplaceable piece of national heritage disappeared. He called the book a living link to knowledge about the natural world and said his group had been working with the Almanac team to keep the forecasts, gardening notes, astronomy, humor, and voice. Peter Geiger welcomed him as the next custodian after four owner-publishers and said an American tradition continues.

The site that was supposed to shrink to a farewell page came back. The January statement said farmersalmanac.com would stay fully accessible, with an archive of forecasts and seasonal guides, and that print would return in future volumes. Konrad wanted daily reasons to visit, not one drop a year. He did not, in January, name a date for the next paperback.

THE SHUTDOWN THAT DID NOT HOLD

1. November 6, 2025: Duncan and Geiger post the farewell and name the 2026 book the last edition.
2. December 1, 2025: The website is restricted to that goodbye page, as the letter promised.
3. January 28, 2026: Farmers’ Almanac LLC, led by Tim Konrad, buys the title and restores the site.
4. August 5, 2026: Konrad, now listed as editor, announces a 2027 print edition, the 210th.
5. August 25, 2026: The 2027 book goes on sale through retailers and FarmersAlmanac.com.
6. September 1, 2026: The 2027 Old Farmer’s Almanac arrives in its usual yellow cover.

Between the locked page and the sale date sat 83 days. That is a short grave for a title that had just told readers to remember granddad.

The 210th Edition Drops Every Ad

The revival is a physical book, not a rumor. Farmers’ Almanac said it would publish a print edition for 2027, continuing a line that began in 1818, and that the forthcoming volume would be the 210th edition of Farmers’ Almanac. It is the first edition produced under Farmers’ Almanac LLC. The winter outlook inside it is themed “Snow, Sleet, and Surprises!” and is credited to Caleb Weatherbee, the house pseudonym for the forecaster, using the same secret weather formula the title has cited for more than two centuries.

The Farmers’ Almanac belongs in print. For generations, readers have kept it in their homes, carried it with them, written notes in its margins, and returned to it throughout the year. We are proud to announce that this tradition will continue with the publication of our 210th edition in 2027.

Tim Konrad, Editor, Farmers’ Almanac 2027 print announcement

The production choice is a swing back toward the old object. The 2027 print edition contains no advertising and uses the black-and-white look tied to historic issues. Konrad’s brother John, co-founder of gCaptain, later wrote that the 2027 book his brother rescued was on sale and ad-free for the first time in years, and pointed readers to Amazon and a membership checkout. Gardeners who had asked, in November, how they would know when to plant now had a 210th copy to mark up.

WHAT THE 2027 BOOK PUTS BACK ON PAPER

• Weather pages: Long-range monthly and seasonal forecasts, including the “Snow, Sleet, and Surprises!” winter map from Caleb Weatherbee.
• Sky charts: Annual calendars and astronomical information, the backbone of any almanac since 1818.
• Household stock: Hints, practical advice, recipes, folklore, humor, and the house “Philosofacts.”
• Season work: Gardening, nature, and planning guidance, plus weather safety notes and historical features on early American life.

Konrad said the aim was to protect the character of the Almanac, honor its history, and keep the knowledge useful. Whether a no-ad, black-and-white annual can pay for itself without Geiger’s promotional bundling is the wager inside the rescue. The 2026 Geiger edition still exists in leftover racks. It is no longer the end of the line.

What Still Separates the Orange Book From the Yellow One

Two national almanacs are again forecasting the same winter, under names that still collapse in conversation. Farmers’ Almanac has described its method as an exclusive mathematical and astronomical formula that relies on sunspot activity, tidal action, planetary position, and other factors. The identity of Caleb Weatherbee stays hidden so the forecaster is not, in the publisher’s phrase, badgered. The Old Farmer’s Almanac keeps a separate secret formula and a different map. A late-summer comparison of the two outlooks put the Mid-Atlantic in “coastal storms, snow, sleet, and mix” on one chart and in a “cold, snowy” belt on the other.

THE TWO BOOKS ON THE SAME COUNTER

The funeral letter is still on the restored site, a relic of a close that lasted until a ski-media owner wrote a check. The 2026 copies that sold out in the FA Store are collector leftovers from a last edition that was last only for Geiger. Both 2027 books are now in the same seasonal window, and the checkout mix-up that forced Boeckmann to speak up has not been retired. If you want the black-and-white 210th with no ads, that is Konrad’s. If you want the yellow nail-hole classic from Dublin, that one never left.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Difference Between Farmers’ Almanac and The Old Farmer’s Almanac?

They are separate companies with separate secret forecast methods and have never been the same periodical. Farmers’ Almanac began in 1818 in Morristown, New Jersey, later operated from Lewiston, Maine, under Geiger, and now sits in Farmers’ Almanac LLC. The Old Farmer’s Almanac began in 1792 and is still issued by Yankee Publishing, an employee-owned company in Dublin, New Hampshire; its 2027 book is printed in the United States by Fry Communications in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. The New Hampshire title’s motto is “useful, with a pleasant degree of humor,” and its lineup also includes a Garden Guide, a Kids Almanac, and calendars.

Who Bought Farmers’ Almanac After the 2026 Shutdown Notice?

Tim Konrad, founder and publisher of Unofficial Networks, acquired it on January 28, 2026, through newly formed Farmers’ Almanac LLC in New York. Financial terms were not disclosed in the statements from the Almanac or Unofficial Networks. Konrad also co-founded gCaptain, a maritime news site, and Unofficial Networks began in 2006 as a skiing and mountain-sports publisher. Peter Geiger, the outgoing publisher and editor emeritus, called him the next custodian after four owner-publishers.

When Was Farmers’ Almanac Founded, and Who Started It?

The first issue came out in 1818 in Morristown, New Jersey. David Young, an astronomer and teacher in Morris County, developed the original forecasting formula with publisher Jacob Mann. Geiger began printing the book in 1933, obtained the rights in 1949, and moved the operation to Lewiston, Maine, where Ray Geiger became the public face of the title. Peter Geiger succeeded him as editor in 1994; Sandi Duncan, hired that year, later became editor.

What Is New in the 2027 Farmers’ Almanac Print Edition?

It is the first volume produced under Farmers’ Almanac LLC and is numbered as the 210th edition, on sale beginning August 25, 2026, through retailers and FarmersAlmanac.com. The book is ad-free and designed in the black-and-white style of older issues, a break from the later full-color promotional Geiger copies. Its winter package is titled “Snow, Sleet, and Surprises!” and is still signed with the Caleb Weatherbee name on the secret formula.