In The Loop – January 14, 2022

This week I’m thinking – what do farmers, gardeners, astrologists and fishermen have in common with the CT Legislature? I found the answer when flipping through the 2022 version of the Farmer’s Almanac. Since 1818 the Farmer’s Almanac has provided long-range weather forecasts, best days, full moon dates and times, astronomy, fishing and gardening tips, home remedies and much more!

Little known to many, most editions of the Farmers’ Almanac include a “human crusade,” advocating for a change in some accepted social practice or custom. Previous crusades have included: “How Much Daylight Are We Really Saving,” a recommendation for a revised Daylight Savings Time schedule; “Why is Good Service So Hard to Schedule,” recommending that service providers offer more specific timeframes when scheduling home visits; “A Kinder, Gentler Nation,” urging readers to exercise more common courtesy ( editorial note: maybe this is the right time to repeat this one!); “Saturday: The Trick to Making Halloween a Real Treat,” advocating that the observance of Halloween be moved to the last Saturday in October (1999); “A Cure for Doctors’ Office Delays,” demanding more prompt medical service and calling for a “Patients’ Bill of Rights”; and “Pennies Make No Sense,” which sought to eliminate the penny, and to permanently replace the dollar bill with less costly-to-produce dollar coins.

A more recent campaign was to name an official National Dessert (readers resoundingly responded in favor of traditional apple pie). For those of us that follow the CT Legislature it sounds familiar –almost like what the various stakeholders organize every year in the weeks leading up to the opening of the CT Legislature.
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