Just because colonial Americans had no clocks, didn’t mean they were unconcerned with time. Quite the opposite, they paid very close attention to time’s passage because of the necessity to know approximately what time of day or night it was. There were chores that required daylight and others that needed tended to at night. Animals required feeding and watering and cows needed to be milked twice a day. Sheep had to be sheared. Planting, pruning and harvesting had to be performed at the proper time. Each day, each month and each season had tasks to be completed. Farm and household work, spurred by religious teachings against idle hands, was deemed a nearly sacred duty, demanding constant attention.

Almanacs were by far the most popular books in the colonies. They emphasized the cyclical passage of time and guided the farmers in their seasonal tasks. An almanac, in fact was the second book published in America. It was published in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1638 or 1639.

Almanac maker Samuel Atkins, while traveling through Maryland in 1686, declared that people scarcely knew how time passed. What they needed was an almanac, which he proceeded to produce, combining solar and lunar timetables, merged with Christian piety, science and the practice of farming. The use of his almanac enabled people to orient themselves within God’s time and to observe the correct times for work and worship.

As time went by almanacs became less concerned with theology, and more with worldly affairs. Solar and lunar timetables, called ephemeris, became their main attraction, offering the precise hour and minute of the sun’s raising, high and low tides, eclipses, and the movement of the major stars. They usually devoted a page to each month, and combined the times of celestial appearances with astrological symbols for interpreting them, weather forecasts and miscellaneous advice to farmers.

Later eighteenth century almanacs, like Poor Richard’s Almanac published by Benjamin Franklin, usually contained an anatomical drawing called the "man of signs." It was a human body marked with the signs of the Zodiac that controlled or influenced each part of the body. By studying it, one could learn the best time for bleeding an arm or leg that was diseased, or the best time for conceiving a child. More commonly, the almanac was used for advice on farming, when to plant, when to wean animals, when to mend fences, and the like. The connection of time to nature that almanacs reinforced points out America’s beginning obsession with time, its measurement and its proper use.

Successful almanacs made time management their focus. Robert B. Thomas’ first issue of The Farmer’s Almanac was published in 1792 during George Washington’s second term as president. The new publication was a success from the beginning, and became the model for imitators all over the country. Thomas added practical advice to the ephemeris, while slightly downplaying astrology and homeopathy. His "Farmer’s Calendar" specialized in precautionary measures like, "Winter apples should now be gathered up – as frost hurts them much."

By connecting seasonal labor to celestial motion, the almanac made it possible to regulate and schedule work. "Your plans for the whole season should be well laid out and adjusted, in doing which, you should take some account of foul weather as well as fair." Time was money, and organizing time by natural signs would help to get the most value out of hired help.

By the 1830’s other American almanacs were emphasizing work for money rather than work for work’s sake. The Old Farmer’s Almanac maintained that nature was the pattern for success in life and the guide to time usage. "Old" was added to the name in 1832 to distinguish it from its many imitators. "Old" was added officially to the name in 1848. Making its point The Farmer’s Calendar compared the farm family to a hive of bees – while the flowers bloom, the inhabitants of the farm/hive, the laborers, are up in motion. The prosperous farm family looked to nature for its models of diligence and thrift.

From its beginning to over fifty years later when its originator, Thomas, died, The Old Farmer’s Almanac changed very little, except that it became America’s top periodical both in sales and in longevity. Through the years, under numerous editors and owners, and during wars and depressions, The Old Farmer’s Almanac, has not missed a single year of publication. They publish regionally in the United States and Canada, and have come along with the times, by evidenced by their website, www.almanac.com.