farmersalmanac.com

On Farmers’ Almanac, “gardening by the Moon” is a traditional planting guide that ties garden tasks to the Moon’s phase and its position in the zodiac. The Best Days calendars apply the same idea to everyday chores: baking, cutting firewood, digging holes, killing plant pests, and mowing to increase growth. You use them by checking the day’s entry before you act—for example, the site’s daily panel for Sunday, October 25, 2026 lists “Barren days, do no planting” under Gardening, rates Fishing as “Fair – Morning,” and shows a Full Moon at 100% of full. Treat these as scheduling prompts, not guarantees; the Almanac presents them as tradition, and results depend on your local conditions.

The idea behind gardening by the Moon

The method combines two signals:

• Moon phase — whether the Moon is waxing (growing toward full) or waning (shrinking toward new). Traditional guidance links waxing phases to above-ground growth and waning phases to root crops, pruning, and clearing.
• Moon in the zodiac — the sign the Moon is passing through. Some signs are considered “fruitful” or “fertile” for planting; others are “barren,” when the Almanac advises against planting.

The daily page condenses this into plain instructions. “Barren days, do no planting” is the clearest example: on that date the calendar is telling you to hold off on sowing or transplanting and use the time for other work.

What the Best Days calendar covers

The Best Days feature is a list of ordinary activities, each with dates the Almanac considers favorable. The daily “At a glance” panel on the site shows the current day’s picks, such as:

The same calendar tradition extends to other tasks—pruning, planting root crops versus leafy crops, and setting eggs—so the daily page is the place to confirm which tasks are flagged for a given date rather than relying on a fixed weekly rule.

How a daily page puts it together

Each day’s entry bundles several signals so you can plan in one pass:

1. Date and day count — e.g., “Sunday 25th October 2026,” “Day 298 of 2026,” “57 days until winter begins.”
2. Best Days at a glance — the short list of favorable activities for that date.
3. Gardening note — the phase/zodiac guidance, such as barren days with no planting.
4. Fishing rating — a suitability rating with a time window, e.g., “Fair – Morning.”
5. Moon phase — the phase name and percent of full, e.g., “Full Moon (100% of Full).”

Read the gardening note and the Moon phase together: a full Moon with a barren-day warning means the calendar wants you away from planting even though the Moon is at its brightest.

A practical way to schedule garden and household work

Use the daily page as a filter, not a rulebook:

• Before planting or transplanting, check the Gardening line. If it says barren days, do no planting, shift sowing to a later date the calendar marks as fruitful.
• For root crops and pruning, look for waning-Moon periods the Almanac associates with below-ground and cut-back work.
• For chores, scan the Best Days list. If mowing to increase growth is flagged, that’s the day for a growth-oriented cut; if cutting firewood is flagged, stack that task then.
• For pest control, use the “kill plant pests” dates as your reminder to inspect and act, while still following local extension guidance on timing and products.
• For outings, the fishing rating and its time window (morning versus later) tell you when the calendar considers conditions better.

Then verify against your own conditions—frost dates, soil moisture, and local forecasts. The Almanac’s long-range outlook and weather history database are separate tools on the same site; the Moon calendars don’t replace them.

Limits worth knowing

The calendars are traditional scheduling aids, not tested agronomic advice. A “barren day” doesn’t mean seeds won’t germinate, and a “best day” doesn’t override a cold snap or dry soil. Use the entries to decide when within your window to do a task, and let local weather, soil, and plant health decide whether to do it at all.

Full Moon dates, their exact times, traditional Moon names, and seasonal dates are all collected on farmersalmanac.com under its calendar and "Upcoming Dates, Events, and Holidays" sections. The site lists each event with a link to a fuller guide, so you can check the exact phase time, read the history behind a name, and plan seasonal activities from one place. This is a reference page, not a personalized service: the dates are general and apply across regions, while the exact full phase time is a single moment that may fall on a different local date depending on where you live.

What the calendar section contains

The site organizes date-based content in two layers:

• A "Most Popular" block that surfaces recurring calendar topics, such as "Next Full Moon: Dates, Times, and Traditional Names," alongside seasonal forecasts and the annual edition announcement.
• An "Upcoming Dates, Events, and Holidays" list that presents the next few dates worth putting on the calendar, each with a short description and a link to the full guide.

The page evidence shows this list in action for late October 2026:

The same page also carries a daily almanac panel — for Sunday, October 25, 2026, it shows the day of year (298), days until winter (57), a Moon phase of Full at 100%, and "best day" labels for tasks like baking, cutting firewood, digging holes, killing plant pests, and mowing to increase growth. That panel is where the calendar and the gardening/fishing guidance meet.

How to look up a full Moon date and its traditional name

1. Start from the "Most Popular" block or the Moon section and open the "Next Full Moon: Dates, Times, and Traditional Names" article.
2. Read the date and the exact time of the full phase. Treat the time as a moment, not a whole day — if you need the date in your own time zone, convert it before you plan anything.
3. Use the traditional name listed for that Moon (for example, Hunter's Moon for the October full Moon) and read the accompanying explanation if you want the origin.
4. For a specific upcoming event, use the "Upcoming Dates, Events, and Holidays" list instead — each entry links to a dedicated guide with more detail than the one-line summary.

Expected result: you get both the practical fact (date and time) and the cultural context (name and story) without hunting through separate pages.

How the seasonal and holiday dates are organized

The list is chronological and forward-looking: it shows what is coming next, not an archive of past dates. Each entry follows the same pattern — date, event name, a one-sentence hook, and a link. This makes it usable as a planning checklist rather than a lookup table. For the Daylight Saving Time entry, the page notes that both 2026 dates are covered in the linked guide, which is the detail most people actually need (the spring and fall change dates).

A practical example: if you are planning a late-October gathering, the list tells you the full Moon falls on the 25th and the clock change on November 1 — two facts that affect evening light and scheduling. You would then open each linked guide to confirm the exact phase time and the specific hour of the clock change.

What these dates are good for — and what they are not

Use them for:

• Planning outdoor and seasonal activities around moonlight, holidays, and clock changes.
• Learning the traditional names and the folklore behind them, which the site treats as part of its seasonal-living content.
• Cross-checking with the daily panel when you also want the "best day" labels for gardening, fishing, or chores.

Do not treat them as:

• A substitute for a local tide, weather, or astronomical table. The full phase time is a single instant; local sunrise, weather, and viewing conditions are not part of this list.
• A personalized calendar. The dates are general, and the site's own daily panel shows region-independent labels rather than advice for your location.

Membership and access notes

The page shows a membership offer at $13.99 per year, described as giving access to the next 12 months of any calendar and to the "Farmer's Almanac 1818" information, with cancellation any time. The page evidence does not state which calendar features are free versus member-only beyond that offer, so check the specific article or calendar page before assuming a feature is open. No login requirement or free-access claim is documented for the date lists themselves.

Farmers' Almanac is a long-running seasonal reference publication whose website, farmersalmanac.com, bundles long-range weather forecasts, Moon-based gardening guidance, full Moon dates, "best days" calendars, and a weather history lookup into one place. It is useful if you want a single source for planning garden tasks, fishing trips, or seasonal events around lunar phases and traditional calendars. It is not a substitute for a local meteorological service when you need precise short-term forecasts.

What the site is

The site describes itself as offering "long-range weather forecasts, gardening by the Moon, full Moon dates, and best days calendars," framed as a way to "plan your day, grow your life." The current homepage presents itself as a "Gardening, Weather & Seasonal Living Guide," which captures the three pillars: weather, gardening, and seasonal living.

The brand is also a publication with a long history. The site notes that the 2027 edition is its 210th, and membership materials reference "Farmer's Almanac 1818" archives. That history matters mainly because it explains the site's traditional framing—lunar planting rules, named full Moons, and folk calendars—rather than a purely data-driven weather service.

Main content areas

Long-range weather forecasts

The homepage links to a Long Range Weather Forecast section and a separate "2026 / 2027 Winter Weather Forecast." These are seasonal outlooks rather than daily forecasts. If you are planning months ahead—say, choosing a planting window or a vacation period—this is the section to check first.

Weather history database

A lookup tool lets you query historical weather by ZIP code, month, day, and year, with year options running from 1978 through 2026 in the visible selector. This is the most concrete, verifiable tool on the page: you enter a location and date, and the site returns the recorded conditions for that day. It is useful for answering questions like "what was the weather like here last October?" rather than for predicting the future.

Gardening by the Moon

The site's daily "At a glance" panel lists tasks tied to the current lunar day, such as best day to bake, cut firewood, dig holes, kill plant pests, or mow to increase growth. It also flags "Barren days, do no planting" and shows the Moon phase—for example, "Full Moon (100% of Full)" on a sample date. This is traditional guidance, not agronomic advice; treat it as a scheduling convention if you follow lunar planting, and rely on local extension services for horticultural decisions.

Full Moon dates and best days calendars

Full Moon dates, times, and traditional names are a core feature, along with a "best days" calendar covering activities like fishing. The homepage also surfaces upcoming dates and holidays—for example, a Full Hunter's Moon on Sunday, October 25, Halloween on October 31, and the November 1 daylight saving time change—each linked to a fuller guide.

Fishing calendar

A dedicated "Fishing Calendar 2026 – Best Days & Times to Fish" page applies the same lunar logic to fishing. The daily panel rates fishing as, for example, "Fair – Morning," giving a quick read on whether a given day is considered favorable.

How the content is organized

Content appears as articles, dated event lists, and interactive lookup tools rather than a single dashboard.

Membership and access

The site promotes a membership at "$13.99 Per Year," described as giving access to the next 12 months of any calendar and to "all the Farmer's Almanac 1818 information," with cancellation available at any time. The homepage does not state which features are free versus member-only beyond that pitch, so if a specific tool matters to you—such as the full 12-month calendar view—check whether it sits behind the membership before relying on it.

Who it suits

• Gardeners who follow lunar planting traditions will find the daily task panel and barren-day warnings directly actionable.
• Planners of seasonal events can use the upcoming dates list and long-range outlooks as a starting calendar.
• Anyone curious about past weather at a specific location and date has a straightforward lookup.
• People needing accurate short-term forecasts should use a dedicated weather service; the Almanac's strength is seasonal and traditional framing, not hourly precision.

A practical example: if you want to schedule fall garden digging and a fishing trip, check the daily panel for the current Moon phase and barren days, confirm the next full Moon date, then cross-reference the fishing calendar's day rating—all without leaving the site.

Farmers' Almanac offers two practical planning tools on farmersalmanac.com: a Long Range Weather Forecast you can check by area, and a Weather History Database you can search by ZIP code, month, day, and year. Use the forecast for rough seasonal planning—travel windows, garden timing, outdoor events—and the history database for looking up what conditions were like on a specific past date. Treat the long-range forecast as a broad outlook, not a precise day-by-day prediction.

Long-Range Weather Forecast: What It's For and How to Check It

The site's Long Range Weather Forecast is presented as a planning aid: the page invites you to "check our Long Range Weather Forecast and plan accordingly," with a "Check your area" entry point. The forecast content is organized around regional outlooks, including a "Farmers' Almanac 2026 / 2027 Winter Weather Forecast."

How to use it:

1. Go to the Long Range Weather Forecast section on farmersalmanac.com.
2. Use the "Check your area" option to select your region.
3. Read the outlook for your area and the season you're planning for.

What to expect: a seasonal or regional outlook rather than an hourly or daily forecast. It's suited to questions like "should I plan a late-spring outdoor event?" or "when should I expect the first hard cold?"—not "will it rain at 3 p.m. on Saturday."

Best-fit scenarios:

• Travel and events: choosing a rough window for a trip or outdoor gathering.
• Gardening and yard work: aligning planting, mowing, or firewood tasks with expected seasonal conditions.
• Farm and property planning: anticipating winter severity or seasonal shifts at a regional level.

Weather History Database: Query by ZIP Code, Month, Day, and Year

The Weather History Database lets you look up historical weather for a specific place and date. The query fields shown on the site are:

Steps:

1. Open the Weather History Database on farmersalmanac.com.
2. Enter the ZIP code for the location you care about.
3. Select the month, day, and year.
4. Submit the query and review the historical record for that date.

Expected result: a record of conditions for that location on that date in the selected year—useful for comparing a date you're planning against how that date has behaved in past years.

Best-fit scenarios:

• Checking typical conditions for a wedding date, race, or fair you're scheduling.
• Comparing this season's plans against the same week in prior years.
• Researching past weather for a garden journal or property record.

Reading the Site's Daily "At a Glance" Guidance

The homepage also surfaces a daily almanac view—for example, a dated entry showing the day of the year, days until winter, Moon phase, and task guidance such as best days to bake, cut firewood, dig holes, kill plant pests, or mow to increase growth, plus gardening and fishing notes (e.g., "Barren days, do no planting" and a fishing rating). These are traditional almanac categories, not weather measurements, so use them as folk-guidance prompts alongside the forecast and history tools rather than as data.

Limits to Keep in Mind

• Long-range means outlook, not precision. Plan flexible activities around the seasonal picture; keep a short-range forecast as your final check.
• History is history. A past date's conditions don't guarantee the same conditions next time—use it for context, not certainty.
• Location matters. Always run the forecast and history queries for your actual area; regional outlooks won't reflect local microclimates.
• Membership content is separate. The site promotes a paid membership ("Only $13.99 Per Year") for access to the full Farmers' Almanac 1818 archive and 12 months of calendar access; the free tools described above are the forecast-by-area and history-database lookups.

A Farmers' Almanac membership is a paid annual subscription shown on the site at $13.99 per year, and the page describes it as giving access to the next 12 months of any calendar plus "all the Farmer's Almanac 1818 information." The page also states the subscription can be canceled at any time. It is worth considering if you regularly use the site's best-days calendars and want a full year of them in one place; if you only check an occasional full Moon date or forecast, the free pages may be enough.

What the membership offers, based on the site

The subscription prompt on the page lists these benefits:

• A full year of calendar access — "Check the next 12 months of any calendar," rather than viewing a single day.
• Access to the "1818 information" — the site frames this as the full Farmers' Almanac archive, named for its founding year.
• Cancel any time — stated directly in the subscription box.

The price is displayed as "$13.99 Per Year." The page does not describe a free trial, a monthly plan, or any discount tiers, so treat the annual price as the only confirmed option.

What you can already see without subscribing

The same page shows a free daily snapshot, which is useful for judging whether the paid calendar adds anything you need. For the displayed date (Sunday, October 25, 2026), the free view includes:

So the free page answers "what should I do today?" The membership is aimed at "what does the whole year look like?"

How to decide whether to subscribe

Use the same three questions for either choice:

1. How often will you open the calendar? If you plan gardening, cutting firewood, or fishing around the almanac's best days more than a few times a month, a 12-month view saves repeated visits. If you check once a season, the daily free view covers it.
2. Do you need past data or the archive? The membership is the stated route to the "1818 information." If your interest is historical weather or long-term patterns rather than upcoming dates, that access is the main reason to pay.
3. Is $13.99 a year reasonable for you? That works out to a little over a dollar a month. The page gives no indication of ads being removed or extra tools beyond calendars and archive access, so base the decision on calendar and archive use alone.

A practical example

Suppose you keep a vegetable garden and want to time planting, pest control, and mowing across a whole season. The free page tells you today is a "barren day, do no planting" — helpful once, but you would need to return daily to plan ahead. A 12-month calendar view lets you sit down once and map the season. That is the clearest case for subscribing. By contrast, if you only want the next full Moon date or a holiday like Halloween, the free "Upcoming Dates" section already lists them.

Before you subscribe

• Confirm the current price and terms on the subscription box itself, since the page shows a single annual figure and a cancel-any-time note.
• Check that the calendar type you care about (gardening, fishing, or general best days) is included in the 12-month view; the page groups these as separate calendars.
• Remember the membership is a subscription, not a one-time purchase — the cancel-any-time line is your exit if the year-round view turns out to be more than you use.