November brings career exploration, final Farmers’ Almanac edition and 2026 houseplant trends

Welcome, everyone. Today’s get-together is like our November weather — some of this, some of that, who knows? So, dear reader, here goes.

A major concern today is a good and steady job. Our friends at the Ohio State University Medina County Extension Office as always present a timely and very necessary lifeline to our treasured Medina County youth. The outstanding program the Extension Office organizes and puts on with the “all hands on deck” staff of six dedicated folks plus the 52 hard-working volunteers giving generously of their time is called Medina County Ag Day. Its goal is to present and acquaint our young folks with various careers in agriculture, which entails more than farming.

The Agriculture (Ag.) Day program is also nationwide.

Medina County Ag Day started in 2018 and is held yearly at the Medina County Fairgrounds. This year, Ag Day was Sept. 26 and attended by more than 300 seventh-grade students (and their teachers) from Wadsworth Middle School. The kiddos were divided into 12 groups for ease of navigation and separate presentations.

Career and job reps (25 folks) set up their stations or displays throughout the fairgrounds and were asked to give a 15-minute presentation to each school group on how their specific career was important to the ag industry.

Some career attendees were Wellington Implement, Medina County Soil and Water Conservation District, Medina County Beekeepers, local food manufacturers, Dairy Farmers of America, Charles Stiver and the auctioneer career, golf-course care and maintenance, and Keller Meats and their “Farm to Fork” program.

For more information on this important program or to participate, contact Erin Ruggiero or Ashley Kulhanek (Extension educators) at the Medina OSU Extension Office at 330-725-4911.

The sad obituary notice was announced Nov. 6. This year’s 2026 edition of the Farmers’ Almanac will be its final publication. Citing financial challenges and the chaotic media environment, they will cease publishing operations, and their website will remain operational only through the end of December 2025.

The Farmers’ Almanac was initially published in 1818 in New Jersey, then moved to Lewiston, Maine. The first recorded/printed almanac was in Europe in 1457, according to The New York Times.

With no National Weather Service back then, farmers relied on the almanac for rainfall predictions, moon phases, Best Days articles, wit and wisdom, gardening tips, folklore and recipes.

The publication claimed it never used satellite systems or computers, relying instead on a secret formula of sunspots, planetary positions and lunar cycles to generate long-range weather forecasts.

Now the good news — The Old Farmer’s Almanac, first published in 1792 and known for its distinct yellow cover, is not ending and will continue to be published by Yankee Publishing Inc. of Dublin, New Hampshire. They lay claim to being the oldest almanac and boast an 80% accurate weather forecast.

New “trendy” houseplants making a botanical splash for 2026

• Alocasia “Silver Dragon” — thick leaves with gray-to-green tone and dark painted-like veins

• Philodendron “Birkin” — white-striped leaves with compact form and easy care

• "Bella” palm (Chamaedorea elegans) — elegant, compact, ideal for offices or small spaces; a stress reducer.

• Rex Begonia — leaves in beautiful shades of silver, pink, burgundy and violet; easy care; likes cluster planting; grows by rhizomes.

For success growing these plants, mimic their natural habitat: dappled sun or light (never direct), moderate watering, somewhat humid conditions and warm temperatures.

“Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit — wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” — Miles Kington, British writer and humorist

Until next time — peace.