A stack of Volume V of the Vermont Almanac, sitting in Next Chapter Bookstore in Barre in November 2024. Courtesy of Next Chapter Bookstore For six years, Vermont Almanac has served as a “glorious mix of eclectic content” on Vermont life, from creative essays and how-tos on rural skills to h istory and nature write-ups.  “It was like a very cozy, by-the-woodstove book to read,” said longtime reader Naomi Heindel.  But the almanac said this week that six years would not become seven. Instead of opening up its website for preorders, the publication announced in a newsletter that it was shutting down.  “I think the original version of Vermont Almanac — the one overseen by me and Patrick and Virginia and Amy — has run its course,” co-founder Dave Mance wrote in the newsletter.  In an interview, Mance said that “financial realities” were a factor in the decision to close.  “Lo and behold, it is hard to publish a book in the 21st century,” he said.  The almanac began with four founding members: Mance, Virginia Barlow, Amy Peberdy and Patrick White, according to its website. The group had previously worked together on Northern Woodlands magazine, but Mance said they were intrigued by the idea of focusing on Vermont, where they all lived.  “The idea was kind of built around this philosophy that we value Vermont for its rural traditions, its working lands, its nature,” and those things are “almost a given,” he said. But in actuality, “You have to keep declaring your identity.” When the almanac was conceived, the four received a $15,000 loan from a family member and started reaching out to writers and photographers they knew from their previous work, Mance said. The almanac ultimately worked with hundreds of Vermont contributors.  Despite its name, the almanac was not a dry compilation of information — weather forecasts, planting calendars and the like — in the vein of the classic Old Farmer’s Almanac. Mance said that caused some confusion at first.  “We didn’t have the heights of Vermont’s mountains listed, as some of the old encyclopedic almanacs did,” he said.  Instead, Vermont Almanac was partly inspired by the Foxfire book series, which compiled basic rural knowledge on Appalachia.  “We did stories on how to make a black ash pack basket, how to identify animal tracks,” Mance said.  Each edition included essays on Vermont history, from its big names like Calvin Coolidge to lesser-known history like the Barre Fat Man’s Club. And they would feature the natural world, down to the depths of Vermont’s phytoplankton that give lake trout their yellow color.  A pillar of the almanac was “to really, really illuminate the natural world in a way that you can do as an annual, where you’re thoughtful and selective, in contrast to kind of the social media naturalism that rules the day, which is expansive and can be good, but is just so overwhelming and uncurated that it kind of just melts my mind,” Mance said.  September’s “Nature Notes” spread from the Vermont Almanac, Volume V. Courtesy of Vermont Almanac Lisa Cadieux, the designer of Vermont Almanac, said she tried to give it a classic, reflective look and feel like “something that’s intended to last, and be kept and, ideally, treasured.”  The nonprofit almanac was funded by a combination of sales, sponsors, grants and individual donors, Mance said. Over the course of six years, he said, they sold roughly 30,000 to 40,000 books.  “People loved what we were doing, and they forked over a little extra because they liked that we existed and were able to document the state like we were,” he said.  Over the years, Heindel grew from being a reader to supporting the publication by hosting its book launch parties at the North Branch Nature Center in Montpelier, where she serves as executive director. She described a community that has sprung up among the contributors and supporters around the shared values of place-based education, storytelling and stewardship.  “Much of the work that we do, and much of the work that their stories highlight, is about rural Vermont,” she said.  But the grassroots nature of the almanac also proved a challenge because it was so heavily dependent on the work of its founders, who have other commitments. Mance is a maple sugarmaker. Co-founder White is a Christmas tree farmer.  “We did a big sales push of every volume in December, and then in January I was out in the woods, cutting trees off of main lines and getting ready for the sugaring season to come,” Mance said.  In the newsletter, the almanac put out a call for anyone interested in continuing the publication to reach out. Mance said he was in talks with one interested party, but he couldn’t give specifics. Old editions of the almanac will still be available on the website for the foreseeable future.  Mance said that even though he’s sad about Vermont Almanac ending, he’s also at peace.  “(I’m) just feeling really blessed and really grateful to have been able to do this work for six years,” he said. “It was a privilege, and a great joy, and a great adventure.” Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont Almanac, an annual compendium of Vermont life, is shutting down. ...read more read less