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Transcript for Cluxatawney Henrietta

Episode published: Friday 01/24/2025

Michael: Hi, everybody. Welcome to yet another episode of Every Day is Groundhog Day, (Except for the Days When It's Not), the only podcast that looks at the most important holiday of any year, Groundhog Day. I'm Michael, and I'm your host. Last episode, we spoke to Dr. Stam Zervanos about groundhogs and their hibernation habits.

In this episode, however, we're not talking about groundhogs at all, we're talking about chickens. Well, one chicken in particular, the world-famous Cluxatawney Henrietta, who has been providing an annual prediction on Groundhog Day since 2019. While most prognosticators' predictions are based on whether or not they see their shadow, Henrietta does things a little differently. You'll have to listen to the interview to find out how exactly, but I can give you a hint and say it's EGGciting. Here's the interview.

Michael: So, today I'm here talking to Jonathon Benjamin, farm director of Muscoot Farm. Since 2019, Muscoot Farm has hosted an annual Groundhog Day celebration with a chicken named Cluxatawney Henrietta. Thanks for being here with me today, Jonathon.

Jonathon Benjamin: No, thanks for having me.

Michael: So, I want to get to Cluxatawney Henrietta, but first, could you give me a little bit of background about yourself and talk a little bit about Muscoot Farm and how you started working there?

Jonathon Benjamin: Absolutely. So, I'm from the Midwest originally, I grew up in southern Indiana. I grew up on a farm and I always call it a funny farm because we had a decent amount of land so anytime my dad's friends would have animals that they wanted to kind of get rid of or anything like that, we would just kind of take them on. So, we had pigs and horses, we had a bunch of cats and dogs, chickens, you name it. And so, I was always surrounded by agriculture and obviously loved it.

And then I started to go to college and I wanted to, believe it or not, originally I was thinking I was going to be an archaeologist because of Indiana Jones and all those amazing things, and then I started getting into teaching. So, I taught for a little bit. And one summer I had off and so I decided I wanted to come up to this, kind of, direction because I'd never been before and on one of my days of traveling, I kind of stumbled on Muscoot Farm and I decided that I wanted to make a major life change. I came up here and I've literally been here, October 31st of 2007 is when I moved up here.

So, I fell in love with Muscoot Farm, it's a great opportunity for me and it was back then too for me to be outside, work with animals, and still get to educate the public. I think that farming and education are two things that are just so important in this world, and I get to do that every day here. So, it's my home away from home and it feels really great to be able to share it with other people. So, I don't foresee me being in any other place for a long time. I enjoy my job, I enjoy getting to talk with people, I enjoy getting to do unique things like this program that we've been doing since 2019.

That really just came about due to the fact that, as I mentioned, I was from Indiana. So, one day I was traveling from New York to Indiana, a family illness that I was going to go home and check on. It's a 12- to 16-hour drive, depending on how quick you go and how many stops you make, and I was kind of just thinking about programs and life and all that. And I saw a sign that said, you know, "Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, next exit," and for some weird reason, it just kind of resonated with me. So, I decided, you know what, I'm going to, I really like that. I always watched it on television. I loved the pomp and circumstance and the fanfare behind, you know, Groundhog Day, and I started to wonder if there was some animal at the farm that could kind of predict the weather. So, as soon as I got back, I started working on it and yeah, in 2019, we started the tradition.

Michael: Great! All right. So, was Halloween the day that you moved there for any reason, or just coincidental?

Jonathon Benjamin: It was just coincidental, but I am a huge holiday person, I'm a huge pop culture person. I've celebrated Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts. One of the first things I did when I moved to the East Coast is I did New Year's Eve and Times Square, which I will never do again, but I did do it. And a few years ago, I did go to Plymouth Plantation for Thanksgiving. So, I'm a big nerd when it comes to, like, pop culture and being able to go out and do these things. I'm very lucky that, like I said, I live so close to some of these great places and also that my job allows me to, you know, go out and have the days off to go and do these things. So yeah, Halloween is just a bonus, and I absolutely love it. Salem is like one of my homes away from home as well. So, a couple of times a year, I go up there.

Michael: And you said you're from Indiana?

Jonathon Benjamin: Yep. Southern Indiana. I grew up in a very small town called Winslow, Indiana. When I talk to people from here, I say, "Oh, I'm from Indiana," and they're like, "Oh, Indianapolis?" And I'm like, "No, that's three hours north of me." But the best way I can tell people is the biggest city that was near me was Evansville, Indiana, and Don Mattingly, the former Yankee, was from there. If they don't follow baseball, I say "I was also about 35 minutes away from French Lick," which is the town that Larry Bird grew up in. So, those are my points of reference whenever anybody talks... But nowadays, people in my age bracket still know obviously Larry Bird and Don Mattingly, but younger people do not know either of them. So, I just have to say, "I was very far south in Indiana."

Michael: It's funny that you mentioned Indianapolis because I've been looking into older Groundhog Day forecasters and the Indianapolis Zoo actually seems to have had groundhogs maybe back in the '70s through the '90s, they don't seem to do it anymore. But also, you said you wanted to be an archaeologist and you're from Indiana. So, were those two things connected as well, or is that sort of a…?

Jonathon Benjamin: One of the things that's crazy is that I grew up in a time frame, you know, I'm going to be 41 in December, so I grew up in a time frame where VHS was king. I would watch, you know, go and rent movies from the local video store, it was called Hometown Video, and I would get Indiana Jones. I would wear those tapes out, I would watch them all the time. And then growing up as a kid, you know, my dad, my grandfather, they were all coal miners and so I would get to go out to the coal mines and kind of just walk around; that was my vacation, that was my after school, that was all that. And, you know, I would find unique rocks or sometimes I would stumble upon, like, some Native American artifact and I would just be so fascinated by the fact that I was holding something in my hand, and I would just say to myself, "I'm the last person who held this since the last person who held it."

So, it was just such a great, like, childhood, I think, for me, to be able to just explore and get out there and see, you know, my neck of the woods. To this day, I'm fairly certain if somebody would, you know, blindfold me and parachute me into anywhere in Indiana, I would be able to find my way out. So, I loved that. I love, in southern Indiana, Evansville specifically, there's a place called Angel Mounds, and it was, you know, an Indigenous site and there were a lot of, you know, just amazing places, state parks and stuff, which is probably why I ended up where I am.

But yeah, so I would love to go out and just kind of explore. I don't want to make it sound like I think that people don't do that enough these days. But I really think that it's just so important for people to get out and explore and not only in their hometowns, but, you know, day trips or whatever because it really gives you a better appreciation for this country. I've not traveled much outside of the country, you know, just a few times, probably. But every time I get a chance, I try to find some new place either near me or within a day's drive or whatever and I definitely encourage people to get out and do that as well.

Michael: Could you talk about Cluxatawney Henrietta's prediction ceremony a little bit?

Jonathon Benjamin: Yeah, absolutely. So, in the beginning, there wasn't a ton of pomp and circumstance. I had the idea because, for anybody listening who doesn't know about how chickens and all that stuff work, chickens, for the most part, when they reach a certain age, usually between six and eight months, they can start laying an egg. It takes almost a full day for them to lay an egg and there's a lot of factors in that. Diet is one of them; you have to make sure they have enough calcium in their body to produce the eggshell. Sometimes you give them grit, which is just, like, crushed-up oyster shell, or you can give them cleaned and dried eggshell that they can eat. But in the time that we're talking about, February, something happens; January, February, the winter months, chickens don't lay as many eggs because one of the big things, the big factors is they need a lot of light to produce an egg. So, in the wintertime, those eggs don't really happen once a day or once every day and a half or whatever. Some farmers, like on egg farms and things like that, will put in artificial light so 24 hours a day, there's light or, you know, put in heat lamps or anything like that. So, that kind of promotes them to try to continue to lay eggs. But we don't do that here on the farm.

So, I thought about it and I thought, you know, if we kind of seclude the chicken for the morning and see if they would lay an egg and because it is winter, you know, there's a chance that there wouldn't be an egg. So, that's what we based her weather predicting on, was as soon as I got in the morning, I would, you know, go and find her and just talk to her and seclude her and put her in, you know, a nice, warm place and give her food and water and everything. And then by the time the ceremony started, if I picked her up and she laid an egg, then that meant that spring was on its way. And if she hadn't laid an egg, that meant that there was six more weeks of winter.

So, our first year we did it, we did have some county elected officials that came, which was great. It's, you know, a fun thing. We had kids show up and we stick with the date of Groundhog Day. So, it's not, like, a Thursday every year, sometimes it's a weekend, sometimes it's a weekday. But every time we've done it so far, we've had people, except for 2020, obviously with COVID, we had kind of a pre-taped ceremony that we did. I mean, I did it that morning, but it went out after that. But it continues to be a little engine that could. Last year, we were able to have quite a few people, kids came. We have some snacks and cookies that look like Henrietta and, you know, the news came last year and did the weather reports from here.

So, it's just such a funny thing and such a fun thing and it's tied to me now, which is great. I'm so happy to be able to be on here with you. And last year, whenever the prediction came out, I saw that it had gotten picked up and I kind of stopped counting after a while, but it was at least, like, 14 states at one point. The only thing that bothered me was that one of those states was Indiana and they didn't even reach out to me. My own home state did me wrong. But yeah, I'm just happy that it's a fun thing that can kind of go out there. And, you know, it's raising more awareness about farms and raising more awareness about just this fun holiday and weather, you know, like weather is, obviously, very temperamental and very different these days than it was when I was growing up. So yeah, it's just such a fun thing to do.

Michael: Yeah. So, last year, I was actually at the ceremony. We met briefly at the beginning, I'm sure you met a lot of people that day, but I really enjoyed it. I had one of my daughters, my youngest daughter, with me and it was great. There weren't too many people, it was also raining that day, right? So, it was inside, and I assume that you normally have it outside.

Jonathon Benjamin: Yeah.

Michael: But even so, you know, it wasn't it wasn't too packed in there, but it was still a nice crowd. And I've mentioned it on this podcast before, I think. But we also went to see Staten Island Chuck that morning before going to see Cluxatawney Henrietta and it was, like, it was a much different experience. We didn't leave early enough for Staten Island Chuck, and we were nowhere near… We really couldn't see anything, we were really far back. And then going to your ceremony it was, like, intimate enough that, you know, my daughter even got to hold Henrietta for a little bit, which definitely wasn't going to happen at Staten Island Chuck. So, I have a lot of positive feelings for it. And you had those snacks out.

So, that was some of my questions, too. Like, is that the normal thing? Do you normally have like a little breakfast? And I did see there was some media there. Sorry, go ahead.

Jonathon Benjamin: Yeah, no, no, you're fine. So yeah, we try to just do a little bit of breakfast and stuff just to get people there. Sometimes it can be early. That morning, I was there at like 5:00 AM I think, because the news came. So, it's also for us and the staff, you know, we want to make sure that everyone's feeling good and happy. And so, yeah, we do a little bit of, you know, just a small breakfast thing. And then when I bring Henrietta out, usually what happens is that overnight I find that there's usually a poem or some sort of edict from Henrietta that I get to read to everybody once that happens and that's when I find out too if there's going to be an egg or not. So, I will say that there's no funny business. I put the chicken in there and just wait and see what happens.

Usually, that time of year, I'm not a big… I love winter, I love seeing snow and all that. But on the farm, sometimes long winters can be harsh for us, you know, working outside. So, I'm usually ready for that spring. Sometimes I'm on the edge of my seat, too, just waiting and hoping to hear there's going to be an early spring. But we always are waiting to find out and I've had people come up to me and say, you know, like, "Oh well, you know, it's always going to be early spring," but I leave that up to her. I really want to know… If there is any actual science behind it like I said. But for now, it's just still a very fun thing that we do and I'm very happy. I'm excited about 2025 already and trying to just grow it a little bit more and a little bit more. It's very fun to see kids and they get excited and that's, again, that's what we're here for.

Michael: I was going to ask because I looked at the past predictions and every one has been early spring. So, I was curious, I was like, is there something going on there? Is it either fixed or is it just that chickens lay eggs, like, pretty much all the time? But it sounds like, as you said, at least at that time of year, you know, it's not necessarily going to happen.

Jonathon Benjamin: Another thing that's interesting is, like I said, I put her in the box when I get here. And between sometimes it's 5:00 AM, sometimes at 8:00 AM, you know, it doesn't it's not always the same. So, the variables are not like it's, you know, you just put the chicken in a box and they're going to lay an egg. So, it's definitely something that's interesting to me because Henrietta is a specific type of breed, she's a Salmon Faverolle so if I had chosen a different chicken, would there be a different outcome? So yeah, it's just a little bit of fun, and interesting to try to figure that all out.

But because of this, I have become a little more… I've always loved Groundhog Day, the movie with Bill Murray. Obviously, if you're listening to this podcast, you've definitely seen that movie. And so, I have a little bit of Groundhog Day memorabilia now or Cluxatawney memorabilia. I had a good friend of mine kind of make a highlight on paper, kind of like a highlight reel of all the predictions and stuff. So yeah, it's just a great thing and I'm super happy about it. I've said to people before, you know, I'm a college-educated man. I've worked at this place for going on 17 years, and the one thing that I'm known for now is Cluxatawney Henrietta, which was just such a funny, funny thing that came out of just some, you know, some bad time of driving home whenever I had a sick relative. But I'm very happy to do it.

The actual name too, you know, we have hundreds of chickens, so sometimes you don't name, obviously, all of them. When I started to talk about this project, one of our county legislators… I said "Cluxatawney like Punxsutawney" and or maybe I just said like, Clucks or something, but they had said, "Oh, it could be Cluxatawney Henrietta." So, that's where the name came from too. So, Henrietta is now named and in good hands here at the farm.

Michael: I guess I have to ask, I have no idea what the lifespan of a chicken is.

Jonathon Benjamin: Sure.

Michael: Officially, has there only ever been one Cluxatawney Henrietta?

Jonathon Benjamin: To date, there has only been one. So, you know, you are right on the money. Chickens and factory farms, or even sometimes in the home flocks and backyard flocks, they don't have the longest lifespan. But, you know, Henrietta lives a good life here and gets put in at night and I have a good staff that takes care of her as well. So, if there's ever an unfortunate circumstance where Henrietta does pass away like we all do, then we'll have to start checking to see if there's any other weather predicting chickens, or maybe we move on to a goat or a cow. You know, I don't know what direction it's going to lead us, but I definitely hope that we can keep Henrietta for as long as she wants to continue to do it then we'll let Henrietta do it.

Michael: Okay, great. Yeah, I just, I wasn't sure because, you know, certain forecasters, the lore is it's always ever been the same one.

Jonathon Benjamin: And it is a farm, you know? Like I said, I don't want to hide the fact that we are a farm and on farms, there are things that happen. Growing up, that was one of the things that my dad always tried to instill in me. The moment we named an animal, you know, we got attached to it and so it was rough sometimes if we had an animal that passed away but I think it's part of life. And again, Henrietta has been good. I think she's sharing the secrets and telling everyone, and hopefully, if anything ever does happen, there'll be another shining star here at the farm. We can never replace her but, you know, obviously, share a little bit of the spotlight.  

Michael: So, hopefully, the legacy will live on, some way or another on that unfortunate day.

Jonathon Benjamin: Yes.

Michael: So, I was going to ask about the name, but it sounds like it's always pretty much been Cluxatawney. There was never any other considerations.

Jonathon Benjamin: No, I think… I mean, it's such a funny thing because Punxsutawney, the name, you know, that's one of the things that I should do and be better about is I don't know where that name actually comes from, you know, the town name. I'm sure it's got roots in some sort of, either Indigenous or some other name that came over. But just the fact that it was a chicken, I thought it was just, you know, so perfect that we just replaced Pux with Clux. So yeah, that was pretty much once we got there, it was all uphill from there. So, you know, I'm excited, like I said, and anyone who's listening, please come and visit. We were so happy to have you and your daughter there last year.

And yeah, I also grew up, as I mentioned, I grew up in such a small place that it was really important for us to just kind of entertain ourselves. Back then, I would go to the library, and I did a lot of research on, like, weather folklore and my dad would always kind of talk to me about certain things. You know, I'm sure you've heard the story of, like, what we call the woolly worm, you know, so if it's got more black on it than brown, then there's possibly going to be a harsher winter. And, you know, I see the hornet's nest and there was a story of the higher the nest on the tree, maybe the worse the winter is going to be, the lower, the more mild. I also grew up in an area that had persimmon trees and I don't know if anyone's ever tried this or not, but if you have a persimmon tree and you take the seeds out of the actual persimmon and you cut it in half, there would always be, like, either a little spoon or a fork or a knife that looked like inside the seed. And that would kind of help predict what the winter was going to be like too. I didn't see it at the time, but I was probably born and raised to do something silly like what I'm doing because it was so fascinating to me.

I grew up, like I said, in the Midwest and when I grew up there, there was a lot of wild weather events; we had tornadoes and, you know, we did tornado drills in school. It's not quite as crazy as, like, the South, if they get snow and they shut down. But, you know, there were a lot of gravel roads, a lot of dirt roads. So, our school bus would just, you know, not drive down a road one day because it was too cold or snowy or whatever. So yeah, weather was such an important part of my life. And now, you know, working on a farm too, it's still very important for us to be able to use those sort of forecasts to predict when we can cut hay for the animals or, you know, whatever we're doing. So yeah, it's just a very interesting thing that we do here. And again, like, we just had all those hurricanes down South and my mom lives down South. So, weather forecasting, whether it be animal or person is just such an important thing for us and will be going forward in the future too. Like it's just, like I said, it seems very temperamental these days.

Michael: So, the name Punxsutawney, you were asking about that. I have looked into it or heard what it is. It is definitely related to some sort of Indigenous word, I think it has something to do with flies, like sand flies or something like that. But I don't remember exactly, exactly what it was, but it's something to do with flies.

Jonathon Benjamin: Okay.

Michael: Yeah. Like wherever, I guess there's a lot of flies there or were a lot of flies in that area where the town was settled.

So, obviously, you're planning on doing this again for 2025, right?

Jonathon Benjamin: Yes, absolutely.

Michael: And this year is a Sunday, Groundhog Day is. So, I think you can probably expect an even larger crowd than normal. How many people would you say you generally get, like, on a weekday? Have you had any fall on a weekend yet? You must have.

Jonathon Benjamin: We have had it fall on the weekend, but that first one, like I said, we had a decent turnout, probably 20 or so, and then it just kind of ebbs and flows. Like, during the week, it may be a little difficult because school is in session and all those things. But we've been live-streamed in some of the local schools, which was fun. So, I don't know exactly how many people watch it every year and it goes out on Facebook or Instagram so it kind of lives in the ether forever. But yeah, I mean, I'm hoping that we can get a lot of people to come out because the more people we get out, the more we can do these type of events and things like that.

But it's always surprising. There are times here that we've done programs that I thought, "Oh, everyone's going to love doing this," and then, you know, a couple of people show up. It could be just timing or it could be that there are other things going on. And then we'll do something like this, and they'll be, you know, 50, 60 people. It's great because then sometimes during the year we'll go, I'll be doing a tour here with people and someone will say, "Oh, is that Cluxatawney?" Because, you know, she lives with the flock the rest of the year. So yeah, just anything like that that we hear, I'm always excited to be a part of that.

Michael: So, there's no, like, special cordoned-off area, no special throne for Cluxatawney Henrietta?

Jonathon Benjamin: We're going to have to work on it for sure. I mean, she's been a star for, you know, these past six years. So, we're going to have to definitely… She might be getting a pretty big ego too. So yeah, that may not be too far off in the future for sure.

Michael: We talked about how there was some media coverage last year. Is that common? Is there, or was last year the biggest you had?

Jonathon Benjamin: Yeah, I think last year so far it was the biggest because one year I called in to, it was News 12 and so I kind of talked to them, it was like a satellite sort of thing. But last year, they actually did the weather that morning here. They did several little snippets, and it played, you know, throughout the day. So, I would say last year was probably the biggest and we had like an actual, you know, broadcast live from here. So, I was super excited about that obviously, and they all were great sports and local news, again, just very important for people to get out there and be able to hear what's going on in their area.

But it was funny just because I take for granted the idea that everybody has come in contact with a chicken before but that's not the case, especially being this close to New York City. Sometimes I'm like, "Oh, do you want to hold the chicken?" And people are a little, you know, standoffish just because they've never come in contact with a chicken like that. So, that's the other part about it is I just like making people more comfortable with animals, especially kids. Because even though a chicken's not that big to us, sometimes when we have summer camps here, things like the chicken can be almost as tall as the little kids. So yeah, just really, I enjoyed that, and we got the weatherman, his name's Matt Hammer, we were able to get him to hold a chicken and talk with Cluxatawney. They had a little bit of beef back and forth; he was saying that Cluxatawney can't predict the weather and Phil can't predict the weather and that only weathermen can predict the weather. So, I think he softened up a little bit on Cluxatawney after meeting her last year.

Michael: That's funny. Yeah, I think a lot of meteorologists probably feel similar, on that one day, all the attention that the different animals get around the country.

Yeah, I don't think my daughter had ever held a chicken, probably, but I don't know if she's thought anything strange about it. But yeah, I feel like I would probably have a little bit of trepidation. I don't think I've ever held a chicken. So, that's good, getting people a little more acclimated to the chickens and nature and things like that.

Jonathon Benjamin: Yeah, I definitely am a big… Like I said, where I grew up, it was kind of just common. But moving to the Northeast and New York, there's a lot of things out here to try that I've never tried before, foods and customs and places to go, and I'm very happy… I'm picky about certain things, food-related and things of that nature, but I'm trying to branch out. So, that's my way of trying to get people to branch out too, is whenever they come here, try to introduce them to something. We have our garden here and when I first got here, I started helping out in the garden and we planted pawpaw trees, which is another Midwestern—well, it's the South too—but the tree itself, the pawpaw fruit that it bears, where I was from originally, it was considered or called the Indiana banana. So, it's a little green fruit and it kind of smells like a cross between, like, banana and mango, or banana and papaya or something like that. So yeah, I think it's always important to kind of stretch yourself a little bit out of your comfort zone because, again, that's what happened with the Cluxatawney. We just, we started that just based on even where I'm at. Obviously, Staten Island and Punxsutawney but I didn't really ever hear of any other like Groundhog Day celebrations near me. So, if I didn't see one, then I was just going to make one. So, that's where we ended up.

Michael: That's great. I encourage more and more people to do that. The number of celebrations definitely seems like it has grown over the past, maybe 20 years. I think maybe with the advent of the internet, more and more people are learning about it or are able to at least publicize whatever they're doing and get the word out.

So, I should ask, you've mentioned other programs you have. So, what else goes on at the farm year-round?

Jonathon Benjamin: Yeah, so we are open 362 days a year. We're only closed to the public on Christmas, New Year's, and Thanksgiving but someone from the staff still has to be here on those days, obviously, to take care of the animals. On any other day during the year, we have… In the summer, like I said, we run about an eight-week summer camp and the kids get to come in and take care of the animals, and go on hikes, and help in the garden, and cook, and learn the history of this place. It's a great program that we have and it's always great to see kids who had started out in summer camp and maybe someday we hire them as a camp counselor. I really like that sort of reciprocity.

And then we just finished our pumpkin picking event. So, on that Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples weekend, we do pumpkin picking every year. People can come in and buy pumpkin and they can take a hayride out back and they can get cider and donuts and all that. And then we do in the winter, kind of starting a little before Groundhog Day, we start doing maple sugaring here, which is another thing that's very much impacted by the weather. So, we make our own maple syrup here.

We do weekend programs like morning farm chores where kids and their parents can come and help us do farm chores and take care of all the animals. We have a new program that just started recently called Book Buddies where you can go in with the animals and actually the kids can read stories to the animals, which is great. We have 777 acres here so there's all kinds of programming based on the nature of this place. So, we do bird walks once a month; someone from the Audubon Society comes in and does those wonderful walks where you can go out. I think in November we're going to be doing an owl prowl so you can come to the farm and try to listen for owls and see if we see any of them. Really just all the time trying to recreate— There's a great program called Little Explorers where younger kids come in and they get to take a tour around the farm and maybe do a craft, that's been a big one for us. We're going to be doing some holiday light programs closer towards the winter where people can come to the farm and see the farm all decorated for the holidays and see the animals up close.

So, there's always something going on here and definitely I encourage, if anyone's listening within the area or even further out, I work for Westchester County, New York, and such a great Parks Department. There's literally, if you can't find it here, I hate to be cliche, but you don't know what you're looking for if you can't find it here. We have so many parks and so many great nature centers and it's so encouraging to see so many people getting out and enjoying those places. So, definitely check out Westchester County Parks for sure.

Michael: I'm in New Jersey. I'd love to be able to come out to see Cluxatawney Henrietta every year. The only problem is there are so many other forecasters that are kind of in the area so I'm also trying to get to as many of them as I can since, you know, only happens once a year. I've got to figure out if I can plan it so I can fit in some more visits with Cluxatawney Henrietta.

Jonathon Benjamin: I feel the same. I definitely want to get to Punxsutawney. It's only five, well, it's like five-and-a-half hours for me. But I would love to get out there. Maybe I'll just have to do, like, a Cluxatawney on the road or something. But yeah, I definitely want to get out and see some of them as well because again, it's just such an amazing and fun thing and a fun day, really, for all those. So yeah, we'll have to see what we can do.

Michael: So, I think that's pretty much all I had. Is there anything else you wanted to mention about Henrietta, the farm, anything else I missed?

Jonathon Benjamin: No, I mean, again, I really appreciate your time, and thanks for having me on. Please get out, check out Muscoot Farm, MuscootFarm.org. We have social media, we have Instagram and Facebook, and all those things that those young people have these days. And like I said, if you're in the area, stop by. Come see us this year, 2025, February 2nd. We'll be here doing something so come check us out.

Michael: Excellent. I look forward to it. Thank you so much for talking with me this morning.

Jonathon Benjamin: Thank you.

Michael: And that's the interview. If you're in the area and want to find out what Cluxatawney Henrietta predicts in person, stop by Muscoot Farm on Groundhog Day. If I had to bet, I bet she'll predict an early spring.

Music for this show was written by the egg-citing Breakmaster Cylinder. Show artwork is by Tom Mike Hill. Transcripts are provided by Aveline Malek at TheWordary.com. If you want to learn more about Groundhog Day, visit CountdownToGroundhogDay.com. Any feedback or voice messages can be sent to podcast@countdowntogroundhogday.com. Thanks for listening, talk to you next time!

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Transcribed by Aveline Malek at TheWordary.com