Farmers Almanac and Mother Nature; Where do You Place Your Faith?
Posted: Wednesday, February 18, 2009
by Sandra E. Graham
My Books and Articles
Last Saturday some of the ladies and myself cooked a huge lunch for the linemen working on our power lines. You may be tired of reading about our dilemma here in Arkansas, but I needed to set the stage for the discussion that arose about a statement from one of the ladies that she had read in her Farmer's Almanac. Some of these men had been away from their families for over two week's and some of our area was still out of power. The men told us that when they finished in Arkansas, they had to go straight to Kentucky where the damage was much worse. Hopefully they aren't in for an extended stay here.
As I thought about her statement, I remembered how faithful my mother was about following the Farmer's Almanac when I was a kid. She planted certain seeds by a certain moon. She covered her plants when her almanac said cover them. My mother was quite the green thumb, I must admit. But I grew up never putting too much emphasis on the almanac and gradually lost sight of it completely.
Growing up in the rural mid-south, I do however put a lot of faith in Mother Nature and what she has to say. For several days while working in our yard doing minor cleanup-age and back pains limit our time in the yard to one tree at a time-my attention was drawn to the sky each day by the ‘honking' of numerous V-shaped wedges of Canadian geese-Headed North! And it was never just one group, but several, filling the sky. Now I grew up through generations of great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents telling me that this was a sign of an early spring. So, what's up with another bad ice storm on its way? Do you think maybe the geese are running from it; taking their chances with just a little snow up North? Mayhap they know something we don't?
Then the conversation turned to the groundhog and his ‘Day'. No one could remember if he had seen his shadow on Groundhog's Day. I think it goes something like this: if it's sunny and he sees his shadow, it frightens him so that he runs back into his burrow and we have six more weeks of winter weather. If memory serves me right, we usually have at least six more weeks of winter left anyway. The other option, if it's cloudy and he doesn't see his shadow, he stays out to play and spring is just around the corner-how long a corner, I've never been told.
One other thing that leads me to put more faith in Mother Nature and what she tries to predict about our near future, is that I noticed that I have Easter Lilies several inches tall already. So, I'm thinking this tells me more about an early spring. And although I tend to side with Mother Nature, I realize that she be fickle-spring of 2007 we had trees blooming, flowers blooming, bulbs nearly a foot high, other spring plants over half-grown and suddenly we had a horrific March frost that killed everything that dared to presume that it could outwit Mother Nature!
So, there you are. No matter where you place your wagers, you win some and you lose some. Maybe Farmer's Almanac has all the facts, but Mother Nature deals in whimsy. She does love surprises and doesn't mind making us a bit uncomfortable with her antics. You got to love her. And pray that the tornado season she has in store for us in the next few months will be merciful.
Best wishes to everyone and may your spring bring only thoughts of love.
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Sandra E. Graham, author, AMOS JAKEY and NICOLINA published by American Book Publishing. Sandra loves to write about people and if you enjoy reading about people, you will love these books. Her first two novels are historical/adventure/fiction of early 1900's America. Sandra also writes book reviews for authors through Book Pleasures (no charge for reviews). Visit her website for more information on her books that are in print now and reviews she has written.
http://www.sandragraham-articles-books.com
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)I enjoyed your article very much. It reminded me of childhood days in Ark.Linda DeWittI left my home state of Arkansas for many years--as most young people, thinking the grass was greener, etc., etc. Finding out that it is not. I returned home eventually and have enjoyed every minute of it. I returned in time to spend some quality time with my parents before they passed away. That was my greatest gift.Thanks so much for reading and commenting.Sandra
Hello Sandra, It was great reading your article about "Mother Nature, and the Farmers Almanac", I loved how it began and I quote "Last Saturday some of the ladies and myself cooked a huge lunch for the linemen working on our power lines". Where I live, women don't do that anymore!! I really want to commend you and your lady friends for thinking of these hardworking fellows, and to let you know how much they appreciate your hospitality. It is so important to let these young fellows know they are appreciated by all. Thank you for doing that, what a bunch of angels you are. As far as the Almanac, I am a firm believer of the Almanac, perhaps it is because my grandfather was a farmer, and that was his "Bible" for planting his crops....corn....Wheat....cabbage.....lettuce, and the like. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.....I guess you can trust the Almanac, the same as you can trust the local weather, which we do not trust to much here in Tucson, AZ. They seem to be always wrong.....Interesting article....and I think your summation is great.....Love your work......Your fan and friend in pen.....GaryThanks, Gary. If nothing else, we do have big hearts in Arkansas. When it comes to someone in need, we do what we can and don't wait for FEMA to show up.(which, by the way, they never did).Thanks for reading and commenting. I always enjoy your comments.Sandra
Sandra,I really enjoyed this write, because I, too was raised on relying on the almanac among a few other things of nature. Thanks for sharing your perspective on this.Thanks, Ronyae. I only got away from the almanac when I left the farm. Living in Dallas, I didn't do much planting or worrying about whether the weather was right for potatoes or watermellon. All I worried about down there was whether or not the next tornado coming through would miss us.But since I've came back to the farm, I just watch the birds fly over and watch the leaves turn.Thanks for reading and commenting.Have a great week.Sandra
hi sandra,what a beautiful picture-the epiomy of mother nature.i just go by every day, and what happens happens. when they say it's going to snow, it doesn't, sunny, it isn't, so i just see what it looks like outside day by day.i hope you stay safe and secure if i can't keep the tornadoes away:)keep us posted,my best regards,sueThanks so much, Sue. That's exactly what I do--one day at a time. Sometimes I check the weather channel, but mostly I just look out the window first thing every morning to see what kind of day I'll be having.Thanks again.Sandra
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