Going to FREEZE !!! In the south this coming next two weeks. Cover up anything you want to save.
Winter Weather Folklore Sayings
Signs in nature of a cold winter:
The folklore of winter weather is fascinating. You’re sure to know some of these weather sayings, passed down by generations of people who lived close to the land and nature. Which ones do you know?
Winter is the harshest season. The natural world—clouds, birds, animals, and plants—all provided cues to predict what the winter will bring! Generations of hunters, farmers, and fishermen relied upon this weather lore to predict storms and the severity of the coming winter.
Did you know: The study of weather proverbs is known as paroemieology. Most are fanciful fun with no basis in scientific fact while others have been found to have a kernel of truth at their core.
Acorns … that fall heavily means a cold winter is coming. Similarly, a large crop of walnuts means a snowy, cold season. Thick nutshells predict a severe winter.
Persimmon seeds … are an age-old way of predicting winter weather. (American persimmon trees grow in the wild in USDA Zones 4 to 9.) When you cut open a persimmon, the shape of the seed tells you if the winter will be cold or normal. If it’s spoon-shaped, expect snow to shovel!
Apple skins … which are tougher and thicker also tell us a colder winter is expected.
Corn husks … which are thicker and tighter than usual indicate a cold winter ahead as well.
Squirrels … with very bushy tails in the fall cue a colder winter. If squirrels stash their nuts high in the trees, the snow will be deep.
“When squirrels early start to hoard,
winter will pierce us like a sword.”
How One Month Affects Another
“If a cold August follows a hot July, It foretells a winter hard and dry.”
“For every fog in August, There will be a snowfall in winter.”
“If the first week in August is unusually warm, The coming Winter will be snowy and long.”
“A warm October, A cold February.”
“As the days lengthen, the cold strengthens.” (The coldest time of the year is mid January, about three weeks after the shortest day.)
Date of the First Snow
There are many similar variations on forecasting snow, based on the date of the very first snowfall.
The date of the first snowflakes tells how many times it will snow. Should the year’s first snow, for example, come down on the 12th of the month, you can expect 12 more storms before the winter’s done.
The number of days from Christmas the first snowflakes fall will tell you how many times it will snow this winter.
The date of the first snowflakes plus the number of days past the new moon tells how many times it will snow this winter.
https://www.almanac.com/winter-weather-folklore
rutabaga time
Still dry as a bone here are a little rain - with nothing more in sight.
Lots of cleaning up to do in the garden. Here is my fairy garden, all cleaned up:
Meanwhile, waiting for Santa:
We know which one controls the couch!
This will be the year I learn how to get the PH right in the garden...(I’ve been saying this for decades and never do) ;-)
It’s been a chilly week here in Central Missouri. 18° F when I left for the data center this morning. Retiring to sunny Florida can’t come soon enough.
It’s too cold for my bones to mess around doing garden cleanup this weekend so I think I’ll water my plants in the greenhouse then retire to the nice warm workshop and get some fixing done on Mr. Clarence. With any kind of good luck I might have him put back together enough to start the engine sometime tomorrow.
All the hard work gardening and canning last season is paying off. Spaghetti squash smothered in ratatouille on the menu for supper tonight...
The soil in 3 out of 4 garden beds is in irder.....tomorrow #4 gets smoothed out.
Then tree limb borders and chipping the smaller branches for mulching.
Theeeeennnn....beds 5 and 6 get some compost then soil etc.
I got 3 different cover crop seeds (cowpea, daikon radish, & mustard greens) for bed #6 since it is the worst of the 6 as far as hard clay soil goes.
Those three are apparently good at breaking up the clay then ya chop n drop before they go to seed.