Raven Bower

Calendar vs. Seasons ~ A Naturalist’s View

 

“The trouble with weather forecasting is that it’s right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it.”  ~Patrick Young

Our modern world revolves around schedules, calendars, clocks and computers. These time trackers are so integrated into our everyday lives that it seems reality is slipping away from some folks.

It boggles my mind how many people truly believe that if the weather isn’t ‘normal’ for a certain time of the year that it’s a cause for extreme alarm. The world is going to end! Crops will be lost! Prices will skyrocket! Everyone panic!

“Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.” ~ Mark Twain

Weather – like nature herself – is largely unpredictable. Weather is not a computer program; it cannot and will not perform certain functions at certain times purely because we want it to.

The calendar is a contraption invented by people for people. Expecting nature to bow down before this contrived piece of human brilliance is the height of arrogance. Though, I guess that’s better than the sadistic minds who invented the alarm clock, but that’s neither here nor there  🙂

Nature is not and never will be under our control. If we’re people of the land, it’s wise of us to acknowledge that fact. Toss the dang calendars and turn off those bubble-brained talking heads on the news.

“Weather is a great metaphor for life – sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, and there’s nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella.”  ~Terri Guillemets

“On cable TV they have a weather channel – 24 hours of weather.  We had something like that where I grew up.  We called it a window.”  ~Dan Spencer

Instead, observe. Pay attention to the seasons. Pay attention to what nature is doing now – not what she did last year on this calendar date or what Mr. Weather Dude thinks she’ll do tomorrow. Nature is fickle and she might toss Mr. Weather Dude for a loop tomorrow out of pure amusement or spite.

For example, the pruning of fruit trees ought to be done in winter when trees are dormant. Note the use of winter (a season) vs. January (a month). Observe the weather, observe the trees and choose the optimum time to prune your trees – don’t wait for a specified calendar month or rush to prune just because ‘so and so said this month is best’ or ‘I always prune in X week in X month’. Calendars don’t exist in nature, seasons do, so it’d behoove us to pay heed.

If you’re of the land then work with nature, not against her. It’ll save you tons of stress, heart ache and your plants will thank you for it. Not to mention, it’s simply easier and who wouldn’t want that?

“Weather forecast for tonight: dark.” ~George Carlin