A Joyus Candlemas Day
to to all those who have come to see the Light.
I love the day’s Candlemas moniker, it always reminds me that He is my light. Not being born Jewish, I am by the original meaning, a Gentile. And even though I was born to believing parents, a strong Christian heritage, I was still a Gentile and in need of His Light, very much the Gentile Simeon spoke of when he said,
“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace,
According to Your word;
For my eyes have seen Your salvation
Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,
And the glory of Your people Israel.”
Truly through Christ I have come to and become able to understand the Father. The path was lit and the pages of His word illuminated, with Light.
Farmin’ News
A few rhymes for the day:
If Candlemas day be dry and fair
The half o’ winters to come and mair
If Candlemas day be wet and foul
The half o’ winter’s gane at Yule.
You do know that really it only means that no matter what we are half way through winter today? Oh that crazy Ground Hog Day tradition, sometimes it is fun to join in all the silliness and maybe watch the movie at least once, (if it isn’t Super Bowl day and your team is in it for the second time in the team’s life). But really for here in the Puget Sound area, we don’t really have much of a winter. What is winter here actually stays far beyond the six weeks it has left according to the calendar or the ground hog. We don’t have a pack of snow to melt, though we may finally get some about April 13th or later. Our first snow is as likely to coincide with our last frost date as any other weather oddity. But it is fun to note the weather today and wonder what the next six will be like.
Here is a poignant, if not another terribly obvious proverb for the day:
Half your wood,
Half your hay
You must have
On Candlemas Day!
If I get the whole prediction thing, it goes something like, whatever today is like, the rest of winter won’t be like that. Well today is a pretty nice day, started frosty and foggy, it is still overcast, thirty minutes to game time, (gotta get this finished before the game starts) but I love it, ‘cuz for me I love starting something on a great note and February is startin’ on a high one.
Yesterday, was a great first day of the month. February is always the month that I really get into winter gardening. And here, in the Puget Sound region winter gardening most certainly can include weeding. As long as the soil isn’t too saturated, that you disturb it as little as possible it is a great time to weed.
And weed I did!
The asparagus bed is so neglected. Certainly not because we don’t absolutely love asparagus but more likely it gets buried at the bottom of the roundtuit pile, then when thought of it is too late to do any vigorous weeding because the crowns have been awakened and the tender tips are so vulnerable to being broken. Then once the tips are up and a little emergency weeding is done and weeding while harvesting is over, it easily slips onto the roundtuit pile once again.
I have determined that everyday that the ground isn’t frozen, I will be weeding for no less than four hours in the asparagus beds and then I will turn that same time to the raspberry beds once the asparagus is all done. Based on what I’ve already done I have approximately 22 hours of weeding left in the asparagus and I would imagine that the raspberries will take about 27 hours of weeding. Hopefully I will have enough nonfrozen days (I’ll need about 13 if I’m by myself) to get it done, because I also need to relocate all our strawberry plants, and move an oak tree… .
Frozen days will be devoted to starting seeds, up potting as needed, taking cuttings from fuchsias and geraniums, and dividing, repotting and stooling chrysanthemums.
All this while helping Dirt and Bet with lambing and kidding, and that ain’t no joke. Especially when it happens in the middle of the night.
I do believe I am grateful for the blessing of rest during the lovely relaxing holiday months of December and January, where the biggest farm biz pressure was getting seeds inventoried, organized and ordered. Done. Well a bit of organizing is still needed, but mornings will be cold, chilly and dark this month and more time is freed up this month with the end of the holidays, the end of football and decidedly the end of watching most of the tv programs we have watched in the past.
Lent doesn’t start for another month but Bet and I decided that we didn’t need the conviction of Lent to cause us to stop watching the garbage that Hollywood keeps feeding us. Actually I barely watch when I do, mostly I’m “working” on something, I’ve become and obsessed knitter, or the whole seed project. or emails (ugh), but we figure our work might actually be more productive without the distraction of the pure foolishness that is television. Nothing like reading other people’s in depth facebook discussion of a popular show to place a glaring light on how stupid watching tv or even movies can really be.
Well I’m wrappin’ this thing up so I can settle into the game, now that I have suffered through all the pregame nonsense. Gotta make sure the body is ready to sit for an hour and a half before it has to get up. And then for the last half of the game. Because yes, I am a fan! A Twelfth Man.
See you on the other side Dear Reader, I hope your team wins, (as long as you’ve picked the Hawks) But most of all, a glorious Candlemas Day to you and yours.
