HOW MANY TIMES A DAY

do you check the weather reports?

Perhaps we would do just as well reading the old folklore predictions.  If nothing else, it gives us pause for a few giggles before the spring chores occupy all our time.  Before there was a Weather Channel, or a National Weather Bureau, folks relied on themselves.  Country folks relied on the sights, sounds, and activity around them for weather forecasting.  They watched the cloud shapes and movements.  They noted animal behavior.

In Willsford's "Treatise on Nature Secrets" (1658) rain was predicted following these observations:

    "Beasts eating greedily, and more than usual, prenotes foul weather, and all small Cattel (sic), that seeme to rejoyce with playing and sporting themselves, foreshews Rain."

     "Hogs crying and running unquietly up and down, with Hay or Litter in their mouths, foreshews a Storm to be near at hand."

Rhyming weather sayings helped folks remember the things they witnessed and how they corresponded with the moods of the weather.    That is why the hog forecast became: 

    "When hogs squeal, romp and play, expect snow by the end of day."

Some rhymes never fade away.  

     "When the cock crows at the break of day, everyone knows good weather's on the way.  If the cock crows on going to bed, he's sure to rise with a wet head."

This one might help decide a camping trip:

"Dark clouds in the west, stay home and rest.  Wind in the west, suits everyone best."

Let's hope we don't have to keep this one handy for quick reference:

"Snow like cotton, soon forgotten.  Snow like meal, it'll snow a great deal."

Because I love folklore, I pulled this from a March 1991 Garden Calendar and filed it in the Folklore File (yes, a hand on, paper file, in a file drawer of a real file cabinet).

In the spring I have frogs in the sunroom, at times they get pretty vocal, so maybe this is what they are telling me.

"Frogs singing at evening indicate fair weather the next day.  Croaking frogs in spring three times frozen in.  The louder the frogs, the more the rain.  Tree frogs crawl up to the branches before a weather change.

Has this entry had any value adding to our gardening skills, probably not.  I do believe that we need these reminders to enhance our appreciation of the past but to also embrace where we are today with all scientific finding that are available to us at just the click of a button.