Farm & Home
By Wade Parker County Extension Coordinator

Agricultural Appreciation

Supper

Unfortunately, I came down with a stomach virus last week that caused me to be out of work a couple of days. I hope no one has to endure that! As a result, I did not get to write a news article last week and thank everyone who attended and helped with the Agricultural Appreciation Supper. I would especially like to thank our sponsors who donated money and other services to make this event a success. We had approximately 140 in attendance and collected $1065 for the Kacey Lane Memorial Scholarship. I feel everyone had a good time, and if you did not win a door prize, there is always next time!

Predicting the Weather

As modern technology has changed, meteorologists now use lots of complicated equipment such as satellites to forecast the weather. However, people have always been interested in the weather, particularly farmers and others whose livelihood depends on it. So before this equipment was available, people used all the things around them as a guide. As well as looking at the skies, they also used the behavior of animals, birds and plants as clues to future weather patterns. I would like to discuss a few of these.

One of the most reliable of all natural weather indicators is pine cones. These have traditionally been used to forecast the weather as they change shape according to whether it is wet or dry. In dry weather, pine cones open out as the scales shrivel up and stand out stiffly. When it is damp, they absorb moisture and as the scales become flexible again, the cone returns to its normal shape. This could be a possible indicator on precipitation.

Trees are also involved in longer term weather predictions. According to an old English saying, "If the oak flowers before the ash, we shall have a splash. If the ash flowers before the oak, we shall have a soak." This expression refers to weather for the next few days or weeks and indicates, in turn, only light rain or very wet weather depending on which tree flowers first.

Lying cows are one of the most well known natural weather indicators. It has often been said that when cows are lying down in a field, rain is on its way. This is explained by the fact that the cows sense the moisture in the air and are making sure they have somewhere dry to lie down. Next time it is about to rain, notice if the cows in a field are lying down or standing up.

I thought these couple of old sayings, or wives' tales, would be fun to add to this week's newspaper column. The good Lord is the only one who knows if it will rain or not!

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