Yesterday, the local weather forecaster said it was going to stop raining in early morning and it rained all the way up to about 2 p.m. Which should make all of us ponder: if they can't predict the weather the next day reliably, how could these so-called scientists be 100% sure about global warming? Inquiring minds want to know!
But who needs almanacs or weather forecasters when you've got persimmon seeds? (I'm on a persimmon kick this week after posting that scary persimmon tale over the weekend.) Yessirree, Bob, persimmons aren't just for dessert. They've long been used to foretell what kind of winter weather we can expect.
The truth is in the seeds, you see. Wash them off and then hold them standing on their side (like a football kicker) and then carefully slice them open. You're guaranteed to see 1 of 3 images: a fork, a knife or a spoon. Tiny little cutlery! But what does that have to do with the weather? Let me explain:
Spoon: Think "shovel". This is bad news, because it means there's going to be lots of snow.
Fork: It will be a mild winter with not much snow.
Knife: The weather will be icy and cold. Think "cut you like a knife".
The catch is that the persimmons have to be grown locally, so you can't just go buy some at the grocery store and try this. Unfortunately, we have no persimmon trees anywhere near here in the inner city so I couldn't try this myself. However, the local news station got some and opened them to find all spoons. Definitely BAD NEWS after the cold, snowy winter we had last year.
Now I just need to find my go-to forecaster around these here parts...the woolly caterpillar. Last year, he predicted a cold winter and he was right. Where are you, little guy? Anybody seen him this year or is he still hibernating?
What do you think? Are these ways that Mother Nature lets us know what she has in store? Or it all just hogwash?
So neat about the persimmon trick! We need to try that out here, I think my parents have a tree on their land if the horses haven't eaten all the fruit lol.
ReplyDeleteOh, would you? Let me know what you find. I'm guessing the dreaded spoons!
DeleteThis is so interesting. I heard also from the Amish near us. They said that they do not plant in the spring until the persimmon trees are in bloom because they don't bloom until after the last frost. I found that so interesting. By the way, we found you from the New Life On A Homestead link up. :) We are sister bloggers that have blogs over at http://rosevinecottagegirls.blogspot.com and http://thelifeofanotsonormalamericanteenager.blogspot.com We would love to have you over to our place sometime. As a matter of fact we are having a link up over at Rosevine Cottage Girls and invite you to link up some of your posts there. We hope to see you soon. We will follow your blog and look for you on Facebook
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by from the Hop and for the invitation! I'll be stopping by in just a few moments.
DeleteI have seen lots of black wooly caterpillars, but none in the last few days. I don't know if I believe the persimmons. :-)
ReplyDeleteI have to go read the mouse story.
I love the woollys! The ones you've seen: are they all black?
DeleteYay! If we get lots of snow I'll get to play with the new snow-moving toy! ;-)
ReplyDelete