One of the most exhilarating things about Home Farming is that you hitch your wagon, so to speak, to the venerable rhythm of the seasons – from the barrenness of winter to the hope and renewal of spring, the lushness and colour of summer, the abundance of autumn, and finally back to the slumber of winter again. You have a choice about how you feel about this relentless cycle of life: you can choose to be terrified, or you can take immense comfort from it. Personally, I love the fact that the seasons are so all-encompassing. They are quite obviously happening ‘out there’ in your veggie patch, but their moods are also reflected ‘in here’ – in your heart, your mind and your soul.
It is, of course, nature herself who ultimately decides when those seasons transition from one to the next, but down through the ages mankind has gamely tried to apply chunks of time (in the form of calendar months) to the task of defining when a season begins and ends. ‘In month X, it shall be season Y,’ we proclaim, attempting to be lord of all we survey. Mother Nature smiles to herself and thinks: We shall see.
There is little consensus among the denizens of the northern hemisphere about when the seasons start. Many countries use what are called the ‘meteorological’ seasons, where spring begins on 1 March, summer on 1 June, autumn on 1 September and winter on 1 December. The ‘astronomical’ seasons are broadly similar, but are based on the dates of the equinoxes and solstices: so, spring begins on 20 March (vernal equinox), summer on 21 June (summer solstice), autumn on 22 September (autumn equinox) and winter on 21 December (winter solstice).
Just because we enjoy a bit of divilment, the Irish calendar (which is based on the seasons of the ancient Celts), ploughs a lonely furrow, with a completely different system that is a month earlier than those above. And so, in Ireland spring traditionally begins not in March, but on 1 February, with Lá Feabhra (February Day), also known as St Brigid’s Day; summer begins with Lá Bealtaine (May Day); autumn begins on 1 August with Lá Lúnasa; while winter arrives in November with Lá Samhna (November Day).
From a Home Farmer’s perspective, there are arguments for and against using each of the different systems as your guide: for example, September seems to me to be the natural month to begin autumn, whereas in the Celtic system autumn begins in August, which just seems plain weird – I always think of August as high summer. On the other hand, there is a strong argument that February should be seen as spring, as in the Irish system, since it is a month when things start to happen in the garden, the first seeds are sown and activity levels start to ramp up. So it doesn’t really feel like winter.
In the debate over which system to use to lay out the chapters of this book, my heart ultimately ruled my head (no surprise there, really, it usually does) and I opted to go with the Celt’s way of doing things. I reckon it would be just plain rude (never mind potentially bad karma) to ignore the ancient wisdom laid down by our ancestors. I suppose, in the end, it doesn’t really matter what system you use – the cycle of the seasons advances in its own sweet time, anyway. If you decide, on the basis of a seasonal calendar, that it’s spring in February and therefore time to plant out all your little seedlings, nature will probably decide to humble you a little by sending a few nights of frost. So the best advice is to maintain some flexibility on the issue and be guided by your senses. If it feels too cold to be spring, then it’s probably still winter. The chapters are laid out as follows:
CHAPTER 1 – LATE WINTER, JANUARY
CHAPTER 2 – EARLY SPRING, FEBRUARY
CHAPTER 3 – MID-SPRING, MARCH
CHAPTER 4 – LATE SPRING, APRIL
CHAPTER 5 – EARLY SUMMER, MAY
CHAPTER 6 – MID-SUMMER, JUNE
CHAPTER 7 – LATE SUMMER, JULY
CHAPTER 8 – EARLY AUTUMN, AUGUST
CHAPTER 9 – MID-AUTUMN, SEPTEMBER
CHAPTER 10 – LATE AUTUMN, OCTOBER
CHAPTER 11 – EARLY WINTER, NOVEMBER
CHAPTER 12 – MID-WINTER, DECEMBER
This book was written in 2009 and based, largely, on our experiences in 2008, but it is meant to represent any typical year on the Home Farm. I stole in a few stories from 2009 where I felt they were appropriate or necessary (it’s my book, so I can do what I like!).