Jeudi: Weather-Wise

Spring has sprung (in most places in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway) and for our agrarian ancestors that meant not only caring for but paying close attention to the animals around them.  If old wives are to believed, there was a lot of knowledge to be gleaned from seemingly coincidental contact with or behavior of the creatures of the world.  Today, a handful of examples.

Watch the cows when you let them out to pasture.  If the separate and graze each in their own space, fair, sunny weather is certain.  If they cluster together in pods, spring storms are in the offing.

When small birds like sparrows and chickadees continue to feed and chirp through a rain, a long spate of good weather is just over the horizon.

Hens and roosters grouped together under the eaves when the sun is shining bright is a sure sign of storms to come.  As old wives say: “Fowls can smell foul weather.”

Likewise, doves or pigeons suddenly returning as a group to their roost or pigeonniere foretell a swift change in the weather.

A rooster crowing in the rain means sunshine will soon prevail.

If the first butterfly you see in spring is yellow, you should wear a scarf all year to avoid a deadly fever.

Wishing to find affection when you spy the first robin in spring will bring true love before the end of the year.

If you see a fox digging in your garden, you should put down mulch against a late frost.

Header: A former pigeonniere transformed into a garçonnière (young gentleman’s cottage) at Burnside Plantation in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, photo courtesy of  enclos*ure take refuge