GROUNDHOG DAY
The Solar Cycle Turns
Groundhog Day is bigger than a silly holiday in February. The town mayor pulls out a groundhog to see if he will see his shadow. The story goes that if the groundhog sees his shadow there will be 6 more weeks of winter. It's a story about predicting the coming of spring.
Groundhog day comes half way between Winter Solstice and Equinox (northern hemisphere) . It is a Cross-Quarter Day. The quarter days are the four solstices and equinoxes, and therefore the cross-quarter days are halfway between the quarter days..
Interestingly, if it takes 6 more weeks for Spring to come, that brings you to the beginning of spring on the modern Gregorian calendar. While you may not see the world look like spring until March 21st, what you can't see is that the Earth already coming alive below the surface and inside of trees and plants. If you are a farmer or gardener you should follow the solar cycle and see Groundhog Day as the beginning of spring, whether he sees his shadow or not.
In Natural Farming we are looking to predict the behavior of plants. We want to offer prenatal vitamins before pregnancy. It is know in humans that nutrients, particularly folic acid, are needed at the time of conception, before pregnancy, to be effective. We have the similar systems in plants. To truly provide for a plant's pregnancy, which begins with the pollination of a flower, we need to insure that the proper nutritives are present at the moment of pollination. This period starts before we can see the flower shoots.
This time in a plants life, the development that takes place to form flower shoots, is called the cross-over period. It is comparable to puberty in children. One day they feel and act like an adult, the next like they are a baby. They are somehow both.
The cross-over period is largely unseen, but it is predictable. We know that dormant trees begin to come alive around February 2nd, Groundhogs day. We know that a tomato plant will start to flower once it has 5 sets of leaves. With Korean Natural Farming (KNF) inputs we want to give plants what it needs for the next stage of life.
So now you know, Groundhog Day is a signal that dormancy is being broken. If you are adding any spring cross-over treatments now is the time to start. The Southern Hemisphere is on the opposite cross-quarter day and is coming into fall and the beginning of the harvest season.
Be like Nature