Pluviophile:
a lover of rain; someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days.
It's funny, the things you come to understand about yourself.
I have grown to love rainy days...
so I am adding this descriptor to my bio.
There is a certain peace here on the farm when the sky is grey,
and the rain plays its calming refrain.
Chores still get done, but less time is spent playing.
On rainy days we are content to watch the world from our shelter.
On my rounds around the farm yesterday,
I thought about how this is the wild season...
when all that was tamed over the summertime and neatly manicured
now gets a little wild and wooly!
The old log cabin changes with the seasons...
each season different and beautiful in its own right.
I so look forward, each autumn,
to the pink popcorn that appears on this European Spindle Tree, (Euonymus Europaeus)
in front of the old log cabin.
The duck pond is re-populated with last winter's mallards and their families.
It's nice to know that we provide a winter habitat with ample food and
un-frozen water (thanks to the aerators that bubble in the middle of the pond.)
I so enjoyed all of your comments regarding yesterday's post.
It was a fun post to write and I am happy it was enjoyed.
I thank you for all of the book suggestions!
I remembered one more interesting tale that I learned last summer when we were in Africa...
about communication between trees.
Giraffes, being ruminants (they chew their cud), graze on grasses, leaves, and twigs.
Their favorite food is the foliage of the acacia tree.
A giraffe can consume 29 kilograms of acacia leaves in a single day.
In response (to this attack), the acacia tree sends tannins out into its leaves
giving the leaves a bitter taste.
Of course, the giraffe moves to the next tree.
The truly amazing thing is this:
The acacia tree communicates with the other trees around it
and those trees send tannins to their leaves as well...
making the entire area distasteful to the giraffe.
The giraffe will then have to travel about 100 yards away to get to
edible leaves.
Trees are truly under-valued in this world of ours.
We cut them down in alarming numbers.
We clear them away to build our homes and businesses.
What do the trees do in return?
They just keep giving.
(If you have never read "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein...
I highly recommend it!)
Share it with all of the children in your life...
Happy Friday, friends.
Have a wonderful weekend.
We'll be back on Monday with more Tales from the Farm.
💖
Comments
Enjoy your weekend.
And thanks for the book suggestion too. Also want to second the thumbs up for another reader's comment on "Braiding Sweetgrass." It's excellent - she's also written about mosses.
Love the wild look on your shed.
Mary