Persephone, please come home
January 2020
We’re over the hump, on the downhill side of the winter now.
The lion’s share of snow, ice, freezing rain and the rest of it is still in store, but two weeks ago we crept passed the Winter solstice and began seeing a few more seconds of light every day. The number of those little ticks and tocks will grow bit by bit, faster and faster, and in six months – on June 21 – the clock will bring the summer solstice and the longest day of the year.
Our journey out of the darkness and into the light will be complete, and the cycle toward shorter days and cold weather will begin.
Many people don’t care much; they spend most of their time indoors and find the short days of winter just an annoyance, if that. Getting up long before the sun rises and going to bed long after it has already retired is just a matter of leaving the lights on longer.
But for farmers the shifting of the celestial gears is more than welcome. It’s not quite time to sing “Happy Days are Here Again,” but I’ve been humming it now and then.
Some of us, especially folks like me who try to grow winter greens in greenhouses, high tunnels and cold frames, started clearing our throats Dec. 21, the darkest of 2019’s 365 days. We can find plants that will survive freezing weather – kale, spinach and some lettuces, for example – but there aren’t many that do well in feeble light.
The most difficult time to do winter growing is the period from about Nov. 15 to Feb. 15, when day lengths are just over 10 hours at best. A farmer named Eliot Coleman, who has pioneered winter growing techniques in Maine, gave the two-month stretch the name “Persephone Period,” an apt description.
Persephone was a Greek goddess who the ancients believed spent most of the year walking the Earth, sowing fertility, coaxing growth and guiding harvest. But when her work was done she descended into the Underworld to join her husband Hades for an annual four-month visit. And she took the light and warmth along with her.
The mortals left behind suffered Winter in her absence, and the farmers’ fields, vineyards and olive groves languished until she returned in the Spring. And with her return the Earth sprang to life and farmers’ fortunes began looking up again.
That explanation worked for a while, and the cycle worked out year after year, but I suspect things are changing now. I think hubby Hades may be coming back with her, at least for brief visits, and taking pleasure wreaking havoc where Persephone is trying to nurture peace and prosperity. He’s stirring things up, flinging fire and brimstone, causing roaring blazes and boiling waters.
He apparently considers it fun, tormenting not just farmers, orchardists and ranchers, but people from all walks of life. He’s setting fires from California to Australia, melting glaciers from the Arctic to the Antarctic, flooding rivers from Europe to Southeast Asia. To show his virtuosity, he’s drying up lakes and creating dustbowls here and there all around the globe.
His havoc is undeniable, in my opinion. My theory is only logical explanation, I do believe.
The number of people who are starting to think like I do seems to be growing, fortunately. Those who aren’t smelling the smoke, mopping up water and hauling away the hurricane debris are at least seeing the news on TV and hearing the stories on the radio.
A few doubting Thomases remain, giving this calamitous capriciousness the innocuous name “climate change”. They say humans, not Hades and his devils, are doing the damage. They claim they have the numbers and records and charts to prove their theory, that the stuff our smokestacks and tailpipes are putting into the air is changing the atmosphere, but it’s all very complicated and hard to follow – on purpose, I think. They’re trying to confuse the issue and hide the truth.
Why? I’m not sure. Maybe they want more money for thermometers, rain gauges, weather balloons and the like.
My opinion is that it will all pass, and sooner rather than later. Within a few weeks Persephone will go back to the Underworld, taking Hades with her, and the normal cycles and rhythms of the Earth will be restored.
The process may already have begun. The weather forecast for this coming week is calling for longer days and colder nights. That’s not proof positive, but it’s a strong indication.
Yes, we’re over the hump, and we’re on the downhill side.