(Mmmm, thawing dirt)Today is the first day of spring, when the Sun crosses the celestial equator. The word "equinox" is a combination of Latin words: aequus (equal) and nox (night). But it's sort of a misnomer, ever since our blasphemous discovery that the earth is not flat. The occurrence of an equal day and night totally depends on your latitude on this big sphere. That 24-hour period is called the equilux, when sunrise and sunset are basically 12 hours apart.
Even so, I get a little psycho-spiritual jolt on the calendar's equinoxes. Especially the vernal one, ever since growing vegetables completely took over my life. In recent years, the atumnal equinox really bums me out. It feels like I'm doomed to 5 or 6 months' worth of Mondays.
I celebrated my vernal equinox by scraping off some dirt from the semi-permafrosted pile that's been on my porch for 5 months, and prepping a little box for some early spring lettuce. I'll scrape off a little more every other day, so the sun will melt it faster. As I go, I'll plop the dirt in another box and sprinkle in some more seeds. And patiently wait for the only miracle I know of.
So, how did you celebrate the equinox?
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2 comments:
mmm, Gordie's one of my favourites!
Some friends of mine put on a Lightfoot tribute concert every year, it is FANTASTIC, if you're ever in Ontario, make sure it's in Feb-March so you can get to see it, Lightfoot has made a few appearences at the show himself!
mmm, corn bread!
how's your garden going? There are a few people up here giving it a go http://tinyfarmblog.com/ ... though, it did snow again today... I think their plants might be in trouble!
Chicken Parma tonight with some friends in celebration of equinox! Yummy AND fun :)
Weeding out winter weeds, working up the soil .. got about half the beds done. It has been a cold month so stuff is behind here, but at least it is not permafrost!!! Just wet and chilly.
Say, you give me an idea! There is a fall Festival of Family Farms here, where about 15 or so of the local farms have open house for the weekend. Several hundred people make the tour. Farms are like berries, orchard, flowers, potatoes, dairys, cheese, seeds, shellfish, winery, alpacas. We have an active group of Master Composters, maybe we can arrange for a Worm Farm stop on the tour! Hmmm ....
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