Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Monday, September 22, 2008
Equinox
If the French Revolutionary Calendar had been a global success, today would be New Year's Day. I learned of the French Revolutionary Calendar only recently and I admire the way they tied it to the agricultural year. We've just finished the month of Fructidor, followed by the intercalary days of
- Jour de la vertu (Day of virtue)
- Jour du génie (Day of genius)
- Jour du travail (Day of labour)
- Jour de l'opinion (Day of opinion)
- Jour des récompenses (Day of rewards)
- Jour de la révolution (Day of the revolution), but this didn't happen every year.
In fact, each day of the year had its own name, corresponding to natural and agricultural seasonal events. I don't understand the logic behind naming the 10th days - the days of rest - for tools. Maybe that was to fix one's mind on the week ahead?
Enjoy the rest of your Monday.
Monday, December 31, 2007
The Cycle
As the clock ticks out the last few hours of 2007, I find myself wondering why the Roman/Julian/Gregorian calendar seems so arbitrary. Shouldn't we mark off the years at some meaningful point in the Earth's orbit around the sun? A solstice or an equinox or something? But we don't. For thirteen years or so (1793-1805), the French started the New Year at the autumnal equinox, coinciding with the grape harvest. This makes a lot more sense to me, especially given the prominent role played by alcohol in our New Year's celebrations. Got your party hat on yet?
I like the idea of representing the year as a circle (because it is, really) and there's an elegantly information-packed circular calendar available as a free download at The Natural Year. This nifty chart shows the length of days, the moon's phases, weather cycles, and more. All the data are based on the author's location near Kansas City, but the broad trends apply across a swath of North America.
In late afternoon today I headed out to the vegetable garden, where lettuce, spinach and dill are still growing under their Agribon covers. I picked enough lettuce and spinach for a salad, and parsley and thyme to flavor our souffle for dinner tonight. That's a part of the annual cycle I plan to explore more fully in 2008 - the idea that I can harvest something fresh to eat most of the year. And I had to wash aphids off the lettuce!
