Everyone around here is preparing to pick the crops they want to keep long-term (i.e. apples, pumpkins)starting tomorrow (10/15) since today is the full moon. Happy harvesting!
I've asked before but still don't know if there's such a thing as a Farmer's Almanac here. They list the 'right' times for planting and harvesting various crops.
Today's the full moon, so tomorrow the moon is 'getting smaller', which I always thought was the time for harvesting, as opposed to planting, which you do as the moon is getting bigger.
could the Italian equivalent of the Farmer's Almanac be FRATE INDOVINO ? It has a bunch of catholic religious stuff but I seem to remember notes on harvesting / planting etc....
I've seen wall calendars with all the info on as well, normally combined with the religious festivals. I now understand why Steiner schools are so popular here.
Well, I lived out in the country and our bank used to give us a calendar every year. The phases of the moon were always well indicated. Country people swear by the lunar calendar: don't bottle wine/get your hair cut/plant onions/whatever on the full of the moon.
Given the moon's influence on tides, they might have an argument there...and you don't have to be a "moony" to believe this stuff, it is probably more scientific than you think.
Posts: 932 | Location (City & State): From Lille to Torino | Registered: 12 January 2008
All I know is the countryside is lit up tonight like dusk at 2200. Gravity aside, the bright light probably affects circadian rhythms for folks living in the country.
I just asked the lady 'who does for me', who has land and animals and she said this is quite true. Her family have been farmers (small holders) up here for at least 200years... She went on to tell me another strange phemomenon of this belief is the importance of the moon on the harvest. This time it was about the felling of trees for thier winter wood stores (very important here in the Alps, as you can imagine).
It seems that if a tree is felled and cut up for firewood at the 'wrong phase of the moon' - it will NOT burn properly! Seems incredible, but hey - they believe it!
I found this on a local agricultural site (it's only an extract - too long to translate it all now - sorry)
Tutti i consigli forniti possono essere sintetizzati in una regola generale: «Tutto ciò che deve crescere e svilupparsi deve essere fatto in Luna crescente. Tutto ciò che deve arrestarsi e morire deve essere fatto in Luna calante». Già qusta generalità e questa analogia tra fenomeni così disparati fa sorgere qualche dubbio e il sospetto che si tratti di un retaggio di antiche concezioni di "magia simpatica". Tuttavia molte di queste credenze sono state sottoposte a verifiche rigorose. In nessun caso sono emerse conferme attendibili.
La luce lunare, ad esempio, pur essendo in grado di provocare tropismi, è troppo debole per influenzare in modo apprezzabile la crescita di una pianta. Inoltre, se tale influenza fosse reale, oltre alle fasi lunari, dovrebbero essere altrettanto importanti le condizioni dell’atmosfera. Queste ultime possono infatti determinare un maggiore o minore assorbimento della radiazione lunare
quote:
All the advice offered can be summarized in one general rule: "All that must grow and develop should be dealt with during the growing (waxing) moon. All that should stop and die must be dealt with during the declining (waning) moon" Already this generality and this analogy of these so different phenomenons has given rise to some doubts and the suspicion that we are dealing with a legacy of antique theories of "pleasant magic" . Nevertheless many of these beliefs have undergone rigorous checks. No cases emerged with a believable confermation.
The moonlight, for example, even though able to cause tropism (follow the light), it is too weak to be able to influence in an appreciable way the growth of a plant. In addition, if this influence was real, in addition to the moons phases, atmospheric conditions should be equally important. This last could in fact determine a major or minor absorption of the moons rays.
But I think there HAS to some element of truth in some of these beliefs, or how would they have survived for so long!
Because it's romantic. Having grown fruit and veg for more years than I care to remember, I've tried the moon system more than once, alongside normal planting and harvesting as a control. The results? Absolutely no difference.
Doing things by the moon is good for organizational purposes. If you have 5 billion things to do and don't know where to start just check the moon and about 50% of what needs to be done will have to wait until the moon is right.
Posts: 315 | Location (City & State): The Marche | Registered: 26 October 2004
I can imagine that there is a right and wrong time to cut trees for a fire, but I would have thought it would have more to do with when the sap is rising than the moon, unless the moon has influence over this too.
Originally posted by kellytree: Doing things by the moon is good for organizational purposes. If you have 5 billion things to do and don't know where to start just check the moon and about 50% of what needs to be done will have to wait until the moon is right.
That actually makes sense. Back before calenders people could spread their do-list over the four phases of the moon. I like that explanation!
Originally posted by alyson: I can imagine that there is a right and wrong time to cut trees for a fire, but I would have thought it would have more to do with when the sap is rising than the moon, unless the moon has influence over this too.
Of course the moon has an influence over the sap rising. So has the sun. The both exert a gravitational force, which sucks the sap up when they're passing overhead. When they're both overhead at the same time, the sap gets sucked up with maximum force, but when one's above the earth at the same time as the other's under it, they cancel each other out to some degree (one sucking while the other's blowing so to speak), so your sap rises more slowly.
Deleted 2nd, 3rd + 4th copies of this post!
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Posts: 73 | Location (City & State): Italy and Greece | Registered: 12 January 2008
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