How’s the weather?

Weather as a topic of conversation has probably been around for as long as humans have talked with each other. Even our Neolithic ancestors would have kept an eye on the skies because back then I’d imagine the weather was really integral to their lives and their survival. Over time, humankind has weathered countless storms and although we still compare the weather, complain about it, rejoice in it and try to predict it, most of us don’t worry too much about it because it’s no longer a case of survival. With the right gear (and a bit of luck), we can explore the Arctic, climb Mount Everest or travers the Sahara desert and live to tell the tale. 

With the right gear — and a bit of luck with the weather: good things to consider when heading out on a four-hour hike into the mountains, right? Well, the day was so beautifully sunny and warm, we didn’t think to be prepared for a change when we set off. When we discovered a beautiful hidden waterfall, we were so sweaty from our hike and enchanted by the deep blue pool that we thought nothing of stripping down to our underwear and plunging into the ice-cold water. 

No sooner had we gotten out and put on our dry shorts and shirts than we heard distant thunder. Rain arrived minutes later and we dashed to a rocky overhang to stay dry. Rain turned to hail and the temperature dropped. We waited, counting the seconds between lightning strikes and thunder, and watched impromptu waterfalls cascade down the rocky slopes. Another front moved in followed by another. With wet hair and only one layer of clothing, I shivered. After almost an hour the rain abated a little and, feeling chilled, we decided to start our two-hour trek back. 

Within minutes we were drenched in more cold rain. Walking briskly warmed us a little and kept me hopeful that I wouldn’t die of hypothermia. It was May after all… then I had to remind myself that people can die of exposure to the elements at any time of year. It’s surprising how vulnerable we can be due to a simple change in weather.

So, how’s-the-weather has taken on a different meaning recently. Is this weather normal? a friend from Mexico asked me on a cool, windy, wet day two weeks ago. What’s normal these days? I said. I guess our cool wet spring would have been considered normal fifteen to twenty years ago, but nowadays? I don’t know what’s normal anymore. Just north of these Apennines, Emilia Romagna is under water, and way further north, Nova Scotia is burning up. 

There’s a reason why the seasons’ predictability plays an important role in Nature. Food security is the basis for human survival and on our infinitesimally small homestead, we are realising how unpredictable seasonal weather patterns have become. The seeds I planted in the greenhouse in March never germinated and the second sowing is slow-growing compared to the last several years. It’s now June and I’ve transplanted fewer than half my seedlings waiting for the soil to dry out a little and for the plants to get a little taller.

How different each growing year is! This year, I  expect my crop will be half of last year’s.

On the other hand, I trust that the rain has gone some way to replenishing the water table. Walking along the old forest roads, delicate blades of grass are sprouting up in the dirt tracks, while familiar paths are difficult to follow with all the ferns and trees obscuring the thin trail. I hold back from cutting back the growth happy to rejoice in a particularly long and bountiful springing-forth.

The repeated rainfall has also made it too wet to mow more than once. The grass around the property is now knee-high. Dried hay from the mowing is usually what I mulch my summer garden with but I will need to find a different mulch this year. I am finding out that there are many benefits to letting the grass grow. For example, it increases biodiversity, protects the soil from the summer heat and provides shelter for lightning bugs whose populations have been experiencing a steep decline recently. 

And then there are the bees. They can’t fly in windy or wet weather so we’ve had to continue our supplemental feeding of sugar water for much longer than usual, especially of the two swarms we were able to re-hive. The weather has also affected the flowering of trees like cherry, acacia and chestnut. Between sudden temperature drops, hail, and drenching rain, the flowers are either few or have little nectar. Local beekeepers don’t expect to harvest much honey this year… I’m hoping that the wildflowers in amongst the unmown grasses can offer an important supply of nectar for the bees, along with the rose, sage and rosemary that have flowered prolifically.

It also seems that few of the olive trees have flowered which may adversely affect the olive harvest. The chestnut flowers are also scanty leading to fewer chestnuts to mill into flour. I think about the many centuries in this village in which the harvests of these staple foods were a matter of survival. I think about how even today, some of the younger generation make a living as beekeepers, producers of olive oil or chestnut flour. And then my thoughts expand further to the millions of people all over the world whose livelihoods still depend on what the land produces and how it all revolves around the weather. I am grateful for my small piece of land, for what it provides and for what it teaches me, but I am also grateful that I am not dependent on it for my survival.

What’s the weather like where you are?