One word defines May in South Bend thus far -- rain. It has rained each and every day. We're only about 1/5 of the way through the month and we've already surpassed our average rainfall for this entire 31-day period. The forecast calls for a lot of rain today, tonight and tomorrow.
May is usually the month in which precipitation begins to slack off. In an average year -- 2009 has NOT been one of these -- we receive less rain from May - September than we typically do for the month of December (12.76").
But this post isn't about rain per se; it's about plant life and how each plant relates to the rain.
Each winter it rains bucket loads here. For the most part, our temperatures remain rather moderate with average highs in December and January in the mid 40s. Yet, despite the rain and the moderate temperatures, plants don't grow during the winter, they only maintain.
It is only in spring and summer when rain generates tremendous growth in plant life (despite the fact the temperature doesn't change that much between winter and spring). In the past few days, our back forty has gone from a lazy field to a veritable jungle!
As I watch the seasons cycle through, it reminds me that to everything there is a season. The flora and fauna live a life that simply goes with the flow. When it's time to grow, they grow. When it's time to become dormant, they rest. And when it's time to die, they die.
Can I learn this lesson?
May is usually the month in which precipitation begins to slack off. In an average year -- 2009 has NOT been one of these -- we receive less rain from May - September than we typically do for the month of December (12.76").
But this post isn't about rain per se; it's about plant life and how each plant relates to the rain.
Each winter it rains bucket loads here. For the most part, our temperatures remain rather moderate with average highs in December and January in the mid 40s. Yet, despite the rain and the moderate temperatures, plants don't grow during the winter, they only maintain.
It is only in spring and summer when rain generates tremendous growth in plant life (despite the fact the temperature doesn't change that much between winter and spring). In the past few days, our back forty has gone from a lazy field to a veritable jungle!
As I watch the seasons cycle through, it reminds me that to everything there is a season. The flora and fauna live a life that simply goes with the flow. When it's time to grow, they grow. When it's time to become dormant, they rest. And when it's time to die, they die.
Can I learn this lesson?
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