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Connecting to Nature
Observing and recording nature, the practice of phenology, has been
going on for thousands ofbears. It can still be educational and fun
for both adults and youngsters.
By Larry Drew
Whether it's a sense of the
best planting times in the
fields and gardens, or
simply strengthening that connection
to our land and nature, the study and
practice of phenology is a fascinating
part of rural life for young and old
alike. In fact, it should involve the
whole family as the knowledge of
phenology has traditionally been
passed on from generation to
generation of farmers, fishers, and
gardeners. Besides, there is no
registration fee and to find the
classroom you simply have to head
outdoors!
So what the heck is phenology?
Simply stated, it is the tracking of
nature's life cycles and recognizing
the links between the lives of plants
and animals to seasonal change.
30 THE RURAL VOICE
Perhaps the most widely known
example of phenology is the link
between the start of the maple sap run
to when it freezes at night and thaws
in the day. Obviously the link has
never lost its usefulness to rural life.
So too is the use of phenology by
beekeepers to plan operations around
observations of plants and their bee
colonies. Fruit growers often use
phenological data to schedule
planting, pruning, spraying and
harvesting.
So what about the old-timer who
states: "plant corn when the leaves of
the oak trees are the size of squirrel's
ears"? Is this a tall tale or an intimacy
to nature?
Well, scientists take phenology
very seriously. After all, phenology is
used in everything from developing
gardening recommendations to the
monitoring ofiglobal warming.
So who else practises phenology?
Certainly any gardener who tracks
the frost dates, records flowering
times, or relies on those (or their
own) recommended planting and
harvesting dates. Many an angler
swears that the first spring calls of a
frog, the spring peeper, will signal the
start of the walleye spawn.
As a young boy, I learned from
my Dad that the "pike spawn as soon
as the ice melts and the creeks flows
— but before all the snow has melted
from the banks". By gosh, whether
the ice -melt happened in late
February, mid-March or early Aril,
his timing was always right! We then
watched for the emergence of wild
onions on the creek banks to signal