I noticed the blackberries in my mountain holler are beginning to bloom. We’ve had rainy weather this week and I sure am thankful for it. Our gardens are growing fast with the plentiful moisture.
Ethelene Dyer Jones shared the poem and comment below after reading one of my blog posts several years ago.
Oh the beauty of our sayings:
“Dogwood Winter,” “Blackberry Winter”;
Cold has not finished with us yet:
God’s plan is at the center
Of sun and moon, of skies and seas,
Of people’s lives throughout our land;
May these “cold snaps” remind of truth:
We are guarded by God’s hand.
-Ethelene Dyer Jones, May 6, 2017
In response, Tipper, to your wonderful post, an extemporaneous, spur-of-the-moment poem this morning! I’m reminded of my dear father, Jewel Marion Dyer, who knew well about the “winter seasons” in the springtime! Blackberry winter came so fiercely in Choestoe in May one year when I was small that we actually had snow (so he said; I was too young to remember snow in May!). Our cornfields had corn already up. The whole crop of corn had to be replanted that year, because he could not put a shield of protection on it like he did the growing plants in our garden. But Appalachian farmers had a way of “accepting with gratitude” what came, revamping, and started again. He told me he replanted his many acres of corn that year, and made a bumper crop! This, to me, is a great example of the last line of my poem, “We are guarded by God’s hand!” He gave my father an opportunity to try again; and the second effort was very successful!
Although we’ve had wet weather our temperatures have been mild, but I expect in the next couple of weeks we will have a cold spell of weather as the blackberries continue to bloom.
Last night’s videos: The Family History and Stories of Opal Corn Myers 16.
Tipper
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Beautiful poem ! Beautiful reminder ! Beautiful truth !
Snow in May. My Pa (born in ’94 in Swain County, NC) said that the worst snow storm he ever saw was in May when 17″ were measured in Raleigh. I don’t know the year but suspect it was in the ‘teens’, so over a hundred years ago.
I’ve seen snow in April in NC but it was only a skiff of it. I do remember a 27″ snow in Raleigh (some time between ’71 and ’82. That’s the deepest snow I ever experienced in the places I’ve lived, but I was in Alberta, CA, in ’88 and say snow over 6′ deep on the ground. Plowed roads showed how deep it was.
Lovely post, Tipper. Thank you. Truly, we are safe in God’s kind and capable hand.
I don’t know much about the different winters mentioned, but I do know and agree with the end of the poem, “We are guarded by God’s hand.”.
Happy you’ve been getting some rain. Hopefully it will also help with any wildfires still burning.
It’s so true and what a good reminder. He works everything for the good for those who love him. I’m having an experimenty kind of attitude in the garden right now and planting things much sooner than I usually do. I put out peas, lettuce, and spinach weeks sooner than normal and they’re coming on well, and I’ve got a bunch of flower seeds and my beans in the ground. So yesterday I was so itchy that I put out 2 mortgage lifter starts. I figure 2 won’t hurt much if they don’t make it. But now I see in next weekends forecast it’ll get down around 32 at night for a few days. Whoops! I’ll just replant anything lost on Mother’s Day like I always do!
I noticed white flowers of the blackberries are creeping up the mountain toward Scaly Mountain, as we drove back up from being out & about. The greening is so beautiful down around Clarksville, Ga. Still my trees have little to no leaves. However, it’s coming up the mountain toward Scaly. The kudzu is popping out on the banks, won’t be long before all the brown of winter is cloaked in beautiful lush green vines.
I remember one May when my parents had come up to Scaly back in the mid eighties and all the trees had new growth leaves and they woke up to snow covering and clinging to everything. My dad was so amazed he drove down the mountain & in to Franklin to the K Mart and bought a video camera to film all the beautiful scenery. I still have that VHS tape around here somewhere. Need to have it put in a CD. Not sure I want to see snow in May though this year.
We have been having some spring time showers this week (raining right now) after a couple of weeks of dry weather. I noticed on Monday of this week a farmer planting a large field of corn in dust and stirring up a dust cloud. I have heard the different names for the spring time winters. My Daddy (1922-1991) always said there will usually be a cold spell around Easter and once the blackberries are blooming you are pretty well safe from frost. Easter has come and gone, and the blackberries have been blooming for about 2 weeks , so I guess winter is now gone.