Is it true?

The world is filled with myths, old wives' tales, folklore and superstitions.  Some of these are based on fact while others are merely based on fears.  Throughout the years, I have been warned, chided and otherwise advised about so many things that would fall in any one (or more) of the above categories.  At the moment with onset of what appears to be a severe winter for most of the country, I pondered a few of these folklore predictions. There is the superstition that for every foggy morning in August, there will be a snowy day in winter. Now there is a interesting idea.  I wish I would have counted the foggy days in August if there were any.  Our most memorable fogs are usually when the weather is a bit cooler than August which is perhaps our hottest part of summer.  Since I do not recall any foggy August morns, I am supposing we should not look for snow.  I do remember August as being a particularly wet month which was great for the garden!  Then we move on to the old wives' tale about pine cones.  Supposedly, the larger the cone...the colder the winter.  This is another one that we will have to chalk up as a dud.  The squirrels gnawed all of the pine cones before they were mature.  How in the world am I supposed to predict my winter without pine cones?  Early geese migration is another sign of a cold winter.  I do recall seeing a large flock of geese flying into the Bay area way back in the month of August.  At that time, it struck me as being odd.  As a rule, we do not see geese until late November but there they were!  

Now comes the tried and true method of predicting the severity of the coming winter.  Persimmon seeds!  There is a bit of folklore that mentions the cutting of seeds and the type of cutlery found within.  No, I do not mean that you will actually be able to supply your kitchen with all the silverware you need by simply chopping up some seeds but you may be able to decide if you need another blanket or two.  It seems that if you slice a persimmon seed open, there will be an image similar to a fork, knife or spoon found inside.  I decided to test at least that part.  I gathered a dozen or so seeds from under the wild persimmon tree.  With great care, I took out my sharpest knife and proceeded to carve away at that seed.  I would you to know that this was no easy task!  For you folks who have never seen a persimmon seed, they are flat.  Actually, they are about the size of a penny and I do believe they are just as hard!  Now just go try to slice a penny and you will see what I mean.  Anyway, it took several tries before I got the bright idea to trim the edge of the seed case.  Using my kitchen sheers, I snipped at the edge of the seed.  Once that was off, I was able to use the knife to slice the inner portion of the seed.  It was still quite hard so I really had to force the knife.  Finally after ruining six seeds beyond any use, I sliced one quite nicely in half!  Uh, oh.  Not good if I was expecting to be greeted with tidings of a mild winter.  This thing had a spoon shape inside.  That does not bode well for my garden!  You see, the different utensil shapes found inside the seed are supposed to indicate the weather for the upcoming winter.  A fork shows that the winter will be mild.  A knife represents a bitterly cold winter with winds that stab like knives.  A spoon represents the shovel..the kind used in scooping up lots of snow.  I cut three more seeds and found two knives and another spoon.  So, will we have a cold, snowy winter this year?  According to the persimmon seeds we had better gather more firewood!  The cold is coming!

Persimmon seed with the clear image of a spoon inside that indicates a snowy winter!

Actually, if you talk to anyone around here, they will tell you that I have been harping that we are going to have just such a winter.  How did I come up with this idea?  Earlier in the fall, I searched for Woolly Bears.  Those fuzzy red and black caterpillars that are supposed to be able to predict the severity of the winter.  These caterpillars have black bands on either end with a reddish band in the middle.  If that red colored band is narrow, the winter will be harsh.  Every Woolly Bear I found had a very thin band of red. Interestingly enough, the Woolly Bear predictions have proved to be around eighty percent accurate over the past fifty years or so.