Here at the Farmers’ Almanac we live and breathe weather. Overall, our predictions are calling for “fairly good” conditions for Memorial Day, but there’s always a chance that Mother Nature throws us a curve ball. Thus the risk you deal with when you work in the weather field.

But never fear! The Farmers’ Almanac is a never-ending resource for ideas and ways to turn a rainy parade into a sunny memory.

Here are some of our favorite suggestions on ways to celebrate the holiday indoors. (We’d love for you to share your ideas! Simply leave me a comment!)

1. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance. If the weather doesn’t cooperate and you have a household full of family, pull out the video camera. Sit your friends/family down individually, or as a group, and interview them for historical/remembrance purposes. Having a family member talk about the past is a great record to have. If an elderly grandparent is available, it would be a good time to get them talking about the family tree. If young children are there, ask them questions about today – their favorite color, song, friend – and then be sure to re-interview them a year later and see if their answers are the same.

2. Picture Day! Declare Memorial Day a day to go through old photos (and/or watch old family videos) organizing them and perhaps putting them into albums. Share pictures with friends and family members. Better yet, have friends bring baby pictures and play – name that baby with them.

3. Who’s afraid of a little mud? So it’s raining, but if it’s warm and you’re not afraid of the mud, go outside! Maybe a mudslide football game will be more fun the original poolside plans! Go ahead – get dirty.

4. History day. Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died serving our country in the military. It was called “Decoration Day” because people used to visit graves of service people and decorate the graves with wreaths, flowers, etc. Use this day to learn more about US history and/or wars. If you’re crafty, decorate a wreath or poster with some interesting facts.

5. Inside picnics. Lay the blanket out in the family room, and enjoy your picnic foods indoors (you won’t have to worry about any ants visiting!).

Got a good idea? Share a comment here!
Technorati Tags:
rainy day ideas, memorial day activities, indoor holiday plans

by sduncan
No Comments »

The gardening season is just about here. I’m getting ready to plant our vegetable garden which has done very well in years past, but it has also been known to be very productive in weeds (if only we could eat them)! This year I’m going to try to stay ahead of the game.

Anyway, as I map out the garden this season, I started thinking about what our most favorite vegetable is to grow. While I love the fresh taste of tomatoes, they are not my favorite plants in the garden. The plants usually need some type of staking or else the tomatoes grow on the ground and get rotten before you pick them, so they’re good and will be a part of the garden, but they’re not my favorite.

Cucumbers are up there - we love to eat them and usually, if the summer weather doesn’t get too hot or dry, we can get a great harvest of fresh, tasty cucumbers.

But I think at our house the favorite vegetable to grow has to be zucchini, and it’s not because we love to eat zucchini bread. Over the past few years, we have grown some of the biggest, baddest zucchinis we’ve ever seen! Some are the size of small baseball bats! I’m not joking! We’ve gone away for a few days and come back to GIANT green zucchinis in our garden. I must admit these giants usually end up in the compost, but they are great for some laughs (and sometimes we even use them as bats with soft balls!).

What’s your favorite veggie to grow?
Technorati Tags:
favorite vegetables, vegetables to grow, planting advice, zucchini

by sduncan
1 Comment »

1. Harvest your vegetable plants often. The more you pick tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash, the more they’ll grow.
2. Place freshly picked, green tomatoes in a brown paper bag to ripen. (Contrary to what many people believe, its temperature, not sunshine, that makes tomatoes turn red).
3. Animal pests don’t like strong-smelling plants. Surround your garden with marigolds, zinnias, or wormwood. Sneaky yet easy: To keep small animals out of your garden, cut an old hose in three-foot lengths. Place the pieces around your garden. These fake snakes will scare away small animals.
4. Plant dill near tomato plants to prevent tomato worms. It works.
5. Start seeds in eggshell halves. It’s economical and earth-friendly. Fill shell 3/4ths of the way to top with planting soil and seed, then store in egg cartons. This will keep the shell safe and allow you to easily carry the seedlings to sunnier locations or out to the garden. When ready to plant, leave the seedling in the shell. The roots will break through and the decomposed shell will act as a fertilizer.
6. When choosing annuals, bigger isn’t always better. When shopping at your local greenhouse, choose the plant that is well proportioned, not the tall one that has become root bound. Watch out for signs of insects or diseases.
7. Sprinkling the lawn out of habit is wasting a natural resource and money, too. A healthy lawn will signal it’s thirsty when walking on it makes footprints.
8. Some vegetable gardeners use newspapers as a mulch when cold weather threatens. This practice is ecologically good but don’t use the colored sheets. They contain harmful chemicals.
9. Position garden stakes so the wind blows plants toward the supports, not away from them.
10. To catch slugs, put a dish of beer in the garden at night. They will desert the plants and drown in the brew.

Technorati Tags:
Farmers’ Almanac top ten, Farmers’ Almanac gardening advice, gardening hints, top ten gardening tips,

by sduncan
No Comments »

Did you know that a cyclone and a hurricane are the same type of storm, with different names. In the Western Pacific, they are also called typhoons, and around Australia they are known as willy-willys.

What about tornadoes?

In terms of overall size, a tornado is much smaller storm system which meteorologists suspect evolve from the rotation of clouds associated with severe thunderstorms. While a hurricane can attain a diameter of 300 to 500-miles, a tornado is generally less than a mile in diameter. However, while the peak wind gust in a hurricane can reach perhaps 200 miles per hour (in the most extreme case), the most extreme tornado winds have been estimated to reach to over 300 miles per hour!

Technorati Tags:
cyclone, hurricane, tornado, weather definitions

by sduncan
7 Comments »