It’s getting serious folks. Farmers and gardeners need rain for their crops. In fact, rainfall may come too late to positively affect many of the crops that have been planted since May and June.
I pray by the time you read this column our entire state will be able to get a slow rainfall over the course of several days or a week. Quick rains, most times, simply run off as quickly as they come down and erode the soil. Slow rains tend to sink directly into the soil they land on.
My late father was a farmer. If he were alive today, he would probably say that most of the corn crops in many areas are doomed because of the effect of the drought. Although tobacco can take hot weather better than most crops, it still needs water to grow. I’m afraid much of the tobacco I see in the area has been hurt from the lack of it.
Will these crops come out of their drought-laden stupor and make a good harvest? Maybe. But rain is needed now.
Some of you readers may not understand why this is so important. Many of you only see the tobacco crops in the fields and think that crop is not important to your health and vitality. You’re right, but the crop also keeps many farmers in business.
The corn and cotton crops are extremely important, too. So are pastures that aren’t getting rain. They are drying up so cattle owners will instead have to buy feed to keep their herds healthy. That means higher costs for owners, and when you go to the supermarket those extra costs will appear on the meat you buy.
It’s the same with gardeners who may lose their squash, zucchini, string beans and other crops. If these crops become scarce, they will cost more at the cash register. You’ll see more inflation in an already inflation-fueled economy.
We have a serious situation and from my end I will pray for relief. I encourage all our readers to do the same. I’m even thinking about hanging a dead snake belly-up on the nearest green corn stalk I can find.
Yes, you read that correctly. Growing up in rural eastern North Carolina I heard many old wives’ tales that dealt with the weather. When we experienced droughts back in the 1950s and ’60s (yes, we had hot times back then, too), it was common practice to see a snake hanging belly-up from a fence post, a corn stalk, or in some other way as long as it was hung up in the air.
I am guilty of the practice, and in some instances it worked. In others it didn’t. So please know that I’m not advocating that anyone go out and kill a snake to hang it aloft. I’m not telling you not to either.
While thinking about the snake as a rainmaker I wondered what Google would say about it. Sure enough, I found a story on Wideopenspaces.com (wideopenspaces.com/dead-snake-hung-from-a-tree/) about that very thing.
Written by Craig Raleigh, it was titled “Dead Snake Hung From a Tree: What is It Meant to Do, and Does It Work?” Raleigh calls the practice “a lesser-known custom,” but it wasn’t lesser known to us growing up in eastern North Carolina. Raleigh takes the custom lightly and so do I. I think it adds a little comical side to, in our case, a serious situation.
Raleigh’s story of the snake differs some from mine. He says once the “dead snake” is hung on a “tree limb, then it will rain within three days.” In my world, we hung that sucker up and hoped for rain the next day. The story went on to say “that some Native Americans believed that killing a snake and hanging it is thought to be a gift to the Gods that helped fight the Ro-qua-ho, an ancient lizard known for its bloodthirsty behavior, while others considered it to be a bad thing making the celestials angry, thereby making it rain.”
That part I’d never heard before. Our forefathers here in the east didn’t explain many of their customs to us. We were instructed to simply hang up any snake we might kill belly-up. We did — on anything that it would hang on without rolling off. Raleigh went over several other interesting things about the snake custom. Be sure to read the full story at the website link mentioned above.
This custom is the only one I’ve heard that will ensure rain to come. However, there are other old wives’ tales that are said to be predictors of weather. For example, when leaves on plants start curling up, it’s said that rainfall is there about. I looked at the leaves on my tomatoes and pepper plants today. I didn’t see them curling.
Cows supposedly lie down or gather in a group when rain is on the way. I’ve never seen this tale put into practice. I stay away from cows now. I tried, as a young boy, to milk my grandfather’s cow, named Helen, and it was a disaster. So I’ve left cows of all kinds to other folks even though I love that ice cream at The Creamery in Greene County.
Finally, I was taught early that most of our weather begins in the west or southwest. I always view the west when I’m out and about. That’s usually where the darkest clouds and most potent weather comes from. Interestingly, this tip has authority from the King James Bible. Luke 12:54 reads, “And he said also to the people, ‘When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is.’”
I’ll continue to look west and pray for rain. I won’t be snake hunting!
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