I have a curious mind and I like to know how nature works in balance so well. Growing up my grandparents (who only lived 2 houses away) always had a copy of The Farmer’s Almanac sitting by the front door and it was interesting to see how what was predicted in this little brown book would relate to the actual weather and crop success of the year. Did you ever wonder how this information could be predicted? I’ve been learning the secrets recently as I’ve been reading The Weather Detective.
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Dutton Publishing kindly sent me a copy of The Weather Detective: Rediscovering Nature’s Secret Signs by Peter Wohlleben (translated by Ruth Ahedzai Kemp), and I’m really loving this little book! It may be small in size, but it’s huge in information! And the more I read, the more I want to learn!
I started reading this book out of a general interest, but I am going to make The Weather Detective required reading for my children in a few years because it is just so interesting and useful. In the meantime, I’ve been sharing little excerpts with them and Tristan, in particular, is keen to read it right away, and I certainly won’t stop him! He can pick out which experiments/observations he’d like to set up and work on.
Find out how rain and hail forms, and how you can tell from the colour of the clouds if rain is impending or if the clouds will simply pass overhead and continue on their fluffy way.
You may notice that some flowers open up during the day, but close at night or when rain is impending…why is this? How do they do it? The reasons are fascinating.
We live semi-rurally, and it always surprises me how much wildlife there is around; even if I don’t see it myself, friends and neighbours share their experiences and photographs with me. Even if you live in the centre of a city, you are sure to see songbirds nearby, and perhaps a fox or skunk in the city park if there is a river nearby. You may be tempted to help wildlife by feading them or rescuing birds and animals if you think they need help…but is this always the wise thing to do? In some cases, yes, but in other cases, no.
If you have a veggie or flower garden you will probably want to know about they type of soil it has, whether it has good drainage, and what minerals are high or are depleted and need to be replenished. Most people will simply go out and purchase some compost or fertilizer and think it’s job done…but that could be causing more problems in the long run! Find out how to test your soil and how to use natural ways of rejuvenating it.
You will also find how some ways that people have tried to use nature in ways that have ultimately backfired and wreaked havoc on the ecosystems.
Yes, this book is about more than just weather, it’s a whole little universe of its own as it discusses much more than simply weather, although it does talk about how the weather affects all these areas of nature. I have found it quite an interesting read during this extended heat wave that has hit the Emerald Isle (now looking more brown than green). As I mentioned earlier, each day that I read this book, I would share little pieces of information with the kids as it is information that should be shared, not hoarded. In a world that is evermore turning more digital and automated, there is still a lot to be learned from nature, and if we don’t share it, then it will become a lost art.
The Weather Detective will make a good gift for farmers, gardeners, or nature enthusiasts of any kind, and it can also be used as a textbook from which you can then jump off and create your own experiments to test out the knowledge imparted within the covers.
Where to Purchase The Weather Detective
The Weather Detective: Discovering Nature’s Secret Signs is available on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, as well as on Penguin Random House and fine bookstores everywhere.
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