The popular wisdom of Tuscan agrarian proverbs
February is just beginning and the ancient folk wisdom, linked to the rural world, reminds us that this month has always been considered crucial and determinative for months to come.
"February's Rain fills the barn", in fact it is a saying with which farmers hoped this month with its rains, frosts and snowfalls closed the winter season.
Why you ask? Because for the success of the harvest, the month of February should always be cold and rainy with abundant snowfalls. The cold, in fact, prevents the seed to grow outwards forcing him to work his way under the ground where it is warmer, allowing it to result in a strengthening of the root system.
That is why it is to be hoped that the frosts arrive in March, threatening to undermine the crops and burning, too cold, the plants that begin to emerge from the soil.
Proverbs are a great wealth of folk wisdom that have dictated for many centuries, and maybe they do even today, the rhythms of daily life of farmers.
For those who have the curiosity, Paolo Nanni and Piero Luigi Pisani have edited the book "Proverbi Agrari Toscani" a collection that delves into them to better know them. We just have to learn!
