Chapter 11: Speak the language of the Mountains.
As a child who grew up with farmers all around, I heard a lot of “weather lore” about predicting the weather of the seasons. “If the woolly worms center stripe was wide and brown it would be a mild winter.” “If it rained on Easter Sunday it would rain for the next seven Sundays.” A favorite of mine was always, “when a silver maple showed its ‘underwear’ rain was coming.” meaning when the tree’s leaves were curving to show their underside, the rain was on the way. After moving to Colorado I learned a prediction from someone who had moved from Alaska about Fireweed, a bright fuschia flower that blooms from the bottom of the flower upward in increments. The Alaskan legend is that once the fireweed blooms at the top of the flower, it will be six weeks until winter.
Ben Franklin once said, “Some people are weather wise and some are otherwise.” Being able to judge the weather from naturally occurring plants or animal behaviors is being weather-wise. It is observation at its best. The naturalists and farmers who determined these patterns observed the world around them and found links between the behavior and the resulting weather. More often than not, these patterns are accurate. I remember a summer where the fireweed started blooming early and by the first week of August was blooming at the top of the flower. In six weeks, we had cold and frost. Not snow, and not full-on winter, but a significant change in the weather.
Speaking the language of the mountains is having the ability to read and interpret the patterns of nature. Being able to judge how long until sunset using your stretched out hand and counting how many fingers (15 minutes per finger) there are between the sun and the horizon is more useful than you may imagine. In the mountains, when the sun sets, it gets cold! It can go from being sunny and warm to cold and dark quickly. Taking the time to learn about the way the air smells or feels, how birds are flying or not flying, or watching what animals are doing can save your life. My dad used to say that if birds suddenly quiet and hide, a storm was coming and they were in their nests to stay safe and dry. However, if you see a bird out while it’s raining, it means it will rain all day and that the bird has decided there’s no sense trying to keep dry. Animals and plants have so much to say if we are willing to listen.
When I think about speaking the language of the mountains, it means being so connected with the mountains that the message is understood and received. If you have ever heard another language being spoken and have had no concept of what is being said, you have no connection with the language. It is the same as the language of the mountains. If you are so intune with your environment that the words and lessons of the animals and plants are understood, your connection will be complete and your respect for the language of the mountains will guide you.
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