September 12, 2024
When Planet Earth was young, it was hit by something (something big!) which knocked it off its polar axis. Because of that collision, and the ensuing tilt, we have seasons - and it’s also widely believed that the debris from that collision eventually became our beloved moon.
The earth spins on its axis, one revolution every 24 hours, and that gives us night and day. But at the same time, Earth is also orbiting the sun. That off kilter rotation, which takes 365.24 days to complete, changes the amount of daylight we get each day over the course of the year. If our planet hadn’t been knocked off balance, we wouldn’t have seasons here in New England. The amount of daylight we’d receive each day would be the same throughout the year, much like it is at the equator. Seriously? What would New England be like without seasons?
As Earth rotates on its tilted poles, we in the northern hemisphere are now, once again, being tipped farther and farther away from the sun. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that this lopsided planet, which I truly adore, is spinning 67,100 MPH, and tilting, as I go about my daily chores. But the seasons are indeed starting to change, and try as I might, I can’t really ignore it much longer. Some of our maple trees have already prepared for winter by shutting off the chlorophyl to their leaves. Since chlorophyll is what makes the leaves appear green, we are now beginning to see the trees’ true colors.
As the length of our day continues to shorten, it will also trigger the hormones that bring on breeding season for deer and our sheep. The breeding season is known as “the rut” which appropriately comes from the Latin word “to roar”. The males will soon be experiencing peak testosterone – and stupidity. Deer are far more likely to step into traffic, or take down our electric fencing, as they apparently have other things on their minds.
Our sheep will start breeding in October and start having lambs in March. Pigs, like humans (in more ways than one), have no breeding season. They can procreate regardless of the season, so their testosterone and stupidity levels remain fairly consistent throughout the year.
Young male coyote pups are now being chased out of their parents’ territory. It’ll take them a couple of months to find their new forever home and locate a lifelong mate.
Our chickens will soon start laying fewer eggs, as the pineal glands behind their eyes detect the shorter day length and instinctively, chickens know better than to raise chicks in the winter.
The shorter days will also mean that Anne and I have less daylight to get everything done, which needs to get done, before our orbit tilts us even further away from the sun.