Many moons ago, when I was researching festivals from around the world, I came across Plough Monday, which is the first Monday after Twelfth Night, I was a little baffled at the time as very little ploughing takes place in the Winter nowadays. Any celebration past or present usually marks a significant occasion, for a very long time Plough Monday was seen as the start of the agricultural year, the day to start ploughing. In reality little ploughing is thought to have taken place on Plough Monday itself, it was more usually the start of mischievousness on the part of the ploughmen, who would variously dress up, sing and dance, often in disguise, in their hunt for work. It was also a time for ceremonies to wish for a plentiful harvest. The Church held its own ceremony on Plough Sunday, when a plough would be blessed and a good harvest prayed for, a service that in some areas has continued to this day.
I gave little thought to this change until I read more recently that it has had a dramatic albeit largely un-noticed effect. Nowadays most land is ploughed in the Autumn, pretty much straight after harvesting, the land gets no rest. Ploughing in winter gave the land a pause, a rest, a chance to recover and increase its fertility as the stubble rotted down. Not only does the land get a rest but the stubble is a food source for a whole ecosystem of fauna, I have read that a stubble field is like a giant bird table. The decline in seed eating birds that spend some or all of their time in the UK, such as skylarks and yellowhammers, is thought to be related to this change. We all know that ecosystems are complex, like a spiders web, if you pull on one of the threads it will start to gently unravel.
I am sure that there are many more subtle changes like this, not only in agriculture but in other industries too, which have effected ecosystems without us really noticing. I have read about moths being so abundant in the evenings that you would have to clean your windscreen if you drove after dark. I am remember this as a small child.
My children and their generation will never know what things were like in the past unless we talk and write about them. I am glad that there is a proliferation of nature writing describing events such as moth snowstorms. I am also glad that in the past year the environment has been talked about so much. Whether or not I agree with what people are saying, or the actions they are making, I very much hope that the environment will stay centre stage for the coming year too. That policies in our home countries will be made that lessen our impact on the natural world. The fires in Australia, the Brazilian Amazon and California are so difficult for those of us who live in cold wet places to imagine. They are devastating, destructive and have the potential to destroy ecosystems and make some animals extinct.
It would be so easy for us to become completely demoralised, to live in fear of it all being too late to do anything and that we are all doomed. I refuse to believe this is so, and live in hope that we can all make a difference, however big or small the changes to our lives we make, we are all activists with the decisions and choices that we make every day. We need to be mindful of our impact on the environment as we go about our daily lives.
Do you have hope too?
I think we're all becoming more aware of the world around us and our impact on it and that can only be a good thing, providing we're willing to make changes to our lifestyles, no matter how small, it really can make a difference. Interesting about Plough Monday, I saw a farmer ploughing his field last week and commented to Mick that it was odd to see that at this time of year. You're right, this activity has definitely shifted, it seemed out of place to be seeing this in January.
ReplyDeleteIt is about making changes and it doesn't matter how small they all have an impact. It is the little things that add up to the big things.
DeleteWe all need hope and we can all do a bit to help. If everyone did just a small amount, we could achieve wonderful things. Idealistic, yes.
ReplyDeleteI try to do what I can.
Best wishes
Ellie
We do and if we stop having hope and stop believing that we can make a difference that I will start to worry.
DeleteAs I said in my recent post HOPE is something we need plenty of just now if we are to save our beautiful planet but not only hope we also need action. I hope that more people will come to understand the situation as it seems there are many who don't believe in the seriousness of the planet's position. Sometimes I feel saddened and demoralised that there seems to be so little we cand achieve in time but then hope springs eternal when I see how many people do actually do care and believe we need to make canges if we are to prevent extinctions of so many creatures and even humankind and that if we do make the changes necessary then Nature will do the rest as shown in Isabella Tree's book Wilding.
ReplyDeleteI am loving reading Isabella Tree's book its amazing what they have achieved despite the ridiculous bureaucracy. I try not to feel sad and look for the inspiration and the good things that folks are doing.
DeleteI do have hope overall. We raised our kids to enjoy nature and the environment and I think they value the planet. My dad instilled in my the same values and I look fondly on his 'nature' education he gave me and my sister when we were little!
ReplyDeleteI really think this is the key Karen, we have a duty to pass on our knowledge to all young people don't we and we can carry that on even when our own children are grown.
DeleteYes, we can try to do our own bit.
ReplyDeleteBut, why are places like China, where they do not care at all, not talked of???
When will someone say something, about countries like China?
The Eco Warriors march around in _free_ countries, hollering vitriol, at these _free_ countries. As if these _free_ countries, bear all the blame.
When will they direct some of their hollering, at a place like China? Where paradoxically, they would not even be allowed to march, or to holler?
Why?
I haven't agreed with all the actions that climate activists have taken but I am glad that their actions have put the environment into the minds of people the world over. I am not aware of all the actions that are taken in my own country that are having positive or negative actions on the natural world but I know there are many of each. None of us likes to be told what to do, least of all by someone who is not following their own commands. Personally I don't feel it would be appropriate to be suggesting to other countries in the world what they should be doing when our own house is not in order by any stretch of the imagination.
DeleteI do have hope....I cling to it because I can't bear the alternative.
ReplyDeleteWe used to live in farm country...so many of the practices of Big Ag have slowly, steadily depleted the ecosystems. In winter, we could see wind erosion of the soil on the snow from fields left with no vegetative cover. It was utterly demoralizing. I remember birds and insects from my childhood which I rarely see these days. Even the swallow populations dropped dramatically in the seven years we lived in our old house. :( And the bats....oh, I could go on.
But yes, I have hope. And my actions will speak louder than my words as I work to create haven and sanctuary in this new place. I'm not much one for marching and shouting anymore, but I can plant a native wildflower and build a bee-hotel. :) xoxo
I am not a marcher or a shouter either but like you I can create my havens in the spaces that are near and dear to me. I am glad that you too have hope amidst all the doom and gloom.
DeleteI noticed the signs for plough Sunday at our local church. Jersey has a big potato industry and it is the next few weeks that we see the fields ploughed and seeded with potatoes. Definitely ploughing happening here on plough Monday. I have that lovely hymn ‘We Plough The Fields....in my head now. We sang it so often in school assemblies. B x
ReplyDeleteSo lovely to hear that there are still some places that leave ploughing until now. I remember that song from school assemblies!
DeleteThank you for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. I too have hope. I try to not be distressed by the daily news of calamities although that can be difficult to do, especially as I have family in Australia, California, and friends all over the world who are impacted by so many natural disasters. I try to focus on what I can do--I've always lived as sustainably as possible but see it differently these days--instead of doing it just as a personal philosophy, I see my actions now as part of the whole, and how each choice I make has consequences beyond my little sphere. I am not usually a marcher, although I did take part in the Women's March in DC in 2017 because I objected so strongly to this president. Generally though, I act as an individual, not as part of a "movement."
ReplyDeleteHello and welcome! I think that I am more of an individual than part of a movement although there is a part of me that would love to me part of one but I am not sure what it would look like. I think that what you have said about the consequences of our actions is so important. If we don't consider their wider impact then we are not being sustainable.
DeleteI've just discovered your lovely blog (I'm a great fan of home schooling) and yes I have Hope too, as I would hate for my grandchildren to look back at how we ruined the world for them without trying to do anything. I can only do things in a small way - but will keep trying.
ReplyDeleteI did a Plough Monday post last year so didn't mention it this year. There certainly wouldn't have been any ploughing with their giant tractors and implements this January - MUCH too wet! Back in the days of horse power ploughing would have taken much longer - going on for several months and the horses would have worked on muddy fields without getting stuck or doing soil damage.
I'm adding your blog to my reading list and look forward to your round-up posting.
Hello and welcome. I don't think it matters how small our actions are as all the small actions add up. It has been a very wet January hasn't it the big heavy tractors would get very bogged down. Perhaps we should consider going back to horse power it strikes me that it is far more sustainable.
DeleteIt seems to have taken a very long time for these matters to be talked about again. During the seventies people were aware - as students we were actively involved in trying to be ecologically aware -we had a 'no plastic' kitchen back then - somehow during the Thatcher years everything changed and capitalism brought about a selfishness and greed. I only hope this time around more is done and the government will take notice. It is never too late for most things though there are more and more species becomming extinct.
ReplyDeleteIt agree it has taken a long time for these matters to be talked about. I don't want to believe it is too late, I just hope the conversation carries on for a long time and is converted into action as well.
DeleteThanks for this thoughtful post and it's interesting to read about Plough Monday. I have days when I feel so weighed down by what we're doing to our planet and not beginning to comprehend how we can come back from it all, when it seems like not only is it business as usual, but it's more business than ever and profit over people, and plastic swamping shelves, and people blinded by not thinking about future generations. But when I feel that weight, I have to take a deep breath and remind myself of all the incredible things that are happening and to feel empowered by this. And so yes, I do have hope, though sometimes it gets clouded. I think community action is key and all of us (especially people who aren't normally that way inclined) being in nature as much as possible so we feel that desire to save it.
ReplyDeleteThis exactly how I feel some days Bex and I feel that holding on to hope is so important. I feel so strongly that when we start to lose hope we are not in a good place at all.
DeleteYes, we do need to hang onto hope. Sp many people are making changes now, especially re plastics, there does seem to be a growing awareness of what we are doing to the planet and the creatures that live on it. Here's to environmental issues staying in the news. Great post.xxx
ReplyDeleteThank you. Yes I do hope that the issues stay in the news for as long as possible.
DeleteHello, I thought I posted a comment already but it seems to have got swallowed somewhere in cyberspace :-) Thank you for this thoughtful post. I had never heard of Plough Monday - so interesting, and also to hear from some of your commenters pockets of this tradition still exist. I think this is such an important conversation to be having - how we stay hopeful in a world in which we are presented with a daily barrage of hopelessness. My hope often feels clouded (more on some days than others), yet as a human being and mother (and probably grandmother one day), I feel like it's my moral duty to keep the heart of hope beating through my actions and the way I interact with others and the planet.
ReplyDeleteSorry that might have been me not publishing it!
DeleteNo probs, I have 2 splurges of thoughts on your post now instead of one 😆
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