February

Poetry, Quotations, Lore
Sayings, Links, References
Ideas, Garden Chores

Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo

Months of the Year

On January 1, 2005 this February webpage was moved and is now updated at:
http://www.egreenway.com/months/monfeb.htm

Loud are the thunder drums in the tents of the mountains.
Oh, long, long
Have we eaten chia seeds
and dried deer's flesh of the summer killing.
We are tired of our huts
and the smoky smell of our clothing.

We are sick with the desire for the sun
And the grass on the mountain.

-  Paiute Late Winter Song

Keep your faith in beautiful things;
in the sun when it is hidden,
in the Spring when it is gone.
-   Roy R. Gibson

Rich meanings of the prophet-Spring adorn,
Unseen, this colourless sky of folded showers,
And folded winds; no blossom in the bowers;
A poet's face asleep in this grey morn.
Now in the midst of the old world forlorn
A mystic child is set in these still hours.
I keep this time, even before the flowers,
Sacred to all the young and the unborn.
-   Alice Meynell, In February

The name February is believed to have derived from the name 'Februa' 
taken from the Roman 'Festival of Purification'.  The root 'februo' meaning
to 'I purify by sacrifice'.  As part of the seasonal calendar February is the 
time of the 'Ice Moon' according to Pagan beliefs, and the period described 
as the 'Moon of the Dark Red Calf' by Black Elk.  February has also
been known as 'Sprout-kale' by the Anglo-Saxons in 
relation to the time the kale and cabbage was edible

-   Mystical WWW

Winter - Quotes for Gardeners

Late February, and the air's so balmy
snowdrops and crocuses might be fooled
into early blooming. Then, the inevitable blizzard
will come, blighting our harbingers of spring,
and the numbed yards will go back undercover.
In Florida, it's strawberry season—
shortcake, waffles, berries and cream
will be penciled on the coffeeshop menus.

-   Gail Mazur, The Idea of Florida During a Winter Thaw

Away in a meadow all covered with snow
The little old groundhog looks for his shadow
The clouds in the sky determine our fate
If winter will leave us all early or late.
-  Don Halley

The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places
in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.
-   Gertrude S. Wister

Still lie the sheltering snows, undimmed and white;
And reigns the winter's pregnant silence still;
No sign of spring, save that the catkins fill,
And willow stems grow daily red and bright.
These are days when ancients held a rite
Of expiation for the old year's ill,
And prayer to purify the new year's will:
-  Helen Hunt Jackson, A Calendar of Sonnet's: February

If apples were pears
And peaches were plums
And the rose had a different name.
If tigers were bears
And fingers were thumbs
I'd love you just the same.
-   Valentine's Day Songs and Poems

Wishing and wanting
to see you,
I step on thin ice.

-   Madoka Mayuzumi

February is merely as long as is needed to pass the time until March.
-   Dr. J. R. Stockton

Awakening,
I hear the truth--
grey rain on clay.

-  Michael P. Garofalo, Cuttings

Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle ...
a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl.  
And the anticipation nurtures our dream.
-   Barbara Winkler

The birds are gone, The ground is white,
The winds are wild, They chill and bite;  
The ground is thick with slush and sleet,  
And I barely feel my feet.

-  Winter Poems

I Welcome Your Comments, Ideas, Contributions, and Suggestions

Standing in a valley,
With the mist coming in,
Berries grow on the holly bushes.
Robins hide in snow-ridden woods.
If I could stay here, I would.

-   Bethan Williams

O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the spring shall blow
Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth.
-   John Davies, 1570-1626,  Ode to the West Wind.

Go to the winter woods: listen there, look, watch, and 
“the dead months” will give you a subtler secret than 
any you have yet found in the forest. 
-   Fiona Macleod, Where the Forest Murmurs

From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens -
the garden outdoors,
the garden of pots and bowls in the house,
and the garden of the mind's eye.
-  Katherine S. White

Seasons and Time

The day is ending,
The night is descending;
The marsh is frozen,
The river dead.

Through clouds like ashes
The red sun flashes
On village windows
That glimmer red.
-   Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Afternoon in February

I stood beside a hill
Smooth with new-laid snow,
A single star looked out
From the cold evening glow.

There was no other creature
That saw what I could see--
I stood and watched the evening star
As long as it watched me.
-  Sara Teasdale, February Twilight

Wan February with weeping cheer,
Whose cold hand guides the youngling year
Down misty roads of mire and rime,
Before thy pale and fitful face
The shrill wind shifts the clouds apace
Through skies the morning scarce may climb.
Thine eyes are thick with heavy tears,
But lit with hopes that light the year's.
-  Algernon Charles Swinburne, A Year's Carols: February

For all practical purposes nature is at a standstill... there is 
a wonderful joy in leaving behind the noisy city streets and 
starting out along the white road that leads across the hills. 
With each breath of the sharp, reviving air one seems to 
inhale new life.  A peace as evident as the sunshine on the 
fields takes possession of one's inner being.  The trivial 
cares which fretted like a swarm of mosquitoes are driven 
away by the first sweep of wind that comes straight from 
the mountains. ... The intense silence that broods over the 
snow-bound land is a conscious blessing. The deep blue of 
the sky and the purple shadows cast by the trees and plants 
are a feast to the eye. The crunch of the snow-rind beneath 
our feet and the varied hum of the telegraph wires overhead 
are music to our ears. 
-   Frances Theodora Parsons

Was it the smile of early spring
That made my bosom glow?
'Twas sweet, but neither sun nor wind
Could raise my spirit so.

Was it some feeling of delight,
All vague and undefined?
No, 'twas a rapture deep and strong,
Expanding in the mind!
-   Anne Bronte, In Memory of A Happy Day in February

   Grave stone
            Wearing a rosary
Christmas!

     Colour purple
        Dream burning,
        February's sea.
                            -   Sadayo Takizawa, Winter

Falling and rising - spheres of blackbirds.
            Coming and going - lines of geese.

                                        -  Michael P. Garofalo, Cuttings 

In tangled wreath, in clustered gleaming stars,
In floating, curling sprays,
The golden flower comes shining though the woods
These February days;
Forth go all hearts, all hands, from out the town,
To bring her gayly in,
This wild, sweet Princess of far Florida -
The yellow jessamine.
-  Constance Fenimore Woolson, Yellow Jessamine

Winter teaches us about detachment, numbness.  But it’s 
a way to get through.  From winter we learn silence and 
acceptance and the stillness thickens.
-   Gail Barison, The Winter Solstice of my Soul

There is a privacy about winter which no other season gives you… 
Only in winter…can you have longer, quite stretches when you can 
savor belonging to yourself. 
-   Ruth Stout,  How to Have a Green Thumb without an Aching Back

Candlemas' is the Christianized name for the holiday, of course.  The older Pagan
names were Imbolc and Oimelc. 'Imbolc' means, literally, 'in the belly' (of the Mother). 
For in the womb of Mother Earth, hidden from our mundane sight but sensed by a 
keener vision, there are stirrings. The seed that was planted in her womb at the 
solstice is quickening and the new year grows. 'Oimelc' means 'milk of ewes', for 
it is also lambing season.  The holiday is also called 'Brigit's Day', in honor of the 
great Irish Goddess Brigit.  At her shrine, the ancient Irish capitol of Kildare, a group 
of 19 priestesses (no men allowed) kept a perpetual flame burning in her honor. She
was considered a goddess of fire, patroness of smithcraft, poetry and healing 
(especially the healing touch of midwifery).
-  Daven's Journal - Imbolic

Out of the bosom of the Air, 
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken, 
Over the woodlands brown and bare, 
Over the harvest-fields forsaken, 
Silent, and soft, and slow 
Descends the snow.

-   Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Snowflakes

February

Links and References

An Annotated & Illustrated Collection of Worldwide Links to Mythologies,
Fairy Tales & Folklore, Sacred Arts & Sacred Traditions.   By Kathleen Jenks, Ph.D.

Ancient Origins of the Holidays  

Artemis

February - Links from Yahoo  

February Lore

February - Mystical World Wide Web  

February - Pagan Pathways

February - Poems, Quotes, Folklore, Ideas, Chores

Celebrating the Seasons

Chinese New Year   

Cold Mountain Buddhas

Cupid, Luperci, and the Valentine's Day Saints

Cuttings - February.   Haiku and short poems by Michael P. Garofalo.  

Epiphany Links and Resources

February Holiday Themes: Links and Ideas for Teachers   

German and German-American Customs, Traditions, and Origins of Holidays

Groundhog Day - February 2nd

Ground Hog Day Information Site

Groundhog Day Links - Open Directory  

Herbal Rituals - February

Holiday Insights  

Imbolic - Daven's Journal

Imbolic (Swelling Belly)

Lettuce in Winter.   Poems by Richard Bear.

Lupercalia - Roman Festival

Months - Quotes, Poems, Folklore, Links, Chores

Poems for a Long Winter's Night

Quotes for Gardeners.   Over 2,700 quotes arranged by over 130 topics.

Setsubun Kai Festival in Japan     Tendai Calendar

Spring  -  Quotes, Poems, Sayings and Quips for Gardeners

Traditional English Customs and Folktales of February

Valentine's Day Links - Open Directory

Winter and Snow Theme Page for Teachers

Winter - Books for Children

Winter Customs and Folklore in Austria

Winter Customs and Folklore in Germany

Winter - Quotes for Gardeners

Winter Poems for Children  

Winter Poetry

February Weather Lore

A wet February, a wet Spring.

Clichés for Gardeners

Weather Lore

If Candlemas be fair and clear,  there'll be two winters in the year.

If a hedgehog casts a shadow at noon, Winter will return.

“Février l’pu court éd chés moés, ch’est l’pire chint foés”.
February is the shortest month and by far the worst.

February Folklore

Astrological Signs:  Aquarius, January 20 - February 18

Astrological Signs:  Pisces,  February 19 - March 20

February  Birthstones:  Amethyst

February Garden Chores

Red Bluff, North Sacramento Valley, California, USA

USDA Zone 9

Typical Weather for Our Area

February Garden Activities and Chores in Red Bluff
USDA Zone 9

Browsing and ordering from seed and garden catalogs.  
Pruning leafless trees and shrubs.  
Weeding and tending the winter vegetable garden.  
Relax and read books from the library.  
The soil is usually too wet and cold for much digging.
Keeping cold sensitive potted plants in protected areas or indoors.
Making sure cuttings in protected areas do not dry out.
Repairing fences.  
Prune and mulch dormant perennials. 
Removing dead trees, shrubs, branches, and twigs.  
Enjoy the bulbs and rosemary in bloom.  
Repair and sharpen tools.  
Construct gardening boxes and flats.  
Keep hardwood cuttings moist.
Write a poem.   Keep a gardening journal.  
Fertilize with 20-9-9 or 15-15-15. 
Trees without leaves need little or no watering.
Take a walk in your garden.
Sit and observe.   

February Gardening Chores and Tips for U.S.A. Zones

Oak Hill February Tips - Georgia

Oregon State University February Tips

Earth Wise Creations February Tips - Zone 9

Seasonal Garden Chores - Links

Top Garden Projects for February in the Pacific Northwest by Ed Hume

52 Weeks in the California Garden by Richard Smaus

February Gardening Tips from Ortho 

Monthly Garden Tasks in an English County Garden

Winter Rose Care

February Gardening Chores - Links

The Garden Helper Tips for February - Northern U.S.

Fruits and Nuts - February Tips - Virginia

Gardening Tips - February - New York Botanical Garden

Master Gardeners Tips

More Quotes

for

Gardeners

Trees

Spirituality and Concerns of the Soul

Flowers

Weeds and Weeding

Simplicity and the Simple Life

Pulling Onions:  Quips and Observations of a Gardener
By Michael P. Garofalo

The Essence of Gardening

Working in the Garden

Garden Digest Links  

Green Way Weblog

Haiku Poetry  -  Links and Bibliography

Clichés for Gardeners and Farmers

Jokes, Riddles and Humor

The History of Gardening Timeline
From Ancient Times to the 20th Century

Short Poems by Michael P. Garofalo

Seeing and Vision

Beauty in the Garden

Seasons and Time

Awards and Recognition for this Web Site

Religion

The Mental and Spiritual Aspects of Gardening:
Bibliography and Resources

The Spirit of Gardening

Quotes for Gardeners

Quotes, Sayings, Proverbs, Poetry, Maxims, Quips, Clichés, Adages, Wisdom
A Collection Growing to Over 2,700 Quotes, Arranged by 130 Topics
Many of the Documents Include Recommended Readings and Internet Links.
Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo

Distributed on the Internet by Michael P. Garofalo

I Welcome Your Comments, Ideas, Contributions, and Suggestions
E-mail Mike Garofalo in Red Bluff, California

A Short Biography of Mike Garofalo

February  -  Quotes, Poems, Folklore, Customs, Garden Chores.
26 March 2003

This document was first distributed on the Internet in February 2002.
This document will be expanded and improved in 2003.

My Web Page Design Approach

February - Mirror Webpage   :::    February - Mirror Webpage

The Spirit of Gardening

Quotes for Gardeners

The History of Gardening Timeline

Seasons

Winter