September, time to celebrate our labors, time to go back to school; a gateway month with sundown walking backwards, occurring earlier each day.  This month gives us our first intimations that winter is, indeed coming.  September has been designated: National Mushroom Month, Healthy Aging Month, National Piano Month, National Organic Harvest Month, Biodiversity Month, Classical Music Month, Honey Month, Hispanic Heritage Month (By Presidential Proclamation in 1989), National Yoga Awareness Month, World Animal Remembrance Month, and Better Breakfast Month.

    There are some important environmental observation days in September:  Conservation Week  (second full week) and Clean up the World Weekend (third weekend), an annual environmental campaign.  Coastal Cleanup Day (third Saturday) highlights the California Coastal Commission's year ‘round Adopt-A-Beach program; World Rivers Day (last Sunday) and World Water Monitoring Day (September 18) emphasize the importance of water to our world.  National Hummingbird Day (first Saturday), Fish Amnesty Day (fourth Saturday), International Rabbit Day (fourth Saturday), and National Wildlife Day (Sept 4) remind us that we share this world with an amazing variety of creatures both similar and dissimilar to ourselves, as well as the world community of plants, also celebrated by National Threatened Species Day (Sept 7), encouraging us to help conserve unique native fauna and flora.  In 1994, the UN General Assembly proclaimed Sept. 16 the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, commemorating the 1987 signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.  World Carfree Day (always Sept 22) is a showcase for how our cities might look, feel and sound without cars, and Public Lands Day, involves citizen volunteers in cleaning and maintaining nearby public lands.

We also celebrate people in September, with Labor Day (first Monday), Grandparents’ Day (first Sunday after Labor Day), Swap Ideas Day (Sept 10), Family Day and Stepfamily Day (Sept 16), Citizenship Day (Sept 16), Native American Day  (4th Friday in Sept), and  National Good Neighbor Day (Sept 28).  Some birthdays we celebrate this month are Jane Addams (born Sept 6, 1860), pioneer settlement social worker, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in women's suffrage and world peace, “Grandma Moses” (born Sept 7, 1860), Anna Mary Robertson Moses, a renowned American folk artist, "Johnny Appleseed" Johnny Chapman (born Sept 26, 1774),  American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as the northern counties of present day West Virginia, and Chinese philosopher Confucius (born Sept 28, 551 BCE), whose birthday is also called Teacher’s Day.

    There are many simple-lifestyle-appropriate week-long celebrations this month, including: National Simplify Your Life Week and World Breastfeeding Week, both held annually on the first week in August.  These can only make us smile, so it is a happy coincidence that National Smile Week occurs during the second week.  It’s a good thing Be Kind to Humankind Week happens on the last week, because Shark Week (on Television) also occurs in August.  We hope the Sharks are paying attention!

    If the Sharks didn’t get their Simple Lifestyle Calendars we have International Forgiveness Day and Friendship Day on the first Sunday of August.  That forgiveness also can be extended to Hiroshima Day (Aug. 6) and Nagasaki Day (Aug. 9), sad anniversaries of the world’s first deployed atomic bombs.  Before Dog Days end (Aug. 11) make sure and sample some juicy fruit to combat the sultry heat on National Watermelon Day (Aug. 3).

    August is the perfect time to capture our youthful energy; check out how your meter is running on International Youth Day (always Aug. 12).  If your energy is high (or if it’s not and you want to generate more) check out the Perseid Meteor Showers Peak (Aug. 12-13), when the earth moves through a sun-circling comet trail whose dust produces an average of 50-100 meteors per hour.  Though not as visible this year due to the full Super Moon (Aug. 10 - Full Sturgeon or Grain Moon in the American backwoods tradition), this show is definitely worth arising at 4am to view the miraculous skies.

    I teased my younger brother for years for being a ‘Lefty,’ so he enjoys his revenge on August 13, International Lefthander's Day, where special attention is paid to actions, tasks, and people who lead with their left hand.  I don’t know if he was lefthanded or not, but I admire the spunk of American Orville Wright, born on August 19th, 1871 (also known as Aviation Day), who with his brother Wilbur is credited with inventing and building the first successful airplane.  Another notable August birthday is that of Mother Teresa (born Aug. 27, 1910).  I was introduced to Mother T. in 1983 and witnessed first-hand her miraculous bond with children in her Calcutta, India orphanage.  She spent her life taking care of those she lovingly called “the poorest of the poor,” and we honor her on this day.

    August 29 is not only More Herbs, Less Salt Day, but John the Baptist Day, preparer of souls for the ministry of Jesus who was beheaded Aug. 29, 30 A.D.  I’m sure he would advise during the month of August to stay calm and clear-headed (in other words, "Don't lose your head!).

    Finally May has arrived, with rising temperatures and rapidly greening forest understory, all eagerly anticipated.  In conjunction with this general rebirth, May's calendar has many week-long celebrations and spring-related special days.  Be Kind to Animals, National Pet, and Wildflower Weeks all occur annually on the first week in May.  Working on the ASPI nature trails during this first week, I noticed an incredible variety of wildflowers peeking through just before the trees fully leaf-out (note Tisha Weaver's wildflower photographs on 4/10/14).  The Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata), a native of North American woodlands, is plentiful along all our trails, forming gorgeous carpets of 6-inch tall plants in a wide variety of purple shades with white and yellow markings.  Within 20 steps I saw at least 3 color varieties of this iris, and it certainly merits an upclose on-your-knees examination to enjoy the intricate details.  Interspersed with these are Mayapples (which will produce a dangling "apple" later in the spring), Trillium sessile, Daisy Fleabane, Rue Anemone, Crooked Stem Aster, Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla - named for Thomas Jefferson), Black-eyed Susan, Virginia Bluebells (especially down on the river plain), and many, many more.  Beneath our largest limestone outcropping I was happy to discover several patches of Red or Eastern Columbine, a beautiful, native wildflower that blooms with striking 1.5 inch red and yellow flowers held on long stems.  Unless one experiences it, it is hard to describe the surprise, wonder and joy of discovering wildflowers.  Feels like a gift from the universe!

    Notable May birthdays marked on the Simple Lifestyle Calendar are Mary Harris Jones, called "Mother Jones", born May 1st, 1837.  She was an American labor and community organizer; Florence Nightingale, born May 12, 1820 was an English social reformer celebrated as the founder of modern nursing.  During the Crimean War, she and a team of nurses improved unsanitary conditions at a British base hospital, reducing the death count by two-thirds.  She spent her night rounds giving personal care to the wounded soldiers and thus became known as the 'Lady with the Lamp' and 'The Angel of Crimea.'  Her writings sparked worldwide health care reform;  Ralph Waldo Emerson, born May 25, 1803, wrote poems and gave lectures afterward published in essay form.  These essays, particularly “Nature” (1836), embodied his newly developed philosophy which became known as the Transcendentalist movement;  Rachel Louise Carson, born on May 27, 1907 was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose writings, particularly the book Silent Spring, helped promote the global environmental movement;  Walt Whitman, born May 31, 1819, worked as a journalist, teacher, government clerk, and volunteer nurse during the American Civil War.  His poetry was controversial in its time, but he is now considered a major American poet and is called the father of free verse.  

    We also note assorted spring-related special days, such as Bike-to-Work Day on the third Friday of May; World Migratory Bird Day is a two-day event annually held on the second weekend of May; May 13 is Tulip Day; May 16 is Endangered Species Day; May 22 is World Biodiversity Day, and World Turtle Day is May 23.  And of course the final Monday of May is Memorial Day, a holiday much celebrated by families in Appalachia by cleaning up and decorating family gravesites.  Be sure to spend time out-of-doors during this month of renewal!

    March has a wide variety of interesting holidays, both religious and secular.  In the American backwoods tradition the full moon of March is called the Full Worm or Full Sap Moon, with the sap beginning to rise and worms waking up from winter sluggishness, or hatching from eggs.  Spring equinox always occurs between March 20-22, where the hours of light & darkness are equally balanced.

    The World Day of Prayer is celebrated annually in over 170 countries on the first Friday in March.  This holiday is the largest ecumenical movement in the world organized and led by women, aiming to bring together women of various races, cultures and traditions in a yearly common Day of Prayer.   Mary Ellen James, the wife of a Presbyterian minister in New York and the mother of seven children, called for a day of prayer in 1887, simply reacting, as a Christian, to the society in which she lived.  She was aware of the problems faced by many women around her, particularly new immigrants to America - the awful slums with their poverty, unemployment, poor housing, lack of health or educational facilities - she felt something had to be done.  Two years later, two Baptists called together a Day of Prayer for the World Mission. The Day of Prayer initiated by these two women expanded to neighboring countries, then on to Europe and other continents.  Since 1927 the day is known as the World Day of Prayer.

    Mardis Gras, literally "Fat Tuesday," often falls in March, and is celebrated throughout the world in lavish, often raucous festivals and parades.  But its roots may lie in pagan celebrations of spring and fertility, eventually included in the Christian calendar as the "last hurrah" before the 40 days of penance between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.  Mardi Gras became a holiday in 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII placed it on his Gregorian calendar on the day before Ash Wednesday.  In some countries Mardi Gras is called "Shrove Tuesday" after the term shrive, which means "to confess."  This refers to the unofficial custom of going to confession on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday as a way of shedding sin and guilt before the spiritual journey of Lent. “Carnival,” another common name for the pre-Lenten festivities, comes from the Latin words carne vale, meaning "farewell to the flesh."

    National Quilting Day, held annually on the third Saturday of March, celebrates fabulous quilts and those who make them.  This is a day to recognize and appreciate quiltmakers, their skill and beautiful results.  The National Quilting Association started National Quilting Day in 1991, at the 22nd Annual Quilting Show in Lincoln, Nebraska.

    Earth Hour is a global event organized by WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and is held annually on the last Saturday of March, asking households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.  Earth hour was conceived by WWF and The Sydney Morning Herald in 2007, when 2.2 million residents of Sydney participated by turning off all non-essential lights.

    March is a month when we look for and forward to time spent outdoors, the surprise of blossoming wildflowers and warm, sunny spring days.  May your spring be filled with the joys of simplicity and the balance of a simple lifestyle.

FEBRUARY is Cherry, National Bird Feeding, Black History, Humpback Whale Awareness, International Friendship, Forgiveness, Youth Leadership, Library Lovers’ and National Chocolate Lover's Month.  Because of the often harsh winter weather, February fortunately also contains Random Acts of Kindness Week (Always 2nd full week) and Random Acts of Kindness Day (Always Friday of 2nd full week).  Kindness helps when those cold, winter winds are blowing.

February also contains one of the four religious pillars of the year, Candlemas, or Presentation of the Lord on February 2, observed by the Roman Catholic & Eastern Orthodox Churches.  This holiday commemorates the presentation of Jesus in the Jewish Temple & the purification of Mary 40 days after his birth.  Candles have been blessed on this day since the 11th century.  An old Scottish couplet proclaims: “If Candlemas is fair & clear, There’ll be two winters in the year.”  This notion is also connected to the groundhog and its shadow, which scientists say has no basis in actual science, but which seems to be a lot of fun for folks in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where there is an annual festival centered around Phil, the groundhog.  The legend of the groundhog's forecasting powers arguably dates back to the early days of Christianity in Europe when clear skies on Candlemas Day meant an extended winter.  The tradition was then brought to Germany, with the German twist being that if the sun made an appearance on Candlemas, a hedgehog would cast its shadow, thus predicting six more weeks of bad weather.  More specifically, the legend states: "For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May..."

February is the birth month of many notable and historic personages: Rosa Lee Parks, the Civil rights leader, was born at Tuskegee, Alabama on Feb. 4th, 1913; Sinclair Lewis, American Novelist & social critic was born on the 7th, 1885, as was Charles Dickens, much beloved English author (b. 1812); Thomas Edison (b. 1847) was an American inventor whose work gives us Inventor’s Day, always on February 11th;  Astronomer Galileo Galilei (b.1564) and Suffragette Susan B. Anthony (b.1820) were both born on February 15th.  Susan was the first American women to have her picture on an American silver dollar, and spent most of her life fighting for women's rights, including the right to vote; American novelist John Steinbeck was born on the 27th, 1902; and two pivotal America Presidents have their birthdays in this month: George Washington (b.1732) and Abraham Lincoln (b. 1809).

February is a great month to live simply and stick to essentials!

Our January calendar celebrates the lives & achievements of many extraordinary people, including:

George Washington Carver Day (Jan. 5), named for the death anniversary (Jan. 5, 1943) of this black agricultural scientist, author, inventor & teacher, born into slavery at Diamond Grove, MO, probably in 1864.  His research created synthetic products from peanuts, potatoes & wood.

Amelia Earhart Day  On Jan. 11, 1935, she became the first person, man or woman, to fly solo from Hawaii to California across the pacific.  Another famous flight: her nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic, May 20-21, 1932, first for a woman.  During an attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 1937, Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island.

St. Vincent’s Day (Jan. 22), or Feast of St. Vincent.  This Spanish deacon & martyr died 304 AD, and is named Patron Saint of wine growers.  Old weather lore says if
there is sun on this day, good wine crops may be expected in the ensuing season.
  If St. Vincent's has sunshine, we get much rye & wine

Christa McAuliffe Day (Jan. 22), is observed to commemorate Christa McAuliffe and the other 6 astronauts killed when the space shuttle Challenger exploded after take-off on January 28, 1986.