According to our traditional agriculture system, Medam 1st - in Malayalam calendar is the starting of agriculture activities, this was on April 14th this year. Medam 1st is celebrated as Vishu in Kerala which is a festival along with farmers starts farming activities. Typically in Kerala climate, it would rain before Vishu festival and there is a saying 'വിഷു കഴിഞ്ഞാൽ വേനലില്ല ' meaning there is no summer after this festival. Also they say in Aswathy njattuvela which happens to be between April 13th to April 27th, and seeds sown in this duration never goes bad. Again there is a saying 'അശ്വതിയിലിട്ട വിത്തും ,ഭരണിയിലിട്ട മാങ്ങയും ,അച്ഛൻ വളർത്തിയ മക്കളും കേടാവില്ല ' which means seeds sown in Aswathy and mangoes put in Ceramic pot and children broughtup by father, never goes bad.
Also there is another auspicious day called Medam 10th, happened to be on April 23rd. Farmers starts planting crops on this day,and since rain would start soon, they have to just water it so that crops are alive till the rain and then they will take off.
Now a days with climate change, things never happens this way. This year it rained on April 12th, it was a reasonably good rain, but after that it hasn't rained so far in this region.
Since earlier complete farming was rain dependent every rain was utilized so these calendars were really important. I do complete rainfed farming and hence these things are important but with climate change, it becomes more challenging.
May be with first rain, I could have planted some fodder grass slips and Vetiver slips to see if they come up well, but that has to be done on the next day.
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