Dear Customers,
April Fools’ Day was a big deal when we were in elementary school. Everyone tried to put one over on their buddies or classmates. The reward was simply to be able to announce “April Fools” at the unlucky soul who suffered the prank. By the time we were in high school, the mischief got more involved and might even result in ‘fisticuffs’ if the scapegoat took offense – like the time a classmate handed out Ex lax, passing it off as chocolate!
Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates to 1582 when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as mandated by the Council of Trent. The Julian calendar designated April 1st as the first day of the new year while the Gregorian calendar moved it to January 1st! April Fools were those who were either late getting the news or insisted on continuing to celebrate April 1st as the beginning of the new year.
As I am not prone to playing pranks anymore, the month of April takes on different meanings. April 1st is when I plant my tomato seeds (indoors where its warm) because by mid to late May I know they’ll be large enough to transplant into the garden. Any earlier and they’re tall and spindly and much later, they’re not quite hardy enough to withstand the shock of nighttime temperatures.
Thanks to the 10-day forecast on my cell phone which wasn’t available that long ago, I can start checking about mid-May and see if there’s any frost in the immediate future. Prior to that I never planted before Memorial Day weekend and going me one further, my Grampa Costa maintained that you never planted your garden until at least June 10th!
The other thing about the month of April that you can set your clock by, is that no matter if there’s snow or heavy rain in the early part of the month, by mid-April or later, you’ll be firing up the lawnmower if only to knock down the high lush parts! That begins at least 6 months or more of regular trips around the lawn with the Kubota tractor! Ahhhh, Spring! What could be better?