Ep 192. Groundhog Day- Ancient Origin and Accuracy

Groundhog Day dates back thousands of years. While the accuracy of predicting winter's end is marginal, it's a fun tradition that celebrates nature. Mary Stone shares the ancient origin, amusing anecdotes, and ways of handling groundhogs while embracing their role in the Garden of Life.   

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Ep 175. Koleen’s Dagnabbit Rabbit Dilemma

Link to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club

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Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer
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More about the Podcast and Column:

Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
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Transcript

Ep 192 Groundhog Day - Ancient Origin and Accuracy
Sat, February 1, 2025 5:49PM • 11:00
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Groundhog Day, winter memories, Punxsutawney Phil, Candlemas Day, groundhog burrows, seed sharing, garden damage, predator urine, live trap, wildlife embrace, screen porch, garden dilemmas, winter traditions, groundhog history, nature inspiration
SPEAKERS
Mary Stone

Mary Stone  00:00
Mary, Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone, and welcome to garden dilemmas, delights, and discoveries. It's not only about gardens. It's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learn from Mother Nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other, we have lots to talk about.

Mary Stone  00:25
Hello there. It's Mary Stone on a fairly warm screen porch compared to last week. It's about 32 degrees and much of the snow has melted, but still enough to ski on, and now it's safe for Jolie's feet. I want to thank those that reached back after last week's chat about welcoming winter sights and silence. My college roommate, Linda, who heard the story, she's the gal that gave me the flying gardener ornament, wrote -- your descriptions were so vivid and beautiful, and I truly felt as though I was walking with you and Jolie. The squeaky sound of the snow brought back memories of childhood and a specific memory of a frigid night walk on a metal drive with Frenchie, the poodle she once had as a child. I can still feel, hear, and taste the night's chunky snow falling, illuminated by street lights. Oh, my God, the frozen nose hairs painfully exhilarating. So anyway, that was fun to hear from you, Linda and all of the others who wrote in about their memories of winter and those enduring winter now and enjoying all the treasures. 

Mary Stone  01:31
So today we're going to talk about Groundhog Day, because this podcast episode launches on Groundhog Day, which inspired me to dig into previous posts on the subject, two of which have photos of my canine kids digging in the snow, no upper torsos to be seen. And it starts like this.

Mary Stone  01:51
 Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. As I write, the snow is falling and it's likely to continue well into Groundhog Day. They say, if the groundhog sees his shadow, there'll be six more weeks of winter. If he doesn't, it will be in early spring, with all this snow, it may be six weeks before we see the ground. I've often wondered about the history of Groundhog Day, haven't you? And so I asked Mary. So this was written in February 2021 which was about a month after I adopted Jolie, who came from Biloxi, Mississippi, my Southern Belle's first winter. We were snow covered the whole season, much to my delight and hers, it was so fun to see how much she loved the snow. 

Mary Stone  02:34
Officially, the first Groundhog Day celebration took place on February 2, 1887, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. But Groundhog Day stems back 1000s of years, when in a portion of Europe, now Germany, badgers, although some sources say hedgehogs, were thought to anticipate the coming of spring, indicating when farmers should plant crops. When Germans immigrated to America and established themselves in Pennsylvania, where badgers and hedgehogs are not native, groundhogs became the go-to. as it turns out, and this had not occurred to me until I was doing this research, that Groundhog Day, which is always February 2, is typically the midpoint of the first day of winter and the first day of spring, and it's the halfway point between the summer solstice and the abdominal equinox in the southern hemisphere. Perhaps that's the reason for the date?

Mary Stone  03:28
Groundhogs, marmata monax, are called woodchucks as well as groundhogs, and they live two to three years on average, but can live up to six years in the wild. Those in captivity can live longer. But according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, Phil has extraordinary powers. He continues to live since his first spring prediction, way back in 1886 thanks to a secret elixir of life, he sips every summer to give him seven more years. Talk about an old wives tale. 

Mary Stone  03:59
There are other groundhogs besides Phil. Shubenacadie Sam of Nova Scotia, Canada and Beau short for General Beauregard of the National Weather Service near Atlanta, are two popular fellas. Yesterday while chatting with Koleen, my writer friend who lives in Canada, you may recall colleen's Dagnabbit Rabbit Dilemma in episode 175, such a fun story. She told me about Wiarton Willie, an albino groundhog who's the star of the show at the Wiarton Willie festival in Ontario, a tradition that began in 1956. The history is so entertaining, I had to dig into this after chatting with Koleen. 

Mary Stone  04:41
Mack McKenzie wanted to showcase his childhood home and sent out invitations to his friends for a Groundhog Day gathering. Somehow, a Toronto Star reporter found an invitation and tracked down the occasion that turned out to be a party at a local pub. To save face, the reporter asked MacKenzie to create an event that he could report on. So Mackenzie staged one by digging a hole in the snow donning his wife's fur hat with hefty buttons, a photo of which ran in the February 3 1956 edition of the paper. And the tradition grew from there. 

Mary Stone  05:16
Perhaps the most famous, next to Punxsutawney Phil, is Chuck of Staten Island Zoo. Maybe when Chuck bit Mayor Bloomberg and the 2009 festivities is when he came to fame. Or was it when Mayor de Blasio dropped chuck in 2014 Chuck, by the way, was a stand in. His real name was Charlotte, who died a few days later. I don't believe there's been a tradition of the mayor participating in Groundhog Day at Staten Island ever since that happened. 

Mary Stone  05:46
So I am curious, why is Groundhog Day always on February 2, and according to the Punxsutawney groundhog club, it relates to Candlemas day, a Christian holiday also on February 2, when Christians celebrate the first bringing of baby Jesus to the Temple of Jerusalem to welcome him to Judaism. Traditions of blessing candles, symbolizing Jesus Christ being the light of the world, continue in certain religions. And by the way, snowdrops, galianthus, those lovely little nodding white flowers that magically emerge through the last layer of winter frosting are also called Candlemas bells, representing Jesus, bringing hope to the world. 

Mary Stone  06:26
Now, Groundhog Day signifies repetitiveness. Of course, we know about the famous movie Groundhog Day, that was from 1993, which gave a new significance to the words as something that endlessly repeats. One of the repetitive tasks in anticipation of spring is purchasing seeds. Early shopping is best as more have gotten into the joy of digging in the dirt and growing non-GMO and organic food, which is a positive outcome from the pandemic. Most seed packs have more in them than you need, so share them graciously. Seeds like spring represent the promise of new beginnings, and by sharing the promise you'll be spreading hope. Garden Dilemmas,? AskMaryStone.com.

Mary Stone  07:12
The thing is, Punxsutawney, Phil is more often wrong than right, reports live science.com based on storm facts almanacs data, which shows that Phil's six-week prognostications have been correct about 39% of the time. The article goes on to say from 1969 on, Phil's overall accuracy rate drops to 36%. Still, Groundhog Day is a fun tradition, and whenever it comes, spring is something to celebrate, though not so much the garden damage caused by the groundhogs. As cute as they can be.

Mary Stone  07:47
When I say cute, I'm especially thinking about when this Ellie Mae arrived; she came upon a group of baby groundhogs. They were dancing around the barn, and she snagged one. She did not know any commands. I couldn't get her to drop it. And so there was a casualty. Although there were no tooth marks on the little guy, I made sure I kept her away from that nest because I did not want her to get into the situation in front of the mother. They can be quite vicious. And so one grew up, took up residence under the screen porch, and let's just say it mowed down $300 worth of annuals I had purchased for a client. So I had to move that critter along. 

Mary Stone  08:29
Later in the summer, I ran into Juanita, who is a gal that lives down the road a piece, and she was telling me that a groundhog ripped up her front walkway, burying bricks to build its quarters. She covered up her entry holes, which is kind of like plugging holes at a sinking ship, because groundhog burrows usually have five or more entrances with tunnels up to eight feet underground, which can easily undermine foundations. So it is a problem. There's also the hazard of livestock injuring themselves in holes, beyond, of course, the crop damage. 

Mary Stone  09:01
Did you know that groundhogs have separate quarters for sleeping mating? One is a nursery and even a separate bathroom chamber. Some even have second homes. Doesn't that sound luxurious? So, how do you handle these hefty invaders? There are companies that tout the benefits of predator urine also available in granular form, which sounds a little neater, but it does sound right up there with plugging holes on a sinking chip. Others say dumping used cat litter in their holes is a deterrent, but the only effective way I know of is removal. You can have a heart, the live trap, that is, or not. It's up to you and your dog, but please don't tell me about it. There's something about being fuzzy. 

Mary Stone  09:44
So thank you for joining me on the screen porch. It's a bright, sunny day. It's a beautiful day, and in thinking about Groundhog Day again, it's such a fun holiday. It's fun to know the history, isn't it? And as much as they can be a hazard to our livestock and pests in our garden, they are part of our Garden of Life, and so we embrace them as we embrace all of wildlife. Thank you again for joining me for this fun chat. I love hearing from you, so I encourage more of you to write in your stories at ask marystone@gmail.com or if you have questions or delights and discoveries you'd like to share, I'd love to hear them. See you next time on the screen porch. Have a great day. 

Mary Stone  10:30
You can follow garden dilemmas on Facebook or online at Garden dilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag. Mary Elaine Stone, Garden Dilemmas Delights and Discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch and always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.