Scout Scar escarpment 14 July Through the protracted summer heat-wave I longed for rain. Impossible to imagine how farmers felt, watching their crops wither and die for lack of rain. Their cattle being given winter feed because the grass did not grow. Temperatures were still high when the rain came. I opened the windows and relished the sounds of a heavy shower. And from the garden there arose a fragrance, not simply cool refreshing rain but something unusual.
Pertichor: a phenomenon rare in Britain.
Pertichor: a phenomenon rare in Britain.
Next day, on Scout Scar there was something unfamiliar in the air. Perhaps it was the scent of herbs, stirred by the rain. But the flora of Scout Scar had been scorched by searing heat, the short turf burnt. I was puzzled.
This morning, as I listened to the weather-forecast on radio Cumbria I learnt a new word, a whole new concept.
Petrichor: a goodly fragrance given off by the earth at the first rainfall after prolonged drought. So, unfamiliar in Britain.
Unfamiliar and joyous, bringing solace. Through thousands of years, man and beast will have responded with a sense of relief to breathe the good smell of the earth when rain comes to bring respite from drought.
Petrichor may be a new word but it’s in our DNA.
Petrichor: from the Greek Petra- meaning rock. And ichor the divine essence which flows in the veins of the gods.
Petrichor is the fragrance of earth, of soil, clay and minerals. A fragrant oil they exude on the coming of rain after drought. A distillation born of rock. A strange sensation, pertrichor. And bringing solace. As mankind must always have felt.
This morning, as I listened to the weather-forecast on radio Cumbria I learnt a new word, a whole new concept.
Petrichor: a goodly fragrance given off by the earth at the first rainfall after prolonged drought. So, unfamiliar in Britain.
Unfamiliar and joyous, bringing solace. Through thousands of years, man and beast will have responded with a sense of relief to breathe the good smell of the earth when rain comes to bring respite from drought.
Petrichor may be a new word but it’s in our DNA.
Petrichor: from the Greek Petra- meaning rock. And ichor the divine essence which flows in the veins of the gods.
Petrichor is the fragrance of earth, of soil, clay and minerals. A fragrant oil they exude on the coming of rain after drought. A distillation born of rock. A strange sensation, pertrichor. And bringing solace. As mankind must always have felt.
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