Foretell the severity of the winter with a persimmon seed. As the theory goes, you can tell how severe the upcoming winter will be by cutting open seed of the persimmon in half and looking at what is inside. If you find a:

• Spoon - This means you better get something to scoop with. There will be a lot of snow to shovel.
• Knife - Bundle up! It is going to be so cold that it will cut through you like a knife.
• Fork - Relax, its going to be a mild winter and there won't be much snow.

These are seeds, from three different fruits, but from the same tree. The seed on the left is a little questionable, but I'll still call it a spoon. With two spoons and a knife, it looks like it's going to be cold and snowy!

A wet May makes a big load of hay. A cold May is kindly and fills the barn finely.

When the woolly worms are dark, or have a thick black stripe, it's going to be a hard winter.