February 20

Farming is an endeavor that, if you pay attention to your world, has few real surprises and generally, you can rely on one day being as familiar and comfortable as any other day. You can rely on the seeds that you have planted growing to maturity and providing you with food to serve to your family and sell at a market. This assumes, of course, that you pay attention to the demands of the seeds. Life takes on a comfortable and comforting rhythm. Occasionally however, there are days when something you had not planted grows and then unexpected and extraordinary things begin to happen. The 20th in 1943 was just such a day for Dionisio Pulido, a Mexican farmer, and his family. As the small group was plowing their fields in Paricutín a town in the Mexican state of Michoacán, they noticed a very strange thing in one field. Lava and ash began erupting from the ground. Within a year, Dionisio had grown a volcano that reached an elevation of over 10,000 feet.