Maybe it's the English winters. Diana Wynne Jones describes seasons other than winter as merely theoretical in fantasy.
I send them out into the summer. Usually. Indeed, whenever I go by reflex, they go out in the summer. When I pull out a calendar and go to fix a long running story, it will, of course, have to cross the seasons. (Getting your heroine pregnant and having her give birth in the same story is a good way to ensure you include more than one season.)
But when I just send them out for a day or two, or a week, or even a month, it's summertime. Which has a lot of advantages. Less snow and ice. Warmer weather for camping. And since I have carefully selected non-farming occupations, they don't have to worry about the farm.
Though I do have to keep track of whether the flowers are in bloom. They make nice local color but they also point to the yar.
