Poor Will's Almanack
By Bill Felker

Aug. 23-29, 2010
The backyard
overgrown with wild grape,
hollyhock, creeping Charlie,
is home to a thousand
white butterflies this August …
-Ann Filemyr

Lunar phase and lore
The Wild Plum Moon, full on Aug. 24, wanes throughout the rest of the week, entering its final quarter on Sept. 1 at 1:22 p.m. Rising in the evening and setting in the morning, this moon lies overhead in the middle of the night.

The third-quarter Wild Plum Moon favors harvest of fruits and vegetables as well as the seeding of radishes for September and October salads. This is also an excellent time to plant trees and shrubs to promote root growth before the chillier weather of autumn.

The third lunar quarter is also an excellent traditional time for setting spring flower bulbs and transplanting perennials. Crocus, aconites, snowdrops, daffodils and tulips can go into the ground, and this is also a fine time to enlarge day lily and iris collections.

Fish with the moon overhead before dawn this week, especially as the barometer drops at the approach of the Aug. 29 cool front. If you scout for game near sunrise, the moon should be telling the animals to be foraging at that time. If you are dieting, however, sleep late to avoid having a fresh, sweet, aromatic glazed doughnut rush out of the cupboard and overcome you.

As the moon wanes toward its final quarter, it will weaken, making all social occasions more tolerable – including going back to school.

September weather patterns
Weather history suggests that cold waves usually cross the Mississippi River on or about the following dates: Sept. 2, 8, 12, 15, 20, 24 and 29. Storms often occur prior to the passage of each major front. The period between Sept. 19-25 historically brings an increased chance for dangerous weather.

Full moon on Sept. 23 and new moon on Sept. 8 increase the likelihood of a hurricane coming ashore along the East Coast or a strong frost-bearing cold wave moving across the Plains around those dates.

Daybook
Aug. 23: Grackles become louder in the afternoons, but an entire morning can go by without a cardinal song or the call of a dove. Hickory nuts are lying on the woodland paths. Burs of the panicled tick trefoil stick to your pants legs. White vervain is gone, and the flowers of blue vervain climb to the top of their spikes, measuring the last days of August.

Aug. 24: Today is full moon day, and lunar pressures and the pressures of the season are likely to push hard against many people. If you have a heart condition or high blood pressure, be sure to take things slow and easy, avoid conflict and be good to yourself.

Aug. 25: Fertilize perennials, shrubs and trees over the next 60 days to encourage improved flowering next spring and summer.

Aug. 26: After the passage of a late summer cool front, do pre-winter maintenance of your garage, barn and outbuildings. Complete painting and repairs, and clean out animal bedding, water containers and feeders. Use a good dairy disinfectant and let the area dry out before allowing the animals back in.

Aug. 27: Don’t forget to include winter bedding material with your herd’s supply requirements for the coming months. Vaccinate your lambs for enterotoxaemia before you let them out to clean up the cornfields after harvest. Be especially careful with your pregnant ewes during cold snaps, as environmental stress can induce abortion.

Cut corn for silage after completing the second and third cuts of hay. Dig potatoes and pick commercial tomato plants clean.

Aug. 28: As the final cool wave of August arrives, the likelihood for chilly highs only the 60s or 70s climbs sharply. Aug. 30 is typically the coldest day of the month.

Aug. 29: In addition to the increase in the length of the night, the average amount of cloud cover begins to grow as fall approaches. Hormonal fluctuations take place in livestock as these events occur.
Since humans also experience a physiological shift during this period, a daily journal of diet, emotions and symptoms of illness can be especially useful.

Countdown to early fall
Late summer unfolds in layers, each event of its passage revealing the approach of early fall. Beggarticks unfold their small golden flowers in the as Judas maples multiply. Hickory nuts and buckeyes appear on the woodland paths. Acorns are full size, a few even brown.

Purple pokeweed berries shine through the undergrowth. Burrs of the tick trefoil catch on your pants legs. Phlox and Resurrection lilies disappear quickly this week of the year. Golden showy coneflowers have begun their three-week process of decay, and the menacing ragweed is becoming old and empty.

Along the roadsides, the umbels of Queen Anne’s lace, so bright through middle summer, are contracting and darkening.

Living with the seasons
The end of August for older adults brings associations, and for others the beginning of school, the prospect of harvest, the end of summer’s possibilities and projects. Nostalgia often accompanies the steady transformation of the landscape. Memories proliferate, the mind traveling back through the concentric circles of the years, sorting and ruminating.

And the day’s length, which shortened only two hours between solstice and today, suddenly collapses, shedding an entire additional hour between now and September’s equinox, creating a sudden surge of energy in some people, a sudden sadness in others.

(Please refer to the newspaper for the remaining portion.)