Oct. 11-17, 2010
The cidery tang of windfall apples is in the country air. Wild grapes hang purpling from the climbing vines, slowly sweetening. Bittersweet’s bright orange and the lacquered red of barberries are brilliant accents at the roadside. The clean, wild, acrid odor of walnut hulls, and butternut and hickory, scents the open woodland; and squirrels are busy as beavers.
-Hal Borland
Lunar phase and lore

The Cricketsong Moon leaves Sagittarius for Capricorn on Oct. 13 and waxes into its second quarter at 4:27 p.m. Oct. 14. The next day, it moves into Aquarius, and then to Pisces on Oct. 18.

The waxing moon, especially in Pisces, favors the seeding of winter grains and the seeding of greens for late fall salads. Lunar position will be most favorable for hunting and fishing in the late afternoon and evening hours. Since the weather and the law prevent most of us from finding fish and game at those times, many people choose the second-best times when the moon is directly below the Earth – during the early morning.

The third major high-pressure system of the month is due to come through on Oct. 12 or 13, and the fourth system typically arrives on Oct. 17. As the barometer falls in front of each of these cool fronts, fishing and hunting should improve; dieting, however, may become more difficult.

By midnight, the Big Dipper will be low along the north horizon. Just above the far tree line, due south, October’s Fomalhaut outshines all the other stars. To the west, Hercules is setting behind the Corona Borealis.

The Pleiades precede Orion in the east. Pegasus and the Great Square are overhead in the Milky Way. Cygnus, the Northern Cross, follows summer’s Vega south.

Weather patterns
This is often a pivotal week for increased precipitation and colder temperatures. Now the chances for a day in the 80s almost disappear. Only one of the next seven afternoons ordinarily reaches above 70.

Highs in the 50s and 60s are the rule, but the chances for readings in the 40s double over those of last week. A day in the 30s occurs twice in a decade.

On average, rain falls 30 percent more often this week than last. Snow enters the world of possibility for the first time since the beginning of May. One dawn in three lays frost on your garden, and a killing frost has reached your vegetables by this time, seven years in 10.

Daybook
Oct. 11: Some beekeepers believe that the period of the waxing moon (now) is the best time to remove honey from their hives.
Oct. 12: The Columbus Day cold front is often the first front to bring a serious chance of snow flurries at average elevations along the 40th Parallel. Highs below 50 degrees now occur about three or four afternoons out of 10 in two-thirds of the states.

Oct. 13: As alfalfa growth slows, move your flock and herd to orchard grass, timothy, bluegrass and broom grass. When beggartick seeds stick to your pants legs, check your horse for horse-bot eggs.

Oct. 14: The moon enters its second quarter today, its weakest position since Sept. 30.

Oct. 15: Harvest corn and soybeans while you can; two more weeks, and the odds for rain increase considerably. Apply nitrogen, phosphate and potash now in order to decrease their springtime workload.

Oct. 16: In the garden, the addition of manure and compost throughout the autumn months allows full incorporation of that material with the soil, eliminates the risk of imbalance and increases earthworm activity before planting begins.
Oct. 17: A cold front usually crosses the nation near this date. As cold weather threatens, check to make sure that you are adjusting ventilation in the hen house to compensate for seasonal changes. But don’t close buildings up too tightly; adequate ventilation is still required in the coldest conditions.

Countdown to late fall

Middle fall, the time of peak leaf coloring, has arrived. You can count the approach of late fall one turning and falling leaf at a time, or you can track the farm year throughout this part of the country.

By today, half of the winter wheat is normally in the ground. Barn swallows fly south as cornfields are at least one-quarter cut. Three-quarters of the commercial grapes and fall apples have ordinarily been picked, and soybeans are mature on three-quarters of all the fields.

When maple color is at its best, almost all the corn has been cut for silage and farmers have harvested half of this year’s soybean crop. That is the time that the digging of sugar beets gets under way.

By the average killing frost date for most of the region (the fourth week of October), half the corn has generally been cut for grain, and three-quarters of soybeans are in the bag.

Living with the seasons

The peak of leaf color may bring a sense of well-being, but it can also cause a bad case of depression about the coming cold weather. Working outside and trying to help other people seem to be the two best ways to combat seasonal disorders – try both of them before the late autumn blues attack.

Almanac literature classics
Babies Stink Also!
By Gail Henderson
Ney, Ohio
This skunk story took place almost 20 years ago and put my mom at the butt of the joke.

My mother had talked about wanting a skunk for a pet for many years. So, the day she saw three little ones on the side of the road (the mother had been killed), she wanted them.

Mom decided that if they were still on the road when she made the trip back, she would pick them up. A few hours later, when she returned to the area, the baby skunks were still there, and she was able to catch two of the babies.

A few miles down the road, Mom asked, “Do baby skunks spray like the adult?” She hadn’t even gotten that sentence out of her mouth, when she got sprayed!

Mom’s wanting a skunk was no longer of interest. So, they stopped and put the baby skunks out, and Mom went home with her hand stuck out the window.

After that, we began getting presents of skunks for Mom so she would remember that: “Babies Stink Also.” She has been deceased for almost five years. But every time we see a skunk, you can hear: “There’s Grandma’s friend.”