Sept. 22-28, 2014

Look to the Great Harvest

When all Things will bear Fruit and

Will be ready for the Gathering.

-Paracelsus

Lunar phase and lore

The Puffball Mushroom Moon wanes until it becomes the Hickory Nutting Moon on Sept. 24 at 1:14 a.m. Rising in the morning and setting in the evening, this dark crescent moon passes overhead (like all dark moons) in the middle of the day.

Lunar position at noon will, therefore, offer advantages to fishers and to those scouting for game, especially as the cold fronts of Sept. 24 and 29 approach, pushing down the barometer.

Some people can feel the falling barometric pressure in their aching knees and hips. Others feel it in their sinuses. Some reports indicate low barometric pressure is related to higher crime and more visits to emergency rooms.

As for planting (if your knees don’t hurt, and if you are not in the hospital or in jail), this is probably the last of the best lunar times of the year for planting bulbs, transplanting perennials and shrubs and seeding winter grains. Sept. 26-28, when the moon lies in Scorpio, will be the finest of all.

Weather trends

Chances for precipitation increase as the Sept. 24 front approaches from the west, and after that weather system moves east, light frost occurs more often than at any other time up to this point in September.

The day before the Sept. 29 front’s arrival is usually dry and mild, and its arrival increases the risk of tomato damage that accompanies the previous front.

The natural calendar

Sept. 22: The Earth reaches equinox at 10:29 p.m. (EDT), entering the sign of Libra at the same moment.

Sept. 23: Average temperatures now start to fall at the rate of 4 degrees per week.

Sept. 24: Today’s new moon increases the chances for damaging nighttime temperatures deep into the lower Midwest. In 60 out of 100 years, a light frost has struck most parts of the region by this date.

Sept. 25: A few Monarch butterflies visit the late zinnias in the afternoon sun; other insects, however, become less common in the field and garden as the number of pollen-bearing flowers dwindles.

Sept. 26: In the fields, aster, beggartick and goldenrod blossoms start to disappear; their departure parallels the beginning of leaf fall, the end of the spider season, acceleration in bird migration, everything seeming to unravel at once.

Sept. 27: In the woods, there is a steady drizzle of deep yellow locust leaves. The surviving ash trees turn maroon and gold. Many New England asters have gone to seed. A deep gilding taking place throughout the canopy.

Sept. 28: Long flocks of grackles often pass overhead as October approaches.

In field and garden

Sept. 22: Farmers have brought in most of the third cutting of alfalfa.

Sept. 23: Grapes and apples are normally one-third picked, tomatoes and potatoes just about all in their baskets.

Sept. 24: Today is new moon day; expect a slight increase in problems with your family and livestock.

Sept. 25: Begin planting spring bulbs under the dark moon and the moon sign of Scorpio.

Sept. 26: The waxing Hickory Nutting Moon will favor the seeding of winter grains.

Sept. 27: Also as the moon waxes, set out cabbage, kale and collard sets. Seed the lawn. Gather up the squash and pumpkins as their stems dry; store in a cool, dry location.

Sept. 28: The sugar beet, pear, cabbage and cauliflower harvests commence near this date in the Great Lakes region. More than half of the silage corn is often cut by today.

Almanac literature

Curly, the Bottle Lamb

By Sandra Mouritsen

Logan, Utah

Curly is my little brother’s sheep. Those two are two of a kind. Curly is the tamest sheep in the flock. She can be really obnoxious.

Curly was raised on a bottle. She thinks she is one-third horse, one-third dog and one-third human. She pals around with the horse. Even now that she is a mother, she still tries to pal around with the horse.

My brother made the mistake of training her the way you train a dog. When my dad needed to go out to the field to check on the sheep, he told the dog to hop in, and Curly hopped right on in just like a dog.

Curly always had to go with my brother out to the field. One time, they had to jump across an irrigation canal to check the flock. Curly missed the jump and fell into the canal. My dad had to walk over and pull her out.

Then when it was time to go home, Curly didn’t want to stay out with the rest of the sheep.

She wanted to come home. She did not believe she was a sheep!

Be sure to enter Story Contest

It is time to think about the most interesting thing that ever happened to you. The most appealing (true) story will be considered for the grand prize of $50 and a certificate. And there will be four runners-up who will win $5 prizes – and they’ll get certificates, too.

If you don’t win a prize but your story appears in this column, Poor Will is going to pay you $4. All stories could appear in an annual edition of the Almanack. Submit your tales to: Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. The deadline for stories is Dec. 1, and the winners will have their checks by Christmas!