March 30-April 5, 2015

These days, the world

Is most beautiful of all:

Every seed is sprouting,

Buds are swelling.

-Joannes Secundus

Lunar phase and lore

The Cabbage Butterfly Moon waxes until it becomes full on April 4 at 7:06 a.m. There will be a total eclipse of the moon just before moonset in the west this morning. Start watching the moon with your coffee around 6:30 a.m. and watch it darken as the sun rises behind you.

This week, the moon will pass overhead in the middle of the night, making that period the most favorable lunar time for fishing, especially as the cold fronts of April 2 and 6 approach (but not after they come through).

Plant as you can and as soon as you can. Lunar position in Scorpio on April 5-8 is the best for root crops and putting out shrubs and saplings.

Weather trends

Two major weather systems, one arriving on April 2 and another coming in on April 6, usually dominate the first quarter of the month, increasing the chance for precipitation. Snow is most likely to fall April 3-5.

There is a 20 percent chance for a high in the 80s this week, and there is more than a 50 percent chance of an afternoon in the 60s or 70s. Still, the first quarter of the fourth month is its coldest, and daily chances for frost remain steady at an average of 40 percent throughout the period.

The natural calendar

March 30: Forsythia blooms. Middle spring arrives with the barn swallows.

March 31: Hepatica, bloodroot, bluebells, Dutchman’s breeches, twinleaf, toothwort and spring beauties start to bloom. Frogs and toads begin their mating cries.

April 1: The first weather system of April is typically one of the more dangerous fronts of the year because of tornados and hail; this front initiates an 11-day period of unsettled weather that brings an increased chance of tornadoes in the South and Midwest and spring thunderstorms to the North.

April 2: The sun reaches almost 60 percent of the way to summer today, and middle spring arrives in the nation’s midsection.

April 3: Hemlock is bushy, and basal leaves of the tall ragwort are forest green and swelling in the ditches. Skunk cabbage leaves have started to spread out.

April 5: Monarch butterflies arrive in Texas from Mexico. Barn swallows appear in the lower Midwest as barred owls hatch and grape hyacinths bloom.

April 6: The peak period of pussy willow pollen begins across the Midwest, and some of the heavy golden catkins have fallen in the wind.

The allergy index

Major pollen sources: box elders, maples, pussy willows, flowering crabs and cherries

April 1: 10 (on a scale of 0-700 grains per cubic meter)

April 10: 50

April 15:  100

April 25: 200

April 30: 400

In field and garden

March 30: Japanese beetle grubs move to the surface of the ground to feed.

March 31: Cabbage butterflies are out, laying eggs on the cabbage, kale, collards and Brussels sprouts you just planted.

April 1: Set out head lettuce. Dust roses as new leaves emerge. Birch leafminers attack birch trees.

April 2 (sunset) to 11: Passover; the Jewish market typically is best after religious holidays come to a close. Milk-fed lambs and kids below 60 pounds are favored for the Passover market.

April 3: Elm bark beetles become active; pine weevils seek the pines.

April 4: Today’s full moon may well bring snow and a hard middle-spring freeze across the northern states.

April 5: Today is Roman Easter (traditional Easter Sunday in the West); save your newly weaned, milk-fed lambs and kids weighing about 25-45 pounds for this market.

April 6: Animals given dry hay before being let out to new pastures tend to gorge themselves less and develop bloat far less frequently.

Almanac literature

Great American Story Contest entry

Childhood Memories

By Fred Gullion

Switzerland County, Ind.

Remember when you were young and lived on a farm such as we did back in the 1940s? Each night after all the chores were done and supper completed, which would be somewhere around 8 p.m., we would gather around the kitchen table to do our homework, if we had any – which was always.

Mom would always tell us not to stay up too late, because kerosene cost money and the battery for the radio would be gone. If that happened we couldn’t listen to “The Lone Ranger,” “Lum & Abner” or any of the other programs. So usually about 9 p.m., we would go to bed, but for some reason it would be no more than a few minutes before Mom would say, ”Boys, it’s time to get up and go to the barn.”

Another thing that bothered me was why we had to save kerosene at night, but we didn’t have any problem the next morning at 4:30 a.m. when we were going to the barn with lanterns.

In later years we got electricity for the farm and, of course, a couple radios – one for the house and one for the barn. As soon as we would start to milk, we would tune into Barney Arnold on WHAS in Louisville. On Sunday morning we would tune into Cadle’s Tabernacle over WLW Cincinnati.

The Tabernacle was actually out of Indianapolis and always started off with “Did you think to pray?” The music always calmed the cows down except for Old Red (and only a bullet would calm that cow).

Thank God cows only live about 10 years or she would have killed every one of us. We would use kickers on her, which was a chain with two cups to hold her back legs down. The idea was if she couldn’t raise a leg she couldn’t kick.

Wrong – she would jump up and use both back feet and enjoy every minute.

No matter what folks want you to believe about the old days, they weren’t really good old days, just old days.

Winners of the Great American Almanac Story Contest will not be announced until all selected entries appear in this column.

For your copy of the 2015 Poor Will’s Almanack, send $20 to: Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. Or, order online at www.poorwillsalmanack.com

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