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Views and opinions: Equinox can be seen as ideal time for your spring clean-up
 

March 19-25, 2018

The year holds one moment, which may last for a week, when tree and bush and vine are on the breathless verge of leafing out. It is then that one can stand on a hilltop and look across the valley and see the scarlet and orange maple blossoms like a touch of pastel crayon across the treetop.

-Hal Borland

Almanac horoscope

The Golding Goldfinch Moon, slowly turning the feathers of goldfinches gold, enters its second phase on March 24 at 10:35 a.m. It reaches perigee, its powerful position closest to Earth, on March 26 at 2:17 p.m.

The sun: Equinox occurs at 11:15 a.m. on March 20. The sun enters the middle spring sign of Aries on the same day.

The planets: When you get up before dawn to exercise or do chores, find giant Jupiter along the southern horizon in Libra.

The stars: Early on March evenings, Orion moves into the west, taking winter with it into the horizon.

Weather trends

Between April 1-June 1, close to 10 frosts occur in this part of Ohio. Chances for frost to strike after the dates listed below are:

April 5: 95 percent

April 10: 90 percent

April 15: 80 percent

April 20: 75 percent

April 25: 65 percent

April 30: 50 percent

The proverbial “spring cleaning” has its roots in human physiology and psychology. As the days lengthen, people tend to want to put things in order for the warmest and most benign time of year. Conditioned by millennia of hunter-gatherer and agricultural behavior, creatures instinctively want to be prepared for spring.

Chronobiologists (scientists who study the relationship between seasons and biological change) have observed that March-May are the most productive months for most humans, a productivity that is founded in our need to be ready for the end of the cold.

Field and garden

Transplant shade and fruit trees, shrubs, grape vines, strawberries, raspberries and roses while the ground temperature remains in the 40s and 50s. Complete field and garden planting preparations. Remove dead and damaged raspberry canes before new spring growth begins. Shorten strongest canes to 4-5 feet in length.

If only fall crop of everbearing raspberries is desired, all of the canes can be mowed to ground level now. Black raspberries should be thinned to about three of the largest diameter canes, and side branches should be trimmed to about 8 inches.

Marketing notes: From now through the end of the year, sell your vegetables at farmers’ markets. Consider making bread and sweets for your display; sales may increase considerably as Easter approaches. Also, bring small pots of herbs and flowers that you have started under lights at home.

The natural calendar: In spite of the chill, the cornus mas shrubs come into full bloom, their golden flowers foreshadowing the forsythia that will blossom by the end of the month. Now begin your spring wildflower walks: snow trillium is blossoming, and violet cress is budding. Comfrey leaves reach 2 inches long.

Motherwort swells into clumps, and henbit is in full bloom. In warm yards, daffodils and magnolias blossom. Pollen appears on pussy willow catkins. Chickweed and shepherd’s purse are open in the alleys. The first white star magnolia blossoms unravel in town.

Fish, game, livestock and birds: More bluebirds and yellow-bellied sapsuckers arrive every day. Catfish are feeding. Question mark, tortoise shell and cabbage butterflies look for nectar. Sandhill cranes migrate in the Rocky Mountains. Frost, wind, rain, snow and overcast days may make it hard for bees to fly, or plants may not to produce enough pollen or nectar.

Heading toward squirrel ‘Promised Land’

The early 19th century witnessed the greatest squirrel migrations in recorded history. As the forests of the East were destroyed, the animals moved west.

“They were evidently under some leadership and knew where to go,” according to Howe’s Historical Collections (1908), and they “had gathered as a mighty host with banners and, under some chosen Moses among them, were heading toward the Promised Land.”

Most of them never reached that destination. Their numbers alarmed farmers, and entire villages turned out to stop the threat to cornfields and gardens. Between 1810-50, newspapers consistently reported squirrel kills in the thousands.

The most devastating hunt of all may have occurred during August 1822. For three days, the pioneers went out “to prevent the alarming ravages of these mischievous neighbors.”

The Columbus Gazette gave this account of their success: “On counting the scalps, it appeared that 19,660 scalps were produced. It is impossible to say what number in all was killed, as a great many of the hunters did not come in. We think we can safely challenge any other county in the state to kill squirrels with us.”

This hunt may have come at the peak of the migrations. No county rose to meet the Gazette’s challenge. A few decades later, the virgin forest and most of the squirrels were gone.

This week’s Scrambler

In order to estimate your Scrambler IQ, award yourself 15 points for each word unscrambled, adding a 50-point bonus for getting all of them correct. If you find a typo, add another 15 points to your IQ. Yes, you are a genius.

OBY

UYOB

HOAY

LOLAY

VONYOC

OEYLDP

MEOPLY

PESYO

CEVIRYO

UOOYRDRC

OEOYJRV

3/15/2018