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 treetops. – Hal Borland

The Moon: The Daffodil Moon, new on the 21st, waxes throughout the period, entering its second quarter at 10:33 p.m. on March 28. Lunar apogee, when the Moon is farthest from Earth, occurs on March 31. Rising in the morning and setting in the night, this Moon passes overhead in the afternoon, its most favorable lunar position for fishing.

The Sun: The Sun’s declination moves well past the midpoint of its ascent toward solstice this week, reaching a declination of 2 degrees 56 minutes on March 28, about 55 percent of the way toward summer.

The Planets: Still the bright evening stars, Venus and Jupiter shine in the west after sundown.

The Stars: Early on March evenings, Orion has moved into the west, taking winter with it.

Weather Trends: 

Between April 1 and June 1, close to 10 frosts occur in this part of the state. Chances for frost to strike after the dates listed are: April 5, 95 percent; April 10, 90 percent; April 15, 80 percent; April 20, 75 percent; April 25, 65 percent; and April 30, 50 percent.

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. 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.

More bluebirds and yellow-bellied sapsuckers arrive every day. Catfish are feeding. Question mark, tortoise shell and cabbage butterflies sometimes emerge to look for flowers. Sandhill cranes migrate in Nebraska.

In the 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 four to five feet in length. If only a fall crop of everbearing raspberries is desired, all 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 eight inches.

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. Feed the bees if they are stuck in their hives.

Mind and Body: 

The proverbial “spring cleaning” has its roots in human physiology and psychology. 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 through 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.

Countdown to Spring

• Just a few days until golden forsythia blooms and skunk cabbage sends out its first leaves and the lawn is long enough to cut

• One week until the earliest American toads sing their mating songs in the dark and corn planting time begins

• Two weeks until lilacs bloom in your dooryards

• Three weeks until all the honeysuckles flower

• Five weeks to the morel season

• Six weeks to the great warbler migration through the Lower Midwest

• Seven weeks to the first cricket song of late spring

• Eight weeks until the first orange daylilies blossom

• Nine weeks until the high canopy begins shades the garden

• 10 weeks until the first mulberries are sweet for picking and cottonwood cotton drifts in the wind.

Almanack Classics

A Shiloh Silo Adventure

by Susan Zimmerman, Shiloh, Ohio

One cold, windy day in February, my husband Ivan had a lesson in patience he probably won’t forget.

Right after breakfast one morning, Ivan let the cows out on the barn yard to give them their daily exercise. While they were enjoying the fresh air, Ivan climbed in the haylage silo to fork down hay for the cows’ feeding.

It was a windy day, and the fluffy haylage created a downdraft in the concrete chute, making it impossible to see how large the pile was below. When he climbed down, he discovered his pile was so large it had plugged the chute.

Thinking the chute was plugged only a short way, he jumped on it to push it down. But by doing so, he only packed it harder, thus making it impossible for him to get out of the silo.

Meanwhile, I was in the house, and pretty soon I heard a banging.

“Well,” I thought, “at least Ivan’s all right since he’s hammering at something.”

So, I happily went about my work, while every 15 minutes or so I heard this “hammering” out in the barn. Occasionally I heard a whistle and thought Ivan must be having a good day.

But 12 o’clock came, then 12:15 and still no husband. At 12:20, I was really worried, as he is usually prompt at mealtime. So, I quickly put our 3-month-old son in his baby swing and ran outside to see if perhaps Ivan had just forgotten his time.

As I approached the barn, I heard someone faintly calling my name, but I could not decide where it came from.

I quickly ran into the silo lean-to, and lo and behold, I saw what was wrong. I frantically forked some laylage away, but I could only pull it down bit by bit since it was packed so hard. Finally, however, with Ivan pushing down on top, we got the chute open, and Ivan jumped down all safe and sound.

I guess he was glad his wife hadn’t decided to go shopping for the day!

 

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S SCKRAMBLER

CUKTR TRUCK

NOWRDETSURKC WONDERSTRUCK

KUCAM AMUCK

LUTOPCK POTLUCK

UOEBRKC ROEBUCK

CUKHCODOW      WOODCHUCK

HRRRSTRCKOOU   HORRORSTRUCK

STURKCREDNUHT    THUNDERSTRUCK

LUCKP PLUCK

KUCCL CLUCK

CUDK DUCK

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

In order to estimate your SCKRAMBLER 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

Poor Will’s Almanack for 2023 is still available. Order yours from Amazon, or, for an autographed copy, order from www.poorwillsalmanack.com. You can also purchase Bill Felker’s new book of essays, The Virgin Point: Meditations in Nature, from those sites.

Copyright 2023 – W. L. Felker