The flocks are beginning to form

I will take with me the emptiness of my hands

What you do not have you find everywhere. – From “Provisions” by M. S. Merwin

The Planets of August

Venus and Jupiter are the Morning Stars this month, rising after midnight in the east. Venus is the brighter of the two. Mars is the Evening Star, visible at the end of the day in the west with Virgo...

The moon in August:

The Raspberry Pie Moon entered its second quarter on Aug. 1.

The moon was full on Aug. 9.

The moon enters its final quarter on Aug. 16.

The Peach Pie Moon is new on Aug. 23.

The moon enters its second quarter on Sept. 1.

Phenology

When watermelons are ripe and firefly season comes to a close, then farmers and gardeners cut the last of the oats and put in fall peas.

When spiders start to increase their building of webs in the woodlot, then yellow jacket season begins in the windfall apples and plums, and morning fogs increase in the lowlands. The yellow jackets build nests at the end of the summer and become more aggressive near them.

When the first field corn is mature, then gardeners divide and transplant the lily-of-the-valley. When cardinals stop singing before dawn, the soybean leaves are yellowing in the fields and farmers start to cut corn for silage.

Natural Calendar

August is the month of the Milky Way in the eastern early night sky. Cygnus the swan can be found there, its formation a giant cross. Below it is Aquila, spreading from its keystone, Altair, like a great eagle. Almost directly above you, Vega, of the constellation Lyra, is the brightest star in the heavens. Hercules stands beside it. June’s Corona Borealis and the huge Arcturus have moved to the west.

An hour or two before sunrise, walk out and look to the east. Orion will be rising, in the same position he will be in on Christmas Eve. The Pleiades and Taurus will be almost overhead. Cygnus, the summer swan of August evenings, is setting in the northwest.

As Late Summer begins, all the katydids are singing. They call out the close of the Dog Days, and even though heat often lingers, the rhythm of the season has shifted, its tones have been altered, colors and sounds and scents all pointing to fall.

Now, almost everywhere in the country, average temperatures start to drop a degree and a half every seven days until the middle of September, at which point they decline about one degree every three days into January. Migration clucking among the robins increases. Some days, there will be a long and steady cardinal song before sunrise, then silence. Hummingbirds, wood ducks, Baltimore orioles and purple martins start to disappear south; their departure marks a quickening in the advent of Early Fall.

Cottonwoods are yellowing. Black walnut foliage is thinning, foretaste of the great leafdrop to come. Locust leaves turn brown, damaged by leaf miners. Violet Joe Pye weed grays like thistledown. The prickly teasel dies back. Fruit of the bittersweet ripens. Spicebush berries redden. Tall goldenrod heads up. Rose pinks and great blue lobelia color the waysides. In the thunderstorms of Late Summer, green acorns and hickory nuts fall to the sweet rocket growing back among the budding asters. Spiders in the woods weave their final webs, and fireflies complete their cycle.

Butterflies often become more common this week of the year, monarchs appearing more frequently, and another generation of cabbage butterflies, swallowtails and skippers seeking nectar. Sometimes giant imperial moths come out to seek the lights of the city. Tiny alypias, shiny black moths with white spots on their wings, may find their way indoors.

Almanack Literature

Political Unrest

By Mike Beard, Shelby, Ohio

This story goes back a few years; as a matter of fact, it goes back to 1960 during another political campaign. As most of you remember, the presidency of the United States was being sought by Jack Kennedy and Richard Nixon. I was in high school and lived on a small farm in northwest Ohio. The political hype was at its greatest all year.

I raised sheep on the farm at that time, and in January, I purchased two beautiful Hampshire rams to be used for breeding services. These rams were my pride and joy, and they were pampered and given the best living conditions in the barn.  They together shared a large horse stall. Both being as pampered as they were needed names, so one was called Kennedy and the other Nixon.

As the political climate grew, so did the rams. By September, it was breeding season, and they were turned into pasture with the ewes for breeding. As rams will do, they became aggressive, not just with themselves, but with humans…mainly myself.

You could not turn your back on either one of them or you would get butted rather hard. While bending over mending fences one day, Nixon head-butted me, knocked me on my butt and gave me a mild concussion. So needless to say, after that point, I was never able to trust them again. I still loved them, but after that I was careful and always had an eye on them when I went to the barn to do chores.

Sometime in late October, I segregated them from the rest of the sheep, and they were back in their shared stall. I noticed that they would have head butting contests, and it appeared to be getting worse. I decided they had to be separated from each other as they would butt heads relentlessly. I put a substantial gate between them to solve the head-butting problem, or so I thought.

Two days before the 1960 presidential election between Jack Kennedy and Richard Nixon, I went to the barn to do chores and found both of my much-loved Hampshire rams dead. They had torn down the gate between them and fought until they broke each other’s necks and died.

At that time, my father said, “That was a bad omen!” And I guess history tells us he was right.