May 17-23, 2010
Wherever you are is home,
And the earth is paradise:
Wherever you set your feet is holy land.
-Wilfred Pelletier and Ted Poole
Lunar phase and lore

The Duckling and Gosling Moon, entering its second quarter at 6:43 p.m. May 20, waxes throughout the period, becoming completely full on May 27 at 6:07 p.m. Lunar conditions remain ideal for planting all your flowers and for putting in vegetables that will produce their fruit above the ground. Keep planting the last corn and soybeans, too.

As the moon moves overhead in the evening, be out fishing after supper.

When the waxing moon is above you, however, deep-fried Twinkies and sultry Little Debbies lie in wait, tempting you to go off your diet.

All creatures want to eat more as the barometer falls in advance of the May 21 and 24 cool fronts.

The moon’s weak position on May 20 favors any activities that are stressful. On the other hand, the full moon of May 27 could make stressful activities much worse.

And think ahead: If the kids (kid goats) still have their horns, the recommended lunar practice is to dehorn your kids one week before or after the full of the moon.

Weather patterns

The Strawberry Rains, accompanied by a host of slugs, may continue to plague gardens, pastures and hay fields as the May 25 cool front approaches, but consider making the first cut of alfalfa after the high-pressure system comes through and the weather clears up.

Slugs, of course, are not the only bugs about; the third week of May usually means that a wide variety of insects reach the economic threshold all across the region.

Daybook

May 17: Now is a good time to check your chickens for mites; hot weather increases the chances that your birds will have them. Why not inspect the dogs and cats for fleas, too?

May 18: Spring rains and humidity can increase the risk of internal parasites in livestock. Make use of stool sample analysis to ensure that worming has been effective.

May 19: Strawberry season opens around Cincinnati as cedar waxwings migrate north and snapping turtles lay their eggs. Ticks are stalking you and your pets, and hot weather stresses poultry and livestock as corn planting nears completion throughout the nation.

May 20: The days surrounding the cool front due on May 20 are some of the most turbulent of the month, often marked by rain, tornadoes and high winds. Today’s system also brings the threat of frost to the northern tier of states, but it typically spares tomatoes and eggplant below the 40th Parallel.

May 21: Winter wheat heads up as bass and bluegills spawn in farm ponds. Mulberries and wild grapes flower. Multiflora roses, spirea, boxwood and yellow poplars are ready to bloom.

May 22: Transition your animals slowly from last year’s old hay to this year’s fresh hay. Keep in mind that hay can quickly become moldy in damp, mild May weather. That’s not so good for your herd or flock, and can give a moldy taste to their milk.

May 23: As the weather warms up, don’t forget to cut back on high-energy winter feed for livestock. And keep in mind that imbalance in feed can cause your animals to gain too much weight. Of course, that works for people, too.

Countdown to early summer

This is the last week of late spring, and the full transition to early summer is under way. Snow-on-the-mountain blossoms and sweet Williams, clematis and spiderwort open. White spotted skippers and red admiral butterflies visit the garden. Gold-collared black flies swarm in the pastures. Leafhoppers look for corn.

Scorpion flies make their appearance in the barnyard. Northern Spring Field Crickets, the first crickets of the year to sing, are singing. Baby robins are out of the nest. Evergreens have four to six inches of new growth.

Sycamore and ginkgo leaves are almost full-size, and the rest of the maples are filling in. Grasses along the riverbanks are waist-high and more. Poison hemlock reaches your chin, angelica over your head.

Full moon during the transition period to early summer can be one of the most stressful times of the year. The weather and the landscape conspire to create high expectations, and high expectations frequently lead to disappointment.

Spring fever turns to angst as people realize that they can no longer wait to do all the things they have been putting off until June.

Almanac literature
The Disappearing Milkweed
By Clarence Dinnen
Jamestown, Ohio

Long ago when I was a boy, milkweed was plentiful. It grew along fencerows, in the fields of corn, hay and pasture. Sometimes there would be large patches of the weed in the corner of a field. I would pick some of the pods in the autumn, open them and watch the hairy seeds float along in the breeze.

I was in fifth grade when World War II began for the United States with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Life changed for us in many ways after that. There was rationing of many products – from tires and gasoline and rubber boots to sugar, meat and lard.

The following fall, I was in sixth grade. One day our teacher announced she wanted us to collect milkweed pods for the war effort. The hairy seeds in the pods were to be used in flotation jackets for the armed forces.

So, we went to work filling big brown paper bags with the pods. They were collected at school. The plastics industry was just getting started and there was no foam plastic as we have today.
As I recall, there were some experiments using the milkweed sap to produce a form of rubber, but I never learned of the results.
Now let’s jump forward to our present time. Milkweed is not common – it is scarce. Our modern agricultural weed control in our crop fields is eliminating the milkweed. There are only a few in my area of Greene County, Ohio.

I try to keep some growing along an open ditch and in my garden. I have found that natural seeding on the wind works better than trying to plant the seed.

But the milkweed is important to the Monarch and Milkweed (where it gets its name) butterflies. The milkweed is toxic to most insects, but these butterflies lay their eggs on the leaves and the larvae eat on the leaves. They develop quickly into adults. So the not-so-common milkweed works in the life cycle of these butterflies.
Poor Will pays $3 for any original, unusual animal or family story published in this column.