Jan. 17-23, 2011
The first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is that of nature. Every day, the sun; and, after sunset, Night and her stars. Ever the winds blow; ever the grass grows.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Lunar phase and lore

The Jessamine Moon, full on Jan. 18 at 4:21 p.m., wanes throughout the week, entering its final quarter at 7:57 a.m. Jan. 26. Beginning the week in Cancer, the moon reaches Leo on Wednesday, Virgo on Friday, Libra on Sunday and Scorpio next Tuesday.

Although the seeding of bedding plants might be more productive just before new moon on Feb. 2, the waning January moon is favored for forcing spring bulbs such as tulips, hyacinths and daffodils. Also, do your deep winter pruning as the moon wanes through the rest of the month, but save the maples, crabapples and birches until next fall, just after leafdrop, to avoid excessive bleeding of sap.

Rising in the middle of the night and setting in the morning, the Jessamine Moon will move overhead before dawn, making early mornings the best time for fishing and scouting for game. As the barometer drops in advance of the Jan. 19 cold front, all creatures may be hungrier than usual, especially at breakfast time.
Weather patterns

This week, the lower Midwest lies in the middle of its annual peak snow period, and average temperatures are the lowest of the year. Days when the temperature does not rise above zero and morning lows below zero occur more in the third week of January than in any other week of the year.
In spite of the cold, the advance of spring is quickened: From this week forward, the night contracts by two to three minutes per day, all the way into June.

Daybook

Jan. 17: Throughout the nation, florists and grocery stores are carrying spring daffodils and tulips, either potted or as cut flowers. In the South, hellebores and Chinese witch hazels are flowering.
Jan. 18: When daffodil foliage is an inch tall in the Ohio Valley, then Algerian iris will soon be blossoming in Virginia. Aconites and snowdrops begin to bloom in the Carolinas.

Jan. 19: Today is full moon day as well as the average date for the fifth major high-pressure system of January to reach the Mississippi River. Prepare for “full moon madness” by making peace with your family and relatives, taking your medications, giving the animals extra attention, driving defensively and locking your doors (crime rising slightly as the moon turns completely round).
Jan. 20: The sun enters Aquarius today, a changeable period during which solar movement accelerates. The sun, which seemed to lie so close to the horizon throughout the past eight weeks, now starts to climb more rapidly each day, moving about 40 percent of the way to spring equinox in just 30 days.
Jan. 21: When whitetail bucks start to lose their antlers in the woods of the Ohio Valley, then camellias are at their best, and avocados and papayas are ripening all across the South.

Jan. 22: Opossums and raccoons become more active as deep winter wanes, and they appear at night along the back roads. Once you sight these small mammals, then you know for sure January thaw is near and that the next phase of the year, late winter, is on the way.

Jan. 23: Chinese New Year will be here in a little more than a week. Consider marketing some of your winter lamb and kid culls for this celebration.

Almanac literature
Sheep Story
By Joyce Kronberg (sheep-shower parent and 4-H advisor)
Lowell, Ohio

My son went to a very small elementary school two miles from our farm. He was petite in stature, but quick and useful to any soccer basketball, track or baseball team. He was also academic and entered every science, math or social studies fair and did well there.

In addition, he started showing sheep at five years of age because the neighbor girl (one year older) showed lambs. As fate would have it, he liked to show and enjoyed the sheep.

When he went to high school, we sent him to a bigger, but still small, parochial high school in a neighboring town and adjacent state. He was so quiet that I worried about immersing him into this foreign environment. But I did not count on lambs.

The first year, at Labor Day, the fair arrived and my son somehow mentioned showing sheep at the fair. Suddenly members of his class appeared in the sheep barn looking for a particular pen and showman. Naturally he had to explain sheep showing and animal husbandry to these young people.
The girls especially gushed over the sheep as being “so cute, fluffy, friendly.” My son knew lots to say about lambs and was the lone person in his school ever to have a breeding flock and to show the ovines. The Sheepboy name had begun.

Senior pictures were taken in the summer before the senior year and involved some indoor and outdoor shots.

When the senior photographs came out, almost every girl in his class had to have a picture of the Sheepboy with his arms around his show lambs.
First, we got 20 wallet-size pictures and had to reorder at least twice. Then, he went to college and some of the girls in his college classes got wind of the picture. On college breaks, he would be scrounging around in the desk drawers looking for any extra sheep photos. We reordered again.
Later, during medical school, he was interviewing for Match Day (these interviews help to determine where the student will do internship). Somehow, the interviewer got sidetracked into “sheep talk” and a lively exchange resulted. Naturally the interview went well since my son could talk about sheep for hours.

During his OB-GYN rotation, the young man cracked up the attending group with, “Well, this is a new one for me. I have helped deliver lambs, but this will be a new species for me.”

Do not underestimate the way a good 4-H or FFA animal project can open up conversations for years to come. For this mother, lambs and sheep mean promoting calm, quiet exchanges, and this can be a springboard to all sorts of new, friendly relationships.