June 5-11, 2017 There is no such thing as bad weather; the good Lord simply sends us different kinds of good weather. -John Ruskin Almanac horoscope Moon time: The Strawberry and Raspberry Moon waxes through apogee (its position furthest from Earth) on June 8 and becomes completely full at 8:10 a.m. on June 9. Rising in the evening, setting in the morning, this moon will cross overhead in the middle of the night.
Sun time: Only an astronomer could tell the difference between today and solstice. That’s because the sun is more than 95 percent of the way to summer. Planet time: Mars moves retrograde into Gemini but still becomes lost in the sunset by the middle of the month; it will not reappear until autumn.
Star time: When you do morning chores, you’ll see the Milky Way above you and the Great Square moving in from the East, fertile Pisces right behind it. To the far west, Arcturus is the brightest setting star. At noon, invisible Orion covers the south, promising the Dog Days of middle summer.
Weather time The June 10 front: In all but the northernmost states (and at the highest elevations), lows near freezing and highs only in the 50s now recede from the realm of serious possibility until late August. Although showers can be associated with warm temperatures, many of the days between this front and the next are dry. Unsettled conditions often surround the arrival of the June 15 front as late spring and early summer hold their final skirmishes. After summer is victorious, however, precipitation typically stays away for several days. Between June 15-19, average temperatures climb their final degrees throughout the nation, reaching their summer peak near solstice. The period between June 13-26 is historically one of the best times of the month for fieldwork.
Zeitgebers
When pie cherries ripen, painted turtles and box turtles lay their eggs and big brown stag beetles prowl the grass. When the canopy has closed above the woodland wildflowers, when winter wheat is a soft pale green and the clovers and vetches are all coming in, then it is the best time of year for golden parsnip blossoms throughout the countryside.
Catalpas and privets and hawthorns and pink spirea bloom at parsnip time, and the number of fireflies grows in proportion to the flowers on the daylilies. The first nodding thistle, the first chicory, first daisy fleabane, the first great mullein, the first Asiatic lily and the first tall meadow rue open.
The first raspberry reddens and the first orange trumpet creeper blossoms. Bindweeds and sweet peas color the fences with pastels.
Field and garden time Now is the time for insect infestations to reach the economic threshold. Look for rose chafers and two-spotted spider mites on your rose bushes. Cucumber beetles eat the vines of the cucumbers and melons. Gather cherries, mulberries and black raspberries in the mild June days. Fertilize asparagus and rhubarb as their seasons end. Sdedress the corn.
Plant root crops as the moon wanes this week. Harvest strawberries at full moon or maximum juice (unless rains have been heavy). Harvest canola, commercial broccoli and squash. Consider putting in double-crop soybeans after the wheat is cut. Marketing time: Sell your mid-summer flowers, garden crops and berries throughout the month. Consider red-white-blue (or violet) combinations of flowers for the July 4 holiday.
Mind and body time The Almanack horoscope is a mixed bag this week. June is one of the major pivot months in the year, the time when the canopy of leaves closes overhead throughout the entire country. Now there is no denying that summer is here, and that we are at center of the natural cycle of the seasons.
The body, which has been conditioned for thousands of years to plant, reap, hunt and fish during the warm months in order to prepare for the colder months, may be sending you some pretty strong messages. If you aren’t farming or gardening, and you don’t have a stake in the summer months, you may feel tremendously restless or dissatisfied. Take an hour or so, and write down your feelings. Listen to your body. See what it tells you.
Creature time (for fishing, hunting, feeding, butterfly watching): The moon is overhead after dark this week, encouraging fish to bite at that time. Dieting may be more difficult, and fish should feed more intensely as the cool fronts of June 10 and 15 approach.
In the garden, watch for butterflies. Monarchs, tiger swallowtails, red admirals, sulphurs, blues, question marks, cabbage whites, fold-winged skippers, silver-spotted skippers, tortoiseshells and buckeyes to be arriving at your flowers. Of course, it is not too late to plant flowers and attract those butterflies.
Almanac classics
A Charming Story
By Alice J. McKinney Wingate, Ind. Her name was Charmer. She’d been a bottle baby lamb. She had grown into a fine ewe. It was now December, and her first lamb was due.
I went out to the barn for a late-night check. Just as I entered one barn door, I heard a noise, and it was Charmer coming in the opposite door.
“Grummphh,” she said. Grumps again, and she backed out the door. “That’s strange,” I thought. It was almost as if she wanted me to follow her.
So, I walked around the snowy barn and there it was in the snow, still steaming – her first lamb.
She wanted me to bring it into the lambing stall she had been raised in, out of the cold night. That was one smart sheep, Charmer. |
