June 4-10, 2018

The exuberance of June … began at daybreak with the chirping and chattering of birds close at hand and in widening circles around us. And then, what greater wonder than the rising of the Sun? Even the nights, as yet without insect choirs, were alive. Fireflies against the mass of trees were flashing galaxies which repeatedly made and unmade abstract patterns of light, voiceless as the stars overhead …

-Harlan Hubbard

Almanac horoscope

Entering its final quarter on June 6 at 1:31 p.m., the Daddy Longlegs Moon wanes throughout the period, becoming the new Turtle Hatching Moon at 2:43 p.m. on June 13. Rising before dawn and setting in the late afternoon, this moon passes overhead near midday.

The Sun is more than 95 percent of the way to summer.

Venus in Cancer is the giant western evening star. Continuing to accompany Libra, Jupiter shines in the southern sky at dusk. At midnight, all the constellations that move along the horizon during the summer are visible: Capricorn in the southeast, Sagittarius and Scorpio in the south and Libra in the southwest.

Weather trends

Between June 8-11, the average temperature rises just 1 degree in four days instead of late spring’s 1 degree in three. Then, between June 15-19, it climbs just 1 degree in five days, reaching its summer zenith.

On June 14, the moon reaches perigee, its position closest to Earth. Combined with the new moon, perigee increases the possibility for chilly weather and mid-June precipitation. Adding to the effects of new moon and perigee, a cool front is expected to cross the Mississippi between June 13-16, and it is likely to be a stormy weather system.

The natural calendar: The canopy of leaves has closed above the woodland wildflowers when winter wheat is a soft pale green and the vetches are blooming in the fields. Canadian thistles and crown vetch open in the pastures. Oakleaf hydrangeas blossom in the city, pickerel plants in ponds and balloon flowers in gardens.

Field and garden

The darkening moon is right for all kinds of animal care (especially worming and spraying for external parasites), for planting root crops, shrubs and trees, for weeding and mulching and for insect hunting. Harvest canola, commercial broccoli and squash.

Plant or transplant the last of the summer annuals: late zinnias, dahlias, black-eyed Susans, Mexican sunflowers, petunias and whatever else you have.

Strawberries, mulberries and black raspberries are becoming common in farmers’ markets now, along with bedding plants, herbs and cut flowers. Summer’s vibrant color and sweetness reach out to people as well as to birds and insects, feeding the spirit and the eye and palate.

As the canopy of leaves closes overhead, a deeper sense of early summer may contribute to improved moods and attitudes. In almost every year, the corn has sprouted and is climbing toward your knees. The winter wheat is long and burnished with pale gold.

The solstice is still over a week away, and it seems everything is still possible.

Marketing notes: The end of the Ramadan fast occurs next week; demand for halal lambs and kids is at its peak. For Father’s Day (June 17), rhubarb and all the berries are ready to be baked into pies.

Fish, livestock, insects and birds: Fish with the moon overhead in the middle of the day, especially as the barometer drops before the cool fronts of June 6 and 10. Fledglings continue to leave the nest throughout most of June. If you have a cat, keep him/her indoors. My daughter has even taught her cat to walk outside on a leash.

Try not to use chemical poisons on insects unless your livelihood depends on it; insect populations are declining throughout the world (although sometimes that’s hard to believe), and insecticides are often cumulative as well as invasive, affecting groundwater and insect populations far beyond the place in which they are used.

Almanac classics

The Happiest Moment of My Life

This narrative was submitted in May 2005 by Bob Christiansen of Salvisa, Ky. “I do not know who the author was,” he said, “but the story was in with some of my deceased folks’ personal things. It is handwritten in soft pencil on the back of a calendar leaf (February 1936).”

My story goes back 14 years ago last Christmas Eve. I was 16 years old and my cousin was 21. My cousin was never more satisfied than when gunning for wild game, and from the time I was old enough, he would take me along on the hunt.

On this particular occasion, we were on our way to feed some stock for a neighbor so that he might spend Christmas with his mother. My cousin insisted that I carry his shotgun and shoot any game that we might scare up.

We were soon nearing the neighbor’s barn, and as I had been carrying the gun cocked ready to fire, I decided to uncock it. But just as I let the hammer down, it accidentally went off, and my cousin stepped around me to take the load of shot in his leg just above the ankle.

When I saw what had happened, I was horrified, and when I finally recovered my senses, I heard him telling me to run for help. I ran home, and Father and I were back in no time, it seemed. Father and the doctor rushed him on to the nearest hospital, where Doc said they might have to amputate his foot.

I returned home heartbroken, thinking I had badly crippled my cousin whom I dearly worshipped. Early Christmas morning, Father returned from the hospital, telling me they had not only saved my cousin’s foot but that he would not even suffer a limp.

I believe to this day that was the happiest moment of my life.