July 2-8, 2018

There, through the long, long, summer hours

The golden light should lie,

And thick young herbs and groups of flowers

Stand in their beauty by.

-William Cullen Bryant

The Turtle Hatching Moon enters its final quarter at 2:50 a.m. on July 6 and wanes throughout the period, becoming the new Black-Eyed Susan Moon at 9:48 p.m. on July 12. Rising before dawn and setting in the afternoon, this moon passes overhead in the morning.

At 10:36 a.m. on July 6, the Earth reaches aphelion, the point at which it is about 153 million kilometers – its greatest distance – from the sun. Aphelion occurs almost exactly six months from perihelion, Earth’s position closest to the sun (about 148 million km).

Saturn arrives in the evening sky with Sagittarius in the southeast. At noon, the stars overhead are the stars of winter’s midnight: Orion due south, the Pleiades overhead. On the clearest July afternoons, January’s Sirius (the Dog Star of middle summer) is visible in the southeast.

Since the moon may exert less influence on ocean tides and on human and animal behavior when it comes into its second and fourth quarters, it might make more sense to transport your animals, perform routine maintenance and take vacation on your livestock on or about July 6 and 18.

Some people suffer from S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorders) in the middle of the summer as well as in the middle of the winter. If you work in an air-conditioned building (or keep the air on at home all the time), you may be suffering from summer cabin fever.

Try getting outside more and keep to a moderate exercise routine. Drink plenty of liquids, eat lightly and avoid a lot of sugar.

Weather trends

The Corn Tassel Rains often occur during this period, and temperatures, which cooled somewhat during the first days of July, begin to grow warmer. July 7-9 are some of the worst Dog Days of the year, each bringing a 10 percent chance for heat above 100 degrees.

New moon on July 12 (followed by perigee on July 13) and full moon on July 27 may increase the chance of tornadoes in the South and Midwest and the landing of a hurricane in the Gulf region near those dates.

The natural calendar: Look for the last black raspberries of the season this week; after that, check the orchard for the first of the summer apples. Out in the woods, you could find the first black walnuts fallen to the ground. Milkweed pods have emerged almost everywhere; they will burst at the approach of middle fall in three months.

Field and garden

Heat stress intensifies for summer crops. Keep flowers and vegetables well watered and fed to help them resist the onslaught of the insects and weather. Consider that about 80 frost-free days remain in your garden, and calculate the estimated harvest time and the fall garden schedule.

Select varieties for mid-summer planting that are able to grow well even as the days shorten. For frost-sensitive vegetables like beans, try to use varieties that ripen quickly. Late plantings of the fleetest sweet corn and squash can be sown as the moon waxes next week. Also, order seed for green manure production for autumn or early spring.

If you’re not sure if the garlic is mature or not, dig a few bulbs every 2-3 days between now and the middle of July. If you wait longer than July 15 to bring in the whole crop, however, the bulbs may start to break apart – bad for storage as well as for farmers’ market sales.

Marketing notes: Plan for next month’s opportunities: August 10, Ecuadorian Independence Day, and August 21-25, Eid Al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice). Lambs and kids in the range of 55-80 pounds are favored for this market.

Keep up the training of goats (and other livestock) you plan to show at the fair: Talking to your animals, walking, standing, accepting the lead from the left and from the right can all be important. Don’t forget a little extra grain for the coat, and a little brushing, maybe a little udder ointment.

Fish, insects, livestock and birds: Fish with the moon overhead in the morning this week. Be on the water as the barometer falls in advance of the July 6 cool front. As the July Dog Days intensify, they often bring more Japanese beetles to the roses, leafhoppers to the potatoes and aphids everywhere.

Almanac classics

The Worst Thing I Ever Did

From the memories of Maurine Lamb Johnson (born 1904)

I believe the worst thing that I ever did was putting flypaper on my brother Robert’s head and mine.

In those days people used big sheets of flypaper and put them around on tops of tables and furniture. There were no fly sprays then. When the papers were sufficiently full of buzzing flies, people burned them and put out new ones.

The wind had blown some sheets of flypaper full of flies on the kitchen floor. I thought it would be fun to put them on our heads. I patted one down on Robert’s head, then put one on mine.

But, because of my hair ribbon, mine didn’t stick too well. When Mother came in and found us, I think she nearly fainted. Mine came off easily, but Robert’s was an awful problem.

She first tried pulling a little off at a time. It hurt him so much, so she decided one big yank wouldn’t hurt worse. But it did.

I probably got a good spanking this time from my dad, as I deserved it. We always said that Mother switched us more often, but Dad did it the hardest.