Sept. 3-9, 2018

Everywhere in the countryside there is a glimmer of autumn reds. Hawthorn bushes are laden with crimson berries, while the clusters of black elderberries are surrounded with vinous red leaves. On brambles, the ripening berries are a glossy purple and some of the leaves are scarlet. The lower leaves of docks are also turning bright red.

-Derwent May

The Blackberry Jam Moon reaches perigee (its position closest to Earth) on Sept. 7, and then on Sept. 9 it becomes the new Jumping Jumpseed Moon at 1:01 p.m. Rising after midnight and setting in the afternoon to evening, this moon passes overhead in the late morning.

The sun’s apparent descent continues at the rate of approximately 1 degree every two days, reaching more than 95 percent of the way to equinox on Sept. 15. Mars in Capricorn and Saturn in Sagittarius move across the southern sky after sundown.

At bedtime find Perseus rising out of the northeast, the Great Square filling the eastern sky, Cygnus the Swan overhead, Hercules and the Corona Borealis in the west and the Big Dipper low in the northwest. Taurus and the Pleiades are up by midnight, and they stay in the dark sky until middle spring, when their disappearance coincides with opening of tulips.

At dawn, Orion is almost due south, the Great Square is setting and Regulus, the planting star of April, is climbing in front of the sun.

Weather trends

Early fall arrives in the second week of September. Temperatures, which began to cool slightly at the pivot time of August 10, decline more noticeably. Average highs fall below 80, and normal nighttime lows move below 60 until the second week of June.

Chances of highs in the 90s hold at only 10 percent each day this week, the first time that has happened since the end of May. Highs in the cold 60s occur another 10 percent of the time (and there is a the possibility of 50s for the first time since June 4), with 70s and 80s sharing the remaining 80 percent.

Frost is rare at this stage of the month, but chances of a light freeze increase to 10 percent on Sept. 13-14 as the third high-pressure system of the month comes through. The likelihood for rain remains at 35 percent though Sept. 3, then diminishes to 25 percent on Sept. 4-5, finally dropping to 10 percent on Sept. 6 – the lowest of the entire month.

Since the hot weather is on the wane and the skies normally remain summer-clear, the incidence of seasonal affective disorder is low this week. Continue to take advantage of rising adrenalin and other hormonal activity that often takes occurs in autumn to accomplish what you put off during the Dog Days of summer.

Lunar phase this week complements the seasonal hormonal surge and is favorable for surgery, trips to the dentist and for making difficult decisions.

The natural calendar

Among the many signs of approaching autumn, the maturing of the jumpseed plant is one of the more dependable. When its flowers have turned to brittle seeds, then the last tier of wildflowers starts to open throughout the country.

White and violet asters, orange beggarticks and bur marigolds, late field goldenrod and zigzag goldenrod come into bloom, blending with the last of the purple ironweed, yellow sundrops, blue chicory, golden touch-me-nots, showy coneflowers and great blue lobelias.

Fish and livestock: Your herd and flock can graze an area close now, then you can fertilize and seed those fields in early spring with a legume. Watch for the pasture to shift toward its autumn composition as the number of plants available for browse starts to diminish and the rate of growth begins to slow.

Schedule fall pasture improvements as soon as possible. Fish, dieters and game may be hungrier as the moon passes overhead in the morning, especially when the cool fronts of Sept. 8 and 12 approach (pushing down the barometer).

Field and garden

The dark moon favors the seeding of winter grains and green manure crops. Test the soil and make corrective lime and fertilizer applications for autumn plantings. In a typical season, soybeans have turned on a third of all the farms, and the harvest has begun.

A fourth to half the corn is mature, and about a fourth has been cut for silage. When the corn harvest ends, vaccinate for enterotoxemia the lambs you let run in the cornfields.

Marketing notes: Sept. 9-11 is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and first High Holiday, a fine time to offer your honey and apples for festival treats. Sept. 11-Oct. 9, 2018 is Al Hijira; this feast, the Islamic New Year, will continue for 29 days. There’s no religious significance, but like many New Year celebrations, it is a cultural event. A rise in halal sales could be expected during this period.

Almanac literature

You Are Feeding the Wrong Lamb

By Gayle W. Ford

Our Hampshire ewe, Megan, lambed in May with twins Maylene and Calvin, and it was apparent from the start that Maylene was the stronger of the two, as she would push her brother out of the way so she could nurse. I knew right off that Calvin was going to be a bottle baby.

One night about 10:30, I went out to the barn to give Calvin his bedtime feeding. Megan and lambs were all bedded down for the night. I thought I would check to see if Maylene was hungry before I fed Calvin.

I sat down on my chair with Maylene and no sooner did I get the bottle in her mouth, did Megan come over and stick her nose in between the lamb and my hand. She started mouthing the nipple, and the next thing I know, Megan bites me! Then she snatches the bottle by the nipple and flings it across the barn.

I finally got the message she had been trying to tell me. I was feeding the wrong lamb.

I put Maylene down, retrieved the bottle and picked up Calvin. As soon as I settled down to feed Calvin, Megan lay back down. I’m sure she was content in her knowledge that she had finally taught me which lamb was the wrong one to feed.

Sheep, stupid? Not my Megan!