March 23-29, 2015

At dawn the chorus begins. I awake early, and from my bed listen to the announcement of spring, and count the number of bird songs I can hear.

-Eliot Porter

Lunar phase and lore

The Cabbage Butterfly Moon waxes throughout the period, entering its second quarter at 2:43 a.m. on March 27. Rising in the middle of the day and setting in the middle of the night, this waxing moon passes overhead in the evening.

The lunar influence on fishing, therefore, should be strongest from late afternoon into the night, especially as the cold fronts of March 29 and April 2 push down the barometer before their arrival.

Lunar planting conditions are ideal under Cancer from March 26-29.

Weather trends

The last front of early spring introduces tornado season to the nation’s midsection, and the likelihood of a thunderstorm is six times greater this week than it was last week.  As this front moves east, a significant chance for a high in the 80s occurs for the first time this year in the lower Midwest.

The natural calendar

March 23: Frosts could be over for the winter, but an average year brings 20 more.

March 24: Touch-me-nots sprout in the swamps.

March 25: Question mark, tortoise shell and cabbage butterflies look for nectar. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers arrive. Violet cress may be flowering in the lowlands.

March 26: Leaves grow on skunk cabbage. First periwinkles bloom.

March 27: First hepatica opens. Buds form on wild raspberries.

March 28: Water striders mate. Ragweed sprouts.

March 29: The first buckeye, apple and peach trees leaf out.

In field and garden

March 23: Remove mulch from around rose bushes. Spread manure once again.

March 24: When the soil temperature reaches the middle 50s, crabgrass germinates in the garden – about the same time yellow forsythia flowers and daffodils open. Try to apply your crabgrass herbicide (or deep mulch) just before germination.

March 25: Plant sets of broccoli, cabbage, collards and kale.

March 26: Transplant shade and fruit trees, shrubs, grape vines, strawberries, raspberries and roses while the ground temperature remains in the 40s. Complete all field planting preparations.

March 27: Put in first field corn, potatoes, sugar beets, carrots and red beet as conditions permit.

March 28: Topdress winter wheat.

March 29: Three more weeks of relatively mosquito-free gardening remain.

Almanac literature

Great American Story Contest entry

How I Saved a Mouse

By Lou Beard

Shelby, Ohio

Living in a rural area of Ohio, we had an old ’97 Ranger we had bought to take our dog for rides around the farmland. One day I went out to start the truck, and it would not start. I opened the hood to see what was wrong. A mother mouse ran out as I cracked the hood and scared me to death.

On top of the distributer cap, nestled in a small little nest, were three blind mice, no more than a week old. I waited for the mother mouse to return after the scare, but after many hours, I knew she had abandoned her babies.

I carried them into the house and made them a nice soft bed in the bottom of a basket in which I had cut strips from an old red flannel shirt. I installed a light about 12 inches above the basket to keep them warm.

I tried to open their mouths to feed them from a tiny baby bottle, but even an eyedropper was still too big for their tiny little mouths. Nothing worked, and I felt frustrated.

The next morning, I ran to see if they were still alive, and they were. But they were hungry and weak, and I was determined to save them. I decided to soak the strips of red flannel in a dish of warm milk. I offered the soaked strip to the littlest mouse.

Within seconds he put his front legs around it and hung on to it and sucked out the milk. I offered it to the other two and the same thing happened. I felt like I had just experienced a miracle!

After a few days, the mice started to grow fur and were eating every two hours, day and night. Soon they were running around in the little basket and playing with each other. I felt in my heart that I had done the right thing. I made a home in an empty aquarium for the largest little mouse, and the other two I set free to live their lives on the farm. I called the one I kept Little M, and he became my friend and pet for over nine years.

Winners of the Great American Almanac Story Contest will not be announced until all selected entries appear in this column.