How suggestive this thistle down...which, as I sit by the open window, comes in and softly bushes my hand! The first snowflake tells of winter not more plainly than this driving down heralds the approach of fall. – John Burroughs

The Moon, the Stars and the Sun

The Mating Milkweed Bug Moon enters its last quarter at 4:11 p.m. on July 1, weakening as it reaches apogee (its position farthest from Earth) on July 5. Rising after midnight and setting in the afternoon, this moon passes overhead in the morning, encouraging fish and dieters to bite, especially as the cool front of July 6 approaches.

Also on July 5 at 5 p.m., the Earth reaches aphelion, the point at which it is farthest from the Sun. Aphelion occurs almost exactly six months from perihelion, Earth’s position closest to the Sun.

In the late evenings, the teapot-shaped star formation of Libra lies in the south, followed by Scorpius. Sagittarius comes behind Scorpius in the southeast. Above both of those constellations, the Milky Way sweeps up to Cassiopeia in the north.

Weather Trends

The cool fronts of Deep Summer normally cross the Mississippi River around July 6, 14, 21 and 28. Although clouds are relatively rare through the end of June, they become more frequent on July 1 and 2. Then, starting on the 3rd, the sun returns (in between showers), and remains through the 11th. Chances of rain are considerably higher in the first two weeks of July than in the last two.

The Dog Days officially begin on July 3 as the chances of highs in the 90s rise from late June’s 20 percent up to 35-40 percent. Although the July 6 cool front brings some relief on that day and the day after (with lows in the 50s one night out of two on the 7th), chances of mild 70s on the 8th and 9th fall to less than 10 percent. The rainiest days in the first third of July are the 2nd, 3rd, 8th, and 9th.

Zeitgebers

(Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year)

Maroon seedpods have formed on the locust trees. This year’s ducklings and goslings are nearly full grown. The peak fishing period for bullheads, largemouth bass and crappies comes to an end. Autumn’s bird migrations begin as the rough-winged swallow flies south.

The first black walnuts start to fall and stag beetles appear on your porch. Roadside grasses turn like the winter wheat.

Purple coneflowers, white vervain, horseweed, germander, teasel and wild lettuce blossom in the fields; tall bellflowers and great Indian plantain open in the woods. The first white-flowered thimbleweeds set thimbles.

June’s berries are disappearing: black raspberries and strawberries decline quickly in warmer years; the best mulberries have fallen. July’s wild cherries ripen and elderberries set fruit. Some green-hulled walnuts are already on the ground. The earliest annual cicadas chant. (The great throng of periodic cicadas has ended their season; now it’s time for the annuals.) Trumpet vine flowers fall in the midsummer rains.

In the Field and Garden

A third to a half of the winter wheat is often ripe. It is time to harvest May apples in the woods. The oats mature and the first tier of soybeans blooms in average summers.

Corn borer infestations are more common now. Cabbage gathering ends in the north. Blueberry pickers pick the summer blueberries. Twelve leaves have emerged on most field corn. The first cut of alfalfa is almost complete throughout the Midwest. Cottony maple scale eggs hatch on the silver maples. The winter wheat harvest begins by today along the 40th Parallel.

The oats crop heads on eight out of ten fields. Chinch bugs do the most lawn damage in the next 30 days; watering frequently allows normal growth to keep pace with the insects.

Under the waning moon, do your pruning of shrubs and trees that flowered earlier in the year. Mulch the garden in preparation of Dog Day heat and peak weed season.

Renovate strawberry beds between thunderstorms (cutting off the tops above the crown, then fertilize). The summer apple harvest gets underway. Standing water from the Corn Tassel Rains can encourage parasite infestation in pastures. Rain often lodges wheat.

Almanack Classics

One True Love (A Romantic Sheep Story)

By Leah McAllister,

Oldhome Farm - Arkansas

My husband of 30 years and I attended high school together. He arrived during our sophomore year. I had never dated anyone, even though I was asked out lots of times. But I was very picky, and had an ideal in my head that none of the boys I knew could measure up to.

Not long after meeting Greg, I realized I had met my one true love. It took him until our senior year to ask me out, but once he did, there was never anyone else for either of us. A little over a year after our first date, we were married.

Thirteen years ago, we got into the sheep business on a small scale. Our good friends and neighbors were the original owners of our first flock of mixed breeds comprised of Romney, Marino, and Suffolk.

In that first flock we had a Romney ewe named Hilza, who was the lead sheep. She had a very stately air about her, and she refused to breed with any of our rams. Greg wanted to get rid of her, saying she was just a “dud” and a drain on the grain. But I loved Hilza and told him she was just like I used to be: she had yet met her ideal mate.

Eight years later, we were building our Suffolk flock and culling our other breeds. I still refused to sell my Hilza. Then one day a friend of ours asked if we could keep her Jacob ram for a while. We agreed, and Jeffery the ram came to live with our boys for a while.

One evening, as we were putting the girls into the barn lot for the night, Hilza refused to come. She stood by the gate to the boy’s paddock and pawed at the fence. She would look at us, bleated, and pawed at the fence.

I told Greg “I think Hilza wants in there.”

Laughing, Greg opened the gate for her, and she charged in and ran right up to Jeffery. They became constant companions, and she mourned his leaving when he went back to his home. That spring Hilza gave birth to her first lambs, one an exact duplicate of Jeffery.

Some of us girls just know what they want, and refuse to settle for anything less.

Poor Will pays $4 for unusual and true farm, garden, animal and even love stories used in this almanac. Send yours to Poor Will’s Almanack at the address below.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S SCKRAMBLER

In order to estimate your SCKRAMBLER IQ, award yourself 15 points for each word unscrambled, adding a 50-point bonus for getting all of them correct. If you find a typo, add another 15 points to your IQ.

CUKTR TRUCK

NOWRDETSURKC WONDERSTRUCK

KUCAM AMUCK

LUTOPCK POTLUCK

UOEBRKC ROEBUCK

CUKHCODOW WOODCHUCK

HRRRSTRCKOOU HORRORSTRUCK

STURKCREDNUHT THUNDERSTRUCK

LUCKP PLUCK

KUCCL CLUCK

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

OBY

UYOB

HOAY

LOLAY

VONYOC

OEYLDP

MEOPLY

PESYO

CEVIRYO

UOOYRDRC

Bill Felker’s Daybook for July (with extensive details for every day of the month) is now available. For your autographed copy, send $20 to Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. Or order from Amazon or from www.poorwillsalmanack.com.

Copyright 2021 – W. L. Felker