“The maples have already been touched by gold, and the sounds of the forest and roadside are become dry and crackling. All along the stone walls, the ragweed, pigweed, burdock, asters, thistles and goldenrod have grown to giant proportions to join the spectacle of autumn. They no longer sway as they did in spring but bend stiffly now whenever a breeze stirs.” — Eric Sloan

The Moon, Jupiter and the Sun

The Hickory, Black Walnut and Pecan Nutting Moon, entering its second quarter on Sept. 13, waxes throughout the week, becoming full on Sept. 20 at 6:55 p.m. Rising in the late afternoon and setting after midnight, this moon passes overhead in the middle of the night, encouraging creatures to be more active at that time, especially as the cool fronts of Sept. 20 and 24 approach (pushing the barometric pressure down).

Watch the Moon appear close to Jupiter in the evening sky of Sept. 18. Equinox occurs at 3:21 EDT on Sept. 22.

Weather Trends 

The third week of September brings one of the most radical shifts so far in the season. Not only do the chances for highs in the 60s move from ten percent to 30 percent, but cold afternoons in the 50s become possible for the first time since June 4. The likelihood for warm 90s or 80s falls sharply throughout the period, with Sept. 18 bringing only a 20 percent chance for highs above the 70s, the first time that has happened since May 6. Full moon on Sept. 20 will increase the likelihood of light frost this week.

Zeitgebers

(Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year)

In the final two weeks of September, a rapid deterioration of all the wildflowers occurs. Except for the few varieties that open during second spring (late September through November), the final species that grow to maturity within the temporal limits of this year are now in the process of bearing fruit. 

When autumn leafturn starts along the 40th Parallel, the deciduous trees are bare in northern Canada. In New England and in the Rocky Mountains, foliage colors are approaching their best. 

More hickory nuts, more acorns come down. Black walnuts are all over the ground. 

The huge pink mallows of the wetlands have died back, heads dark, leaves disintegrating. Scattered in the pastures, milkweed pods are ready to open. 

In the woods, second spring’s sedum is growing stronger. Ground ivy, mint and catchweed revive as the canopy thins. Waterleaf has fresh shoots. Snow-on-the-mountain has recovered from its mid-summer slump and can be as thick and as beautiful as in early spring. 

Touch-me-nots continue to pop. Wood nettle seeds are black and brittle. Wingstem, clearweed, and ironweed complete their cycle.

The calls of the katydids become less prominent in the cool nights.

Mind and Body

The S.A.D. Index, which measures seasonal stress on a scale from 1 to 100, remains in the mild 30s throughout the period, in spite of the full moon. Benign temperatures and the likelihood of clear skies keep lunar influence in check. Next week will be even better!

In the Field and Garden

Ragweed season comes to a close. Tobacco is about two-thirds cut along the Ohio River.

Light frost season gathers momentum, and the chances for a light freeze by this time in the year approach 50 percent per week.

Black walnut, buckeye, cottonwood and serviceberry leaf-fall seasons accelerate just as winter wheat and barley planting time commences on the farm.

Along most of the 40th Parallel, cornfields are brown. Soybean fields are yellow and shedding, and some fields have lost all their leaves. 

Grapes and fall apples are about a third picked. Commercial tomatoes and potatoes are all in the baskets. 

Sunflower fields start to blacken.

Mum season peaks at nurseries, and the waning moon now favors putting them in the ground.

ALMANACK CLASSICS

Surprise

A True Story

by Hazel Rose, Muncie, IN

This happened in the 1930s. This elderly lady had the one son. He liked to drink strong drink, and he would forget his way home. 

One moonlit night, about one in the morning, there came a knock upon our door. My mother answered the door, and there stood this lady saying that she could not find her son. Would my mother help locate him and get him home?

So off they went. 

And eventually they found this person passed out in the barn yard. Being the Good Samaritans they were, they got him up, and my mother kept telling him he ought to be ashamed, treating his mother this way, to which statements the man completely agreed.

Then lo and behold! They got him home, and the woman’s son was actually home with friends! They ended up never knowing who the stranger they tried to help really was. And I never heard my mother laugh as much in my life as when she told about what they had done that night.

***

Poor Will pays $5.00 for unusual and true farm, garden, animal and even love stories used in this almanack! Send yours to to Poor Will’s Almanack at P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387 or to wlfelker@gmail.com.

***

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.

OOUUHGDRS SOURDOUGH

OAOVTC OCTAVO

FUFBAOL BUFFALO

UAOBNGLW BUNGALOW

OCILCA CALICO

AEORGLL ALLEGRO

AAEUBTL TABLEAU

PITOET TIPTOE

ROOT TORO

UEAUOSTSR TROUSSEAU

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER 

OMOGNOWL

TOUWORG

OOPNHC

PMISRERASOI

NABREDLILREO

OOKYT

OOERRT

OOEDPRT

OOERTM

OEITTSL

Bill Felker’s Poor Will’s Almanack for 2022 is now available. In addition to weather, farming and gardening information, reader stories and astronomical data, this edition contains 50 essays from Bill’s weekly radio segment on NPR’s WYSO. For your autographed copy, send $22.00 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