By Bill Felker The sun’s eyes are painting fields again: Its lashes with expert strokes Are sweeping across the land. A great palette of light has embraced the earth. – Hafiz of Shiraz The Moon, the Stars and the Sun The First Week of Early Spring The Mourning Dove Moon waned throughout the remainder of the month, entering its last quarter at 5:32 p.m. on Feb. 23 and reaching perigee, its position closest to Earth, on Feb. 26 at 5:00 p.m. It becomes the Black-Capped Chickadee Moon at 12:35 p.m. on March 2. Fish as the barometer falls before the cold fronts of February 27 and March 3. The moon will be overhead in the daytime during this period, providing a little extra motivation for fish, livestock and people to feed in the light. The sun reached a declination of 9 degrees, 31 minutes by Feb. 24, 60 percent of the way to equinox. In the last week of February, the early night sky tells of Spring. Looking east, you can almost forget that cold Orion fills the west. Just a little to the right and down from the Big Dipper, May’s Regulus is shining in the constellation Leo. The faint stars of lanky Hydra spread along the horizon. Due east, the brightest star is Arcturus, which will be overhead this time of night when the first fireflies appear. Weather Trends After the benign days of February’s third week that often force snowdrops and aconites into bloom, the chilly Feb. 24 front almost always pushes Snowdrop Winter deep into the South. Since this high often clashes strongly with the moist air of early spring, snowstorms, flooding and tornadoes are more likely to occur now than at any time since the 15th. February’s final font is often more gentle than the Feb. 24 front, but this year, new moon on March 2 is likely to strengthen the cold of Snowdrop Winter. Zeitgebers (Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year) As the days lengthen and autumn’s windfall apples dissolve into the ground, woodcocks, canvasback ducks and rusty blackbirds join red-winged blackbirds. Newborn wolf spiders look for prey in the warmest fields. The earliest mosquitoes bite. Ant mounds rise from cracks in sidewalks heated by the sun. In streams and ponds, water striders mate. When you notice the blossoms of snowdrops and yellow aconites, look for the following sequence throughout the month ahead: crocus, bright blue squills, yellow jonquils, full-size daffodils, then purple hyacinths, then pale wood hyacinths and pushkinias. The predawn robin chorus will begin within two weeks, so be on the lookout for the arrival of large flocks near crab apple and serviceberry trees. In the Field and Garden Consider sealing cracks in the siding of your home and outbuildings before yellow jackets and carpenter bees come out to nest. Lunar position is ideal this week for seeding hardy vegetables in flats for setting out in late March. Also take cuttings to propagate shrubs, trees and houseplants; experiment with forsythia, pussy willow, hydrangea and spirea. Order seeds for spring planting. Transplant flowers and vegetables that you started under lights. March 1 is Mardi Gras. Get ready for the Easter Market in the middle of April: Save your newly weaned, milk-fed lambs and kids, weighing about 25 to 45 pounds, for this market. Also plan for the New Year’s celebration (April 14 - 16) for immigrants from Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. The Asian market often favors sheep and goats in the 60 to 80-pound live-weight range. Mind and Body The moon darkens throughout the period, becoming new on March 2, producing a spike in seasonal affective disorders, an increase in the chances for a return of wintry conditions and a less than favorable S.A.D. forecast for many people. The S.A.D. Index (which measures the forces usually attributed to Seasonal Affective Disorder on a scale of 1 to100) rises steadily from the more benign 50s into the troublesome high 70s as March arrives. Be alert for health changes as the weather and the landscape undergo dramatic changes in the weeks ahead. Continue to offset early spring blues by exercising, working outside and planting seeds in flats for setting out in April and May. Journal 2021: Sun and chilly: Loud cardinals, doves, titmice, chickadees, house sparrows and a grackle at 6:45 this morning, but only chatter from the robins. Snowdrops all emerged, trying to open. From his farm, Chris reports: “Woodcocks and wood ducks! And our nesting doves are back. So happy around here!” Casey just saw me at the post office and said he’d been having red-winged blackbirds at his feeders for the past week, and from Goshen, Ind., Judy writes: “Looking out the window a while ago, I saw three geese and a couple of pairs of mallards on the pond. A red-winged blackbird lighted on our neighbor’s deck, and the doves have been back since Sunday. Walking through the neighborhood this morning, I noticed the first purple snow crocus opening in a dooryard. And when I walked my dog in the alley after lunch, I discovered a huge patch of aconites, complete with honeybees, in full bloom behind the Danielsons’ old property. Then more purple crocuses in front of Don’s house and the first grackle at the bird feeder. And back home, the snowdrops were opening all the way and a few forsythia buds were yellow, and the pussy willows were all emerged. I saw the first red peony sprout and the first leaves on the stonecrop. ALMANACK CLASSICS My Hero – My First Love An Outhouse Story By Eunice Hicks When my friend Sallie and I were working on a muck farm, we asked the boss if we could use the outhouse. He said that we could, and he added, “Go down the path, up the road and across the ditch. You can’t miss it.” We thanked him and started down the path. Then we looked and saw an outhouse much closer than the one our boss had told us about. But we found out when we got to the road that we would also have to go across a ditch to get to the outhouse. My friend said to me, “You go first. I’ll follow you.” I took one step and I slid into the ditch up to my hips in the muck and water. I screamed and hollered, “Help me! I’m freezing!” Sallie stopped a man in a car. He saw I needed help, waded into the muck and water, took me by my arms and pulled me from the ditch. I was so cold and freezing, shaking like a leaf! This man took me and my friend home. As he started to leave, I asked him, “Would you mind telling me your name?” “Just call me George,” he said. Then he laughed. Sallie and I waved and said thanks. As he drove away, I said to Sallie, “I know that man. I recognized him by his voice. He was my first date in high school!” Sally and I laughed and laughed until we couldn’t laugh any more. Poor Will’s Almanack pays $5 for stories used in this column. Send your stories to Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387 Poor Will’s Almanack for 2022 is still available, containing the S.A.D. Index, as well as natural history essays for each week of the year, monthly weather reports, some of the best reader stories of all time, and a monthly farm and garden calendar. Purchase your copy from Amazon or, for an autographed Almanack, order from www.poorwillsalmanack.com. Or send $22 to Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387. 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. EEEOLTHPN TELEPHONE NOEOHPLXY XYLOPHONE OOOEMHPNH HOMOPHONE ONEPOHIODR RADIOPHONE ENOPHAAXS SAXAPHONE LADAIPOHEN DIALAPHONE RACOPHENO CARPHONE ORCIMENOHP MICROPHONE EOAEMGNPH MEGAPHONE NHPREEOA EARPHONE THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER RIHTS IRTKS RTIQU IRLTF RIDT TROISQ REJK SIKRM KEPR RUTPS Copyright 2022 – W. L. Felker |
