Poor Will’s Almanack By Bill Felker The stormy March is come at last With wind, and cloud, and changing skies. – William Cullen Bryant
In the Sky The earliest Morning Star is Mars, rising in Capricorn before Venus, the brightest Morning Star, which accompanies Aquarius, along with Saturn. Jupiter in Aries is the Evening Star in the west throughout March, Early in the month, Deep Winter’s Orion has moved off to the west by 10 p.m., and Corvus, May’s corn and soybean planting constellation, appears on the horizon. Spica, which will be centered in the southern sky as peak planting ends this spring, emerges from the east. June’s Corona Borealis follows it.
Phases of the Opossum Mating Moon And the Termite Migration Moon March 3: The Opossum Mating Moon enters its final quarter. March 10: The Termite Migration Moon is new. March 17: The moon enters its second quarter. March 25: The moon is full.
Weather Trends The cold front that ends the month of February is usually gentler than the Feb. 24 front, and its transit often signals the end of Snowdrop Winter. Clear skies are a hallmark of this front’s arrival, and bright conditions usually follow on the 28th. March 3 marks another major pivot point in the possibilities of spring: For the first time all year, there is a 10 percent chance for a high in the 70s, and those odds continue, with only a few exceptions, until the 24th, when they double. Major March weather systems usually cross the Mississippi River on March 2, 5 (usually the most severe front of the month), 9 (ordinarily followed by quite mild temperatures), 14, 19 (frequently the second-coldest front of March), 24 (often followed by the best weather so far in the year) and 29. Major storms are most likely to occur on the days between March 7 and 14, between March 19 and 25. New moon, combined with lunar perigee on March 10 will favor an early March storm, and, full moon on March 25 will chill the second half of the month.
The Natural Calendar Great flocks of starlings and grackles move across the nation as February comes to an end. And from now on, average temperatures rise at their spring and early summer rate, one degree every three days. The blossoming of the standard crocus bears witnesses to the blooming of weedy henbit in the garden, the increasing flow of maple sap, the full emergence of pussy willows, the appearance of woolly bear caterpillars, the full bloom of the snow trillium along the rivers, the final bloom of skunk cabbage, the time for killdeer and to arrive from the South and for juncos to depart for the North. Lupine leaves push out of the mulch, and the earliest blue squills open. Groundhogs dig up the hillsides, making new dens. Day lily spears are two inches high. Red-tailed hawks, horned grebes, common snipes, all types of gulls and black ducks migrate across the region. When lawn growth begins, then soil temperatures are rising through the 40s. Red peony stalks, barely visible a few weeks ago, have pushed up above the mulch.
Countdown to Spring • A few days to crocus season and owl hatching time and woodcock mating time • One week to the beginning of the morning robin chorus before sunrise. • Two weeks to daffodil season and silver maple blooming season and the first golden goldfinches. • Three weeks to tulip season and the first wave of blooming woodland wildflowers and the first butterflies • Four weeks until golden forsythia blooms and skunk cabbage sends out its first leaves and the lawn is long enough to cut • Five weeks until American toads sing their mating songs in the dark and corn planting time begins • Six weeks until the Great Dandelion and Violet Bloom and the peak of wildflower season begin • Seven weeks until all the fruit trees flower • Eight weeks to the first rhubarb pie • Nine weeks to the great warbler migration through the Lower Midwest • 10 weeks to the first cricket song of late spring
In the Field and Garden Mites, scale, and aphid eggs will mature quickly when the temperatures climb above 60 degrees. The insects will be more easily controlled by dormant oil spray the closer they are to hatching. Complete the spraying when the temperature is expected to stay above 40 for 24 hours. Do late pruning on colder afternoons. Spread fertilizer. The very earliest bulbs, the snowdrops, the snow crocus and the aconites, have already bloomed in the sunniest microclimates. Now it is time for the larger, brighter standard crocus and the small spring iris, the Iris reticulata, to flower. It’s not too early to feed your bulbs with liquid fertilizer before major blooming time begins. Mares show signs of estrus as the days grow longer. When the land is ready, worm livestock before turning them out to pasture. Barometric changes can trigger flare-ups of arthritis in people and also in your pets and livestock. Add paprika mixed in with molasses if you think an animal is suffering from joint pain.
Peak Activity Times for Creatures When the Moon is above the continental United States, creatures are typically most active. The second-most-active time occurs when the Moon is below the Earth. Activity is likely to increase at new moon and full moon and at perigee (when the Moon is closest to Earth), especially as the barometer falls in advance of cold fronts near those dates.
Date Best Second-Best March 1-2: Midnight to Dawn Afternoons March 3-9: Mornings Evenings March 10-16: Afternoons Middle of the Night March 17-24: Evenings. Mornings March 25-31: Midnight to Dawn Afternoons
Almanack Literature Our Goose By David Raber Last summer I found a Canada goose nest and decided to watch it and try to get a little one once they hatched. For a while we checked it every day, but at last we gave up. Then one day, Dad was mowing and the dogs scared the goose away. Then Dad checked the nest. There was still an egg there, and it was cracked, so Dad opened it and a little goose was inside! Dad brought it home and we put it in a box behind the stove and fed it till it was big enough to be outside. Then we put it out through the day and in for the night until it was big enough. Then we put it in a pen and left it out through the night. We thought maybe it would fly away this fall with the other geese, but then my little sister clipped its wings and it couldn’t. So, when it got too cold, we put it into the chicken house with the chickens. At first the chickens were afraid of her when she flapped her wings and honked. But they got used to it, and they come along fine now. Hopefully, she will be able to fly next spring.
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