June 19-25, 2017 Our true home is in the present moment The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth in the present moment. -Thich Nhat Hahn Almanac horoscope
Moon time: The Strawberry and Raspberry Moon wanes through its last quarter this week, becoming the new Sweet Corn Moon at 9:31 p.m. on June 23. Lunar perigee, the moon’s position closest to Earth, occurs on the same day. Rising in the dark and setting in the evening, this moon passes overhead in the late morning.
Sun time: The sun, reaching solstice at 11:24 p.m. on June 20, remains at a declination of a little more than 23 degrees through July 2.
The stability of the relationship between Earth and sun during these days creates the shortest nights of the year. Star time: Throughout the week, the Corona Borealis and red Arcturus are overhead by 11 p.m. To the west, Cygnus,the Northern Cross, is poised to take their place in late summer. Scorpius moves deep into the southern sky after dark; its great red star, Antares, is the brightest light close to the horizon.
Weather time: The June 23 front is one of the most benign of summer fronts, almost always followed by clear skies. In most years, the humidity remains low for the next few days, and Dog Day heat stays away.
If your land has been dry throughout June, the Corn Tassel Rains, which typically accompany the June 29 front, bring the first real chance of midsummer moisture. In spite of the association of the Corn Tassel Rains with heat, the final two days of June are sometimes the coldest of middle summer, highs below 80 degrees occurring more than half the time north of the Ohio Valley.
Zeitgebers
This is the time of year for wild black raspberries, and cattails are almost fully developed. May apples are ready to harvest in the woods. Blackberries have set fruit, even in the coldest years. Black walnuts are about half their full size, Osage fruits the size of golf balls.
The common orange ditch lilies reach full bloom. Asiatic and Oriental lilies gather momentum, pacing the bee balm. The first woolly bear caterpillars, harbingers of winter, cross the road. Snapping turtles and mud turtles are hatching.
Field and garden time
Spray for potato leafhoppers, which are hopping in the alfalfa (and the potatoes). Find the corn borers eating corn. Rose chafers and two-spotted spider mites are active in your rose bushes. Cucumber beetles are destroying cucumber and melon vines. Japanese beetles are attacking almost everything.
Take advantage of drier weather to detassel corn, to bring in the winter wheat and to complete the first cut of alfalfa and start the second cut. And, if your animals are reinfested with worms, consider worming every 17 days to three weeks, or every three lunar phases, in order to eliminate the parasites.
Marketing time: June 25 marks the end of Ramadan. The next marketing opportunity comes on U.S. Independence Day. After that, Jamaican Independence Day is August 7, and Ecuadorian Independence Day is August 10. Explore these opportunities to sell lamb and chevon. Mind and body time From now through most of July, your mind and body settle into the stability of the summer. In these longest days of the year, you will suffer no complications from seasonal affective disorders (unless you hide inside).
There is enough daylight for the brain’s well-being, and you should even be shaking off the last feelings of spring fever, that kind of aimless restlessness or dissatisfaction which often strikes in April,
May and early June. If you are still not feeling right, increase exercise and time out-of-doors. Make sure you are eating balanced meals.
Creature time (for fishing, hunting, feeding, bird-watching): The dark moon is overhead after sunrise this week, tempting the fish to bite at that time. Even more biting (and maybe binging) should occur as the barometer falls at the approach of the June 23 and 29 cool fronts.
Less biting typically occurs just after the passage of a front. Walk your favorite woodlots these warm summer days, identifying oak trees (which attract deer). Continue to keep track of butterflies: the great spangled fritillary might visit your yard.
Almanac literature More Scared than Hurt By Noah H. Zimmerman Shiloh, Ohio
Years ago when my brother was building his dairy barn, I was helping out. One day that sticks in my memory was when we were doing some work inside the barn.
The concrete had not been poured yet, and it was very muddy, which was a good thing. A few folks had gathered together to help, and I and another person were using the skid loader.
I was standing on the pallet forks that were attached to the skid loader – or at least we both thought they were attached. The forks were spread apart about 3 feet, and I had a foot on either fork and was holding on to the back side with both hands. I knew it would take more than a bump to make me lose my grip.
Well, the skid loader operator decided to give me a scary ride, so he put me in the air and tilted the forks forward to tease me. Lo and behold, the forks fell right off and poked in the mud hard enough to keep them from falling down on me! I was okay, and probably not as scared as the skid loader operator. |
