Poor Will's Almanack by Bill Felker 

 

Nov. 17-23, 2014

Beauty has no set weather, no sure place.

Her careful pageantries are here as there,

With nothing lost.

-Lizette Woodworth Reese

Lunar phase and lore

The Toad Migration Moon completes its cycle this week, becoming the Sandhill Crane Migration Moon at 7:32 a.m. Nov. 22. Rising after midnight and setting in the afternoon, the dark moon lies overhead in the late morning, foretelling the passage of sandhill cranes from their breeding fields in the north.

Riding on the coattails of that midday moon, fishing and scouting for game should be most productive (from a lunar standpoint) around lunchtime, especially as the cold wave due around Nov. 20 approaches.

The seeding of bedding plants under lights is favored throughout the period, with lunar position in Scorpio on Nov. 20-22 the best days of all.

Weather trends

The cold ordinarily intensifies in the third week of late fall. Chances for weather in the 60s are still 50/50, but a high in the 70s only happens once in 20 years, and days in the 30s and 40s are becoming common. When the moon turns new on Nov. 22 it increases the likelihood that a major front will come through this week, and (according to weather history) there is better than a 50 percent chance for snow on Nov. 23.

The natural calendar

Nov. 17: The Leonid meteors fall through the constellation Leo on the nights of Nov. 17-18. Find them following Orion and Cancer after midnight.

Nov. 18: Colors deepen too in the swamp. Protected by the water, cress shines; dock and ragwort grow back beside the dead field grasses. Skunk cabbage has already pushed to the surface, and it is ready to bloom in a warm December.

Nov. 19: Christmas cactus has begun to blossom. Paperwhites, set in moist soil or in pebbles with water, send up their foliage.

Nov. 20: Red fruits stand out on the flowering crabs and on the hawthorns, on the honeysuckles and on the bayberries: it’s the beginning of the season of red berries.

Nov. 21: The Sandhill Crane Migration Moon is new tomorrow, the final autumn dark moon for planting garlic and for digging in the last of the tulips and daffodils.

Nov. 22: Raspberry and black raspberry foliage is typically gone when the sun comes into its early winter sign of Sagittarius today. Hepatica and ginger foliage is brown from frost. Wild asparagus stalks have lost all their color. Comfrey has withered in the garden.

Nov. 23: Clement’s Day was the traditional beginning of winter in Medieval Europe; the fifth cold front of the month ordinarily keeps that feast here in the Ohio Valley and chills the cloudy skies (as a rule, 3 out of the next 7 days show no sun at all).

In field and garden

Nov. 17: As the weather becomes colder, watch for declines in livestock milk production that are not related to feed changes or drying off; these declines could be due to health or other stress factors.

Nov. 18: If you are planning to use young trees or shrubs for fodder, consider planting now before deep cold strikes, or order now for setting out in early or middle spring.

Nov. 19: Rheumatism in livestock and people increases during the cold of winter, especially prior to the arrival of cold fronts. A tablespoonful of paprika and one of molasses per day are considered helpful by some in reducing joint stiffness.

Nov. 20: Cool-weather pastures (like many warm-weather pastures) may or may not produce the kind of nutrition you need for your livestock. Just because a pasture is green doesn’t mean it will let you get by without feeding grain.

Nov. 21: On the farm, expectant ewes, does and cows nurture their babies to be born a few weeks from now in late winter or early spring.

Nov. 22: Carefully monitor nutrition of your pregnant animals – that’s one of the major ways to prevent abortions.

Nov. 23: It’s time to plug in the electric bucket heaters and try to keep the water near 50 degrees for your livestock.

Almanac literature

Great American Story Contest entry

When Dad Broke His Leg

By Daniel Weaver & David Raber

Greenwich, Ohio

One Friday afternoon, one of my sisters went home to get something, and she came back with the news that Dad had broken his leg while doing some logging in the woods.

So now we had plenty of chores to do. So one of my cousins came to help while Dad’s leg was healing.

So here were some funny things that happened to us while choring alone:

The water was frozen so every day, so we had to pump water down to the shed. One evening while we were pumping water down there, one calf decided she needed more water.

So she took a big leap and landed in the watering trough.

One time when we let the cows out, the girls forgot to take off the hobbles. All of a sudden, we saw those cows running around with hobbles on. They just about couldn’t run. We were trying to take them off, but the cows would suddenly take off. Finally we got them to stand still and took the hobbles off.

One evening, a heifer came in while we were getting the horses in and the heifer stepped on a cat and, of course, the cat didn’t think it was very funny.

We had our ups and downs while doing the chores alone, but it was good experience for us, too.