Feb. 25-March 3, 2019 The stormy March is come at last With wind, and cloud, and changing skies. -William Cullen Bryant The Skunk Courting Moon wanes throughout the remainder of the week, entering its final quarter at 6:28 a.m. on Feb. 25. It reaches apogee (its position farthest from Earth) at 7:25 a.m. on March 4 and becomes the new Cabbage White Butterfly Moon at 11:03 a.m. on March 6. The time before lunch is the most favorable lunar time for fishing and eating, especially as the cold fronts of March 2 and 5 approach. Although cabbage white butterflies are usually not active this early in the month, this moon is likely to bring them out when it is full in a few weeks. 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 Feb. 28. 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 March 24, when they double. Major monthly 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), 24 (often followed by the best weather so far in the year) and 29. New moon on March 6 (combined with perigee on March 19) is likely to bring frost and increased chances of storms. In the countdown to spring, from now it is: •A few days to crocus season and owl-hatching 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 begins •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 The natural calendar Feb. 25: Sap is running in the maples, a sign that migraine headache season is at its peak throughout the country. And although your asthma may have improved slightly through the winter, the gradual increase in pollen that accompanies the end of February may bring on a new period of congestion. Feb. 26: Great flocks of starlings and grackles move across the nation as February comes to an end. From now on, average temperatures rise at their spring and early summer rate, 1 degree every three days. Feb. 27: Today is Dominican Republic Independence Day. Areas that have a sizeable population of residents from the Dominican Republic may show an increase in sales of lambs and kids that weigh 20-35 pounds. Feb. 28: The blossoming of the standard crocus bears witness 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. March 1: 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 2 inches high. March 2: Red-tailed hawks, horned grebes, common snipes, all types of gulls and black ducks migrate across the region. March 3: 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. 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 degrees for 24 hours. Do late pruning on colder afternoons. Spread fertilizer. The 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. Almanac 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 until 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. |
