Then let us, one and all, be contented with our lot;

The June is here this morning, and the sun is shining hot! – James Whitcomb Riley

The Third Week of Early Summer The Week That Fireflies Appear

In the Sky

The main landmarks of a June night are Regulus in the western portion of the sky, Arcturus and the Corona Borealis overhead, and Vega in the east. The Milky Way lies along the eastern horizon, along with Cygnus the Swan, otherwise known as the Northern Cross. As the Dog Days and July approach, the Milky Way becomes more and more prominent above you before midnight. When you get up early in the morning for chores, Taurus will be rising in the east, and the Milky Way will have shifted into the far west.

Phases of the Fledgling Moon

June 6: The Fledgling Moon is new.

June 14: The moon enters its second quarter.

June 21: The moon is full.

June 28: The moon enters its final quarter.

Weather Trends

Normal temperatures rise at the rate of one degree every four days this month throughout most of the United States. In the Lower Midwest, average highs move from the upper 70s on the first of June to the middle 80s by the beginning of July. Lows climb from the mid-50s into the lower 60s. The average temperature for the entire month is usually in the low 70s, up about 10 degrees from May’s average.

A typical June temperature distribution looks like the following in much of the area: four days in the 90s, 12 days in the 80s, 12 days in the 70s, two days in the 60s, with a slight chance for one of those cooler days to be in the upper 50s.

The June 6 high-pressure system is associated with a four-day period during which there is an increased chance of tornadoes and flash floods. Part of the reason for the rise in the risk for severe weather is the increase in the percentage of afternoons in the 80s and 90s. Lunar perigee on the 7th will contribute to uncertain meteorological conditions.

The Natural Calendar

 Pollen from flowering trees has reached very low levels by this point in the year. Most of the pollen in the air now comes from grasses. Estimated Pollen Count on a scale of 0-700 grains per cubic meter: June 10: 40; June 15: 35; June 30: 25.

The Big Dipper has started to rotate to the west after dark, marking the time that chiggers and Japanese beetles appear along the 40th Parallel. In the east, the Summer Triangle is rising, bringing all the lilies into bloom. To the east of the North Star, the house-shaped constellation of Cepheus spins slowly around to the center of the southern sky. When it is almost overhead at midnight, gardens will be full of bright mums.

When the canopy has closed above the woodland wildflowers, when winter wheat is a soft pale green and the clovers and vetches are all coming in, then it’s the best time of year for golden parsnip blossoms throughout the countryside.

June 6: Catalpas and privets and hawthorns and pink spirea bloom this week, and the number of fireflies grows in proportion to the flowers on the day lilies.

The first nodding thistle, the first chicory, first daisy fleabane, the first great mullein, the first Asiatic lily and the first tall meadow rue open. The first raspberry reddens, and the first orange trumpet creeper blooms. Bindweeds and sweet peas color the fences with pastels. Cherries, mulberries and the earliest black raspberries ripen.

Young grackles join their parents to harvest the ripening cherries and mulberries. Painted turtles are out laying eggs. Young grackles beg for food from their parents. Baby robins have been out for a week or two.

June 9: When yucca plants send up their stalks and flower, Japanese beetles start to attack roses and ferns. Azalea bark scale eggs hatch, too.

In the Field and Garden

Placing blackberries and raspberries along your hedgerows offers a simple way to offer healthful browsing material for your livestock. Since these shrubs propagate themselves, you may never need to think about them again. Other medicinal herbs you may already be growing include dill (the seed is said to increase milk yields), fennel (for fevers, and constipation and all eye ailments) and anise (for digestive ailments).

The waxing moon favors the continuing harvest of strawberries and spring vegetables. The first crop of alfalfa should be gaining a little more moisture, too. Stabilize the feed schedule of the animals that you’ll show this summer, increasing the grain in their rations in order to add quality to their coats and overall condition.

June is the month during which insect infestations typically reach the economic threshold. Look out for rose chafers and two-spotted spider mites on your rose bushes. Cucumber beetles appear in the cucumbers and melons. And protect yourself against chiggers: they’re biting now.

Gather cherries, mulberries and black raspberries in the mild June days. Fertilize asparagus and rhubarb as their seasons end. Harvest canola, commercial broccoli and squash. Consider putting in double-crop soybeans after the wheat is cut. Fertilize roses, asparagus and rhubarb; side dress the corn; cut broccoli, harvest early summer cabbage.

Heat stress can slow the rate of gain in your lambs and kids. Protection from the weather, plenty of water and adequate supplements may help to reduce weight loss.

Countdown to Late Summer 

• Just another week until wild black raspberries ripen, until fledgling robins peep in the bushes and fireflies mate in the night

• Two weeks until bee balm blooms and beckons all the bees

• Three weeks until the start of day lily season and cicadas chant in the hot and humid days

• Four weeks until thistles turn to down

• Five weeks until sycamore bark starts to fall, marking the center of Deep Summer

• Six weeks to the season of singing crickets and katydids after dark

• Seven weeks until ragweed pollen floats in the wind 

• Eight weeks until blackberries are ready for jam and brandy

• Nine weeks until aster and goldenrod time

• 10 weeks until the season of fall apples begins

Almanack Literature

Old Bounce and the Copperhead

By Anna Monroe Bruce

Old Bounce was our dog. He loved to kill snakes. One day, dad and Brother James Lewis Monroe were over the mountain plowing and hoeing corn and cutting weeds about 10 a.m. when the dinner bell rang.

That was a signal from momma that the honeybees had swarmed. Dad told Lewis to take the horse and plow while he went to get the bees in a hive. As Lewis went around the long hillside plowing, I was behind with my hoe. There was a pretty good-sized flat rock lying in my row. I took the hoe and turned it around and down a piece and I saw a big snake’s head leap out.

I was scared and I called Old Bounce. Immediately he was there, sniffing and smelling. All at once out came the snake’s head again. It socked its poisonous fangs into Bounce’s jaw. All at once Bounce howled and with his nose and mouth plowed a ditch through the loose plowed ground about 25 feet and gave out another howl and headed for home howling all the time.

Brother Lewis heard him. He came running with the plow and mare. I had turned the stone over and killed a big copperhead snake  We hurried home over the mountain, and mom and dad had seen Bounce coming and knew he was snake bitten. They left the bees ‘til later, one hurried into the house, got a dish of turpentine and a little rag, while the other searched for the snake bite on his upper jaw.

When we got there, they were holding Bounce, and was he ever squirming, while the other was applying the turpentine to the snakebite wound. Every time momma put the rag back into the dish for more turpentine, it got green in the dish. Old Bounce lived, but for more than a week, his little head was swollen like a big bulldog’s. Both eyes were closed, and I had to feed and care for him until he was well as a punishment from my brother for letting it happen.

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