April 29-May 5, 2019

Come, we'll abroad: and let's obey

The proclamation made for May,

And sin no more, as we have done by staying.

But, my Corinna, come, let's go a-Maying.

-Robert Herrick

The Cows-Switching-Their-Tails Moon wanes until it becomes the new Golden Buttercup Moon on May 4 at 5:43 p.m. Rising in the morning and setting in the evening, this moon passes overhead (the position most favorable for angling and feeding children) near the middle of the day.

The dark lunar phase in late spring is ideal for seeding every flower and vegetable seed you have. Since frost may still occur near this month’s full moon, you might wait until the 10 days of May to set out all your bedding plants.

 Since the moon may exert less influence on ocean tides and on human and animal behavior when it comes into its second and fourth quarters, it might make more sense to perform routine maintenance on your livestock and pets around May 11 and 26.

Weather trends

Cool fronts should cross the Mississippi on or about May 2, 7, 12, 15, 21, 24, and 29. Full moon on May 18 may contribute to unseasonable cold and to unstable meteorological conditions.

Lunar perigee (when the moon is closest to Earth) on May 13 is likely to increase the likelihood of bad weather. Tornadoes, floods, or prolonged periods of soggy pasture are most likely to occur between May 3-12 and May 17-24.

Between May 1-June 1, only a few mornings of light frost occur at lower elevations along the 40th Parallel. Approximate chances for freezing temperatures occur after these dates: May l, 50 percent; May 10, 25 percent; May 15, 15 percent; and May 31, 5 percent

In the countdown to summer, there are:

•One week to the great warbler migration through the Midwest

•Two weeks to strawberry pie

•Three weeks until the first orange daylilies blossom

•Four weeks until roses flower

•Five weeks until the first mulberries are sweet for picking and cottonwood cotton drifts in the wind

•Six weeks until wild black raspberries ripen

•Seven weeks until fledgling robins call in the bushes and fireflies mate in the night

•Eight weeks until cicadas chant in the hot and humid days

•Nine weeks until thistles turn to down

•10 weeks until sycamore bark starts to fall, marking the center of deep summer

The natural calendar

April 29: Garden chives bloom as the first tall grass heads up. Black walnut trees leaf out while the maple flowers collapse all at once.

April 30: Along the freeways daisies, yellow sweet clover, blue flax, meadow goat’s beard, and parsnips flower. Red clover and white clover blossom in the pasture. Blackberries, black raspberries, multiflora roses, and elderberry bushes bloom in the hedgerows.

May 1: Mock orange, locusts, wild cherry trees, yellow poplars (tulip trees), Kousa dogwoods, and peonies join the early iris, sweet Williams, climbing roses, and rhododendrons. The Eta Aquarids are active from April 18-May 28, with the most meteors expected on May 5. The moon is not expected to interfere with meteor-watching.

May 2: Venus will move retrograde into Pisces throughout the month, keeping its position as the morning star. Mars remains in Virgo, visible in the south well after dark. Jupiter stays in Gemini as the evening star throughout May, following Orion into the sunset.

May 3: The leaves of the understory reach full size, and the high canopy starts to fill in above it. In most years, the great dandelion bloom ends in lawns and roadsides.

May 4: Geraniums, sedum, tall buttercups, ragwort, Jacob's ladder, water cress, fleabane, spring cress, sweet rocket, catchweed, and sweet Cicely are all in full bloom. Small flowered buttercup flowers are fading, its seed burs forming.

May 5: Redbuds get seedpods; scarlet pimpernel opens below them. In the woods, nodding trilliums are blossoming.

Field and garden

Haying is underway below the Ohio River. Some orchard grass and rye may be ready to harvest. Transition your livestock slowly from last year’s old hay to this year’s fresh hay.

While the moon is still relatively dark, fight armyworms and corn borers. Attack carpenter bees around the barn. The dark phase also favors traditional worm control methods such as liming the pasture, planting garlic, and plowing in mustard.

As conditions permit, sow seeds for forages that will provide as close to year-round grazing as possible: tall fescue, ryegrass, wheat, oats, and rape for early spring; Kentucky bluegrass and orchard grass for spring and fall; bromegrass and timothy for early summer; and birdsfoot trefoil, Bahia grass, Bermuda grass, Sudan grass, crabgrass, and lespedeza for mid- to late summer.

Plan to seed turnips in July for late fall and early winter grazing.

Spring rains and humidity can increase the risk of internal parasites in livestock. Consider using stool sample analysis to ensure that drenching has been effective.

When mock orange, sweet Cicely, Robin’s fleabane, chives, catmint, waterleaf, wild raspberry, shooting star, peonies, sweet rockets, and May apples come into bloom, pastures may be just right to move all your livestock to pasture.

It's the center of corn, pepper, cantaloupe, and cucumber planting; the quarter mark for soybean seeding; budding time for alfalfa; and setting time for tobacco.

Outhouse story contest

The 2020 Poor Will’s Almanack (with a special focus on true outhouse stories) is almost complete, but it needs your privy stories, too. Now is the time to contact friends and family who might have a tale to tell about “the way it used to be” in the outhouse.

Authors of all stories accepted for the weekly Almanac will receive a payment of $4. If your story is included in the 2020 annual, you will receive an additional $25.

Submit your tales to Poor Will at P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387 or by email to wlfelker@gmail.com before July 1.