May 27-June 2, 2019

When June is here – what art have we to sing

The whiteness of the lilies midst the green

On noon-tranced lawns? Or flash of roses seen

Like redbirds’ wings? Or earliest ripening

Prince-Harvest apples, where the cloyed bees cling

Round winey juices oozing down between

The peckings of the robin, while we lean

In under-grasses, lost in marveling?

-James Whitcomb Riley

The Golden Buttercup Moon wanes throughout the week, becoming the new Milkweed Beetle Mating Moon at 10:02 a.m. on June 3. Rising in the morning and setting in the evening, this moon passes overhead near midday, favoring that time for angling.

Weather trends

Cool fronts are due to cross the Mississippi on or about June 2, 6, 10, 15, 23, and 29. Major storms are most likely to occur on the days between June 5-8, 13-17, and 24-28. New moon on June 3 (followed by perigee on June 7) increases the chances of freezing temperatures.

Full moon on June 17 could contribute to unstable meteorological conditions in conjunction with the June 15 cool front and encourage the formation of an early hurricane, bringing heavy rains to the Midwest.

In the countdown to late summer, it is:

•Just a few days until the first mulberries are sweet for picking and cottonwood cotton drifts in the wind

•Two weeks until wild black raspberries ripen, until fledgling robins peep in the bushes and fireflies mate in the night

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

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

•Five weeks until thistles turn to down

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

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

•Eight weeks until ragweed pollen floats in the wind

•Nine weeks until blackberries are ready for jam and brandy

•Ten weeks until aster and goldenrod time

The natural calendar

May 27: The darkening moon is right for all kinds of animal care, for planting root crops, shrubs and trees, and for weeding and mulching, as well as for insect and parasite hunting.

May 28: Catalpa and wild cherry trees are flowering. The earliest fireflies come out tonight.

May 29: Venus continues to move retrograde this month, passing from Pisces into Aries, keeping its position as the Morning Star throughout June. Mars remains in Virgo, visible in the southwest well after dark.

Jupiter stays in Gemini as the Evening Star throughout June, sinking into the northwest not long after sundown. Saturn stays in Libra, visible in the evening along the center of the southern horizon.

May 30: When May apples have fruit the size of a cherry and honeysuckle flowers have all come down, cucumber beetles reach the economic threshold on the farm.

May 31: Staghorns are reddening on the sumacs. Poison hemlock and elderberries and daisies are in flower. The hatching of wild ducks and goslings is almost complete.

June 1: At average elevations along the 40th Parallel, the winter wheat is just about ready to turn. Banks of yellow Stella D’Oro lilies are open around shopping mall parking lots.

June 2: The canopy has closed above the woodland wildflowers when clovers and vetches are all blooming in the fields.

Field and garden

Do routine maintenance and herd and flock care as the moon wanes. While you are making plans for summer, think ahead to breeding time. Finalize all spring culling. Make tentative notes about which animal to breed to why, and when.

Make plans for late June plantings. If you have not already clipped the heads off the garlic plants, do it now.

Slugs are causing problems if the land is wet. Alfalfa weevil infestations become more common just as pickle planting is completed and the earliest zucchini and squash harvests are underway.

 Bean leaf beetles are in the fields; flies are bothering the cattle; hot weather often stresses poultry and livestock. Corn is almost all planted, and some stalks of corn have 6-8 leaves.

Almanac literature

Bottle Baby

By Baby Parsley

As ‘told to’ Stephanie Cavnar

Purcell, Okla.

I was born No. 3 in a set of triplets on the coldest day Oklahoma has seen in a long while. I wasn’t even big enough to stay in the barn, weighing 2.75 pounds.

I came into the house with a jacket and a newborn-size diaper, and they warmed me up and tubed me when I was able to swallow. I slept in a box for the first couple of weeks.

Now since I gained up past 3 pounds, I get a laundry basket. My “maaaa” sounds like a chipmunk when I get to go play with Ben. He sucks on my ear because I hide under the nipple bucket.