By Bill Felker

Perhaps the most satisfying aspect of the turn from late April to early May is the sense of reassurance. It is essentially an inner feeling of order and rightness in this green and growing world in which we live. – Hal Borland

The Moon, the Shooting Stars and the Planets

The Cows Switching Their Tails Moon entered its final quarter at 2:50 p.m. on May 3. It wanes throughout the week, becoming the new Cottonwood Cotton Moon at 2 p.m. on May 11. Rising in the morning and setting in the evening, this moon passes overhead in the middle of the day. Lunar position is most favorable for fish and animal activity around noon. And watch the barometer fall prior to the arrival of the May 7 and May 12 cold fronts; fish should definitely be biting with the moon above you at that time.

Venus moves retrograde into Taurus, barely visible in the east before sunrise. Mars also travels retrograde, leaving Taurus for Gemini, where it remains the Evening Star. Saturn rises in Capricorn after midnight, and Jupiter follows well before dawn in Aquarius.

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower began in the third week of April and runs through May 28. Its peak will be on the night of May 5-6, when you may be able to see up to 30 shooting stars in an hour low in the eastern sky after midnight.

Weather Trends

With the arrival of the second major high pressure system of the month on May 7, there is a slight possibility of a Lilac Winter cold spell. New moon on the 11th is likely to threaten a freeze on bedding plants and new tomato plants. Although the day after the passage of this system is one of the brightest of the week, the period of May 8 through 14 historically brings more storms to this area than any other period except the days between the 17th and 24th.

Zeitgebers

(Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year)

Peonies are budding. Cattails have grown up past your waist. Maples are leafing out. Cliff swallows migrate as buckeyes come into full bloom and carp mate.

The first cycle of cabbage butterflies reaches its peak. About three out of every 10 goslings have hatched by this date. The best spring fishing period for bluegills and bullheads gets underway.

From May 7-13, the second major wave of migrating songbirds usually reaches the Lake Erie shore. It includes white-throated sparrows, ruby-crowned kinglets, yellow-rumped warblers, magnolia warblers, tanagers, grosbeaks and orioles.

Mayflies appear near the rivers. Fragrant locusts flowers open above poppies, daisies, sweet Cicely and the sweet mock orange blossoms.

Countdown to Spring

• One week until the first orange day lily comes into bloom.

• Two weeks until roses blossom and thistles bud.

• Three weeks until the first strawberry shortcake.

• Four weeks until cottonwoods bloom and send their cotton through the air.

• Five weeks to the first mulberry pie.

Mind and Body

The S.A.D. Index, which measures seasonal stress on a scale from 1 to 100, remains in the gentle 30s throughout the week. Chilly temperatures and showers associated with the new moon, however, could spark S.A.D. in some people.

In the Field and Garden

Soil temperatures reach 60 degrees in milder years, and the last of the region’s livestock moves to pasture.

Farmers in the region have ordinarily planted a third of the field corn by now. Soybean seeding has begun, three out of 10 commercial potatoes are in the ground, and weevils are often building up in the alfalfa.

Cabbage planting is underway in northern counties. Cutworms are moving through the fields all across the Midwest. Farmers have usually planted all the oats when nettles are waist high along the fencerows.

Under the new dark moon plant every single flower and vegetable you want. By the time your seeds sprout, the danger of frost should be past.

Almanack Literature

A Tough but Wiser Rooster

By Jim Farrell, Elkhart, Ind.

When I was a young man living at home, my dad always told a rooster story. He remembered when he was a young man living on their family farm. Their neighbor at the time was Norm Zimmer, who had chickens, calves and hogs. One of Norm’s chickens was a rooster that liked to attack visitors who visited Norm’s barn lot. Norm thought it was funny and got a big kick out of it.

One summer day, Norm stopped in for a visit at my grandpa’s farm, and he asked my dad if he would take care of feeding his farm animals and do the chores for a week while he and wife went on vacation.

On the first day that he went down to do Norm’s chores, my dad came prepared with a three-foot 2 x 4.

As Dad walked across the barn lot, here came the rooster, which was planning on landing on Dad’s shoulder. My dad turned and swatted that rooster with the 2 x 4, which knocked the bird right to the ground.

My dad was afraid he might have killed him and was not sure what he would tell Norm. But after he finished chores, Dad saw that the rooster had gotten up and looked fine. The rooster was alive and well, but after that, Dad never had a problem with it again!

Poor Will Needs Your Stories

Poor Will pays $4 for unusual and true farm, garden, animal and even love stories used in this almanac. Send yours to  wlfelker@gmail.com or to the address below.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S SCRAMBLER

In order to estimate your SCRAMBLER IQ, award yourself 15 points for each word unscrambled, adding a 50-point bonus for getting all of them correct. If you find a typo, add another 15 points to your IQ.

SPYGUM        GYPSUM

SSUMOOP        OPOSSUM

LACCMUI        CALCIUM 

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LAUUMMNI        ALUMINUM

MUNGERRETNI        INTERREGNUM

IMMAGNES               MAGNESIUM

MUINOLOP        POLONIUM 

SHPGANUM        SPHAGNUM

MMMUTOEN        MOMENTUM

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

TERTUB

CUTRET

ULCTETR

LFURTET

RETTUG

RTETMU

TUPTRE

SHURETT

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TRSUTETR

Poor Will’s Almanack for 2021 (with the S.A.D. Index) is still available. For your autographed copy, send $20 (includes shipping and handling) to Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387.

Copyright 2021 - W. L. Felker