By Bill Felker

 The whole universe is, as it were, a book written by the finger of God,

in which each creature forms a letter. – Louis de Blois

The Moon, Sun and Planets

The Fourth Week of Middle Spring

The Gilded Goldfinch Moon, full on the 16th, waned throughout the remainder of the month, reached perigee, its position closest to Earth, on April 19 at 10 a.m., and enters its final quarter at 6:56 a.m. on April 23. Rising after midnight and setting in the morning, this moon passed overhead near dawn, encouraging creatures to eat, especially as the cold fronts of April 21 and 24 approach.

On April 21. the sun was 75 percent of the way to summer solstice, setting close to half past eight and making the evenings almost seem like June evenings.

Now the sky at 11 p.m. is in its prime spring planting position: Castor and Pollux to the west, Leo with its bright Regulus directly overhead, and Arcturus dominating the east. The Milky Way fills the western horizon as Orion sets just behind the sun.

The Lyrid meteor shower peaks after midnight between April 21 and 23.

Weather Trends

After lunar perigee on April 19, the odds for good field and garden weather improve. Seed all the rest of your flowers and vegetables in flats or directly in the garden. New moon on the 30th, however, should strengthen the last cold front of the month and the first front of May, so keep a lookout for light frost.

Zeitgebers: Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year

Now winter wheat, the pastures, and the lawns are the brightest of the year. Winter cress and violets turn some fields gold and purple. Bluebells nod on the hillsides. Bellwort, meadow rue, ragwort, columbine, white violet, winter cress, small-flowered buttercup, large-flowered trillium, wood betony, miterwort and Jack-in-the-pulpit are out.

Forsythia flowers turn a darker gold and magnolia petals fall as locusts, mulberries, ash, tree of heaven, ginkgoes, Japanese honeysuckles, wild roses and virgin’s bower leaf out. Grub worms come to the surface of the lawn, and grasshoppers are born in the fields. Weevils appear in the alfalfa.

Birders could spot the arrival of the wood thrush, the broad-winged hawk, the king rail, the sora, the common gallinule, plovers and sandpipers. And look for the earliest ruby-throated hummingbird at your feeder.

May apples are a foot tall and buckeye buds have unraveled. Skunk cabbage leaves are more than half size in the swamps. Ragwort and garlic mustard are forming clumps, seed heads visible, still tightly bunched. Watercress has filled the shallow brooks.

In the Field and Garden

Farmers seed spring wheat in New England, sugar beets across the Midwest, plant cotton along the Gulf. Cabbage butterflies are out laying eggs on the new cabbage, kale, collards and Brussels sprouts. Mulberry, locust, tree of heaven, viburnum, and ginkgo send out their first leaves. Grape vines break dormancy.

When you see the first monarch butterflies in your garden, and the iris plants start to bud, that’s the time to go out to the garden to hunt flea beetles and leafhoppers. And when you see bumble bees in the dandelions, watch for termites to swarm around your house.

Late peas should sprout quickly if planted now, and even tender garden vegetables should be all right if you cover their sprouts when frost threatens.

Prepare soil and seeds for new moon planting on April 30. Under the dark moon, destroy tent caterpillars as they hatch; then plant all your remaining root crops.

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

Plan marketing now for Mother’s Day (May 8) and Memorial Day (May 30). Throughout the coming month, bedding plant sales are at their peak, ideal for selling as well as purchasing flowers for Mom or remembering a loved one.

Mind and Body Time: the S.A.D. Index (which measures on a scale of 1 to 100 the forces thought to be associated with Seasonal Affective Disorder) falls slowly throughout the period, reaching the relatively gentle 30s by the end of the period.

Almanack Classics 

Cleaning Up

Recollections of the Early 20th Century

By Naomi Bliss, Switzerland County, Ind.

My family practiced cleanliness much like our neighbors: a bath in a galvanized tub once a week; hair washed every two weeks; a little sponge bath every day. We had no deodorants, so a little talcum or a dusting of soda was helpful.

Most folks only washed clothing once a week on Monday, so it was worn for several days before we could change. Washing was hard work, water carried from the pump and heated in the copper wash boiler on the kitchen’s wood burning range.

Two tubs were set up, one for washing clothing and one for rinsing. The washboard, a galvanized center in a flat wooden frame, was put in the tub for hot water, and the water was carried by bucket from the range.

Sometimes we bought our bars of soap from the store. Sometimes homemade lye soap was used. White clothing was washed first, and then put in water in the boiler to boil – usually lye had been added to the water. Colored clothing was put in the cold water, after a good rubbing on the washboard, then wrung and hung on the wire clothesline with wooden pins.

The dry clothing was taken off the line, dampened and folded tightly into a large basket for ironing the next day. Washing day was just that. A long day of hot work. Another long hot day, using irons heated on the coal range, was necessary in order to get all those clothes and linens ready to use!

***

Send your memory stories to Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. Five dollars will be paid to any author whose story appears in this column.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S 

SCKRAMBLER

In order to estimate your SCKRAMBLER 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.

OAOLNLB            

BALLOON

NOBABO    BABOON

ONOM    MOON

OONN     NOON

SOPON    SPOON

OLON     LOON

RONAMO    MAROON

NWOOS    SWOON

GALNOO     LAGOON

CORONAC                

RACCOON

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

REWC

WEF

LEFW

EEWRBH

WETS

EWD

DIMELW

BUSUDE

FUERCW

WEP

Poor Will’s Almanack for 2022 is still available, containing the S.A.D. Index, as well as natural history essays for each week of the year, monthly weather reports, some of the best reader stories of all time, and a monthly farm and garden calendar. Purchase your copy from Amazon or, for an autographed Almanack, order from www.poorwillsalmanack.com. Or send $22 to Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387.

Copyright 2022 – W. L. Felker